Yom Kippur - Morning Service - Day of Atonement

do we give thanks all hell and shalom to my brothers and sisters in the house of israel the church of god and saints of christ and tabernacles around the kingdom it's a pleasure to fellowship with you to be with you on this yom kippur morning i'm giving thanks and praise honor and glory to the best of my ability to this god that we serve the god of abraham the god of isaac and the god of jacob this god from whom all blessings flow and certainly his blessings have flowed for us throughout this holy season the lord has permitted us to have some very fine services rosh hashanah shabbat shiva on the evening of yom kippur and the early morning service that we enjoyed on this morning the lord has certainly been good to let us come together even in this virtual setting we're asking for his blessings as we attempt to obey his command to observe this yom kippur this day of atonement we we've come through a 10 a day journey and we're just about to go into the home stretch on this yom kippur day hoping and praying that the lord has heard our prayers has been forgiving us and giving us another chance writing us in the book of life for another year we're pleased to have worshipping and participating in this service elder stevie marshall of harrisburg pennsylvania will be our worship leader he will be assisted by saint david and sister elder mildred vulcans of philadelphia pennsylvania as responsive readers the scripture will be read by sister elder elaine franklin of belleville virginia will be favored with the sermon by evangelist joseph weatherford of richmond virginia and closing remarks by rabbi marcus carr of washington dc so as we enter into the home stretch of our yom kippur observation let us get our hearts and minds attuned to the task at hand we worship the god of our salvation while we continue to pray for his forgiveness pray for absolution pray for atonement while we're at it we're praying for our brothers and sisters around the world who are going through some some fairly turbulent times praying for those who are affected by this pandemic others who are suffering from weather conditions and other problems asking the lord's blessings on all as we worship and praise his holy and glorious name on this yom kippur day so let us begin our service our morning service for yom kippur conducted by elder stevie marshall let us begin how excellent is thy loving kindness oh god therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house and shall make them drink of the river of thy pleasures for with thee is the fountain of life in thy light shall we see light oh continue thy loving kindness unto them that know thee and thy righteousness to the upright in heart [Music] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] the [Music] of love and praise [Music] [Applause] [Music] glories [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] and [Music] [Music] [Applause] shall we almighty god we have come into thy sanctuary to commune with thee be thou our strength our hope our god give purpose to our work meaning to our struggle and direction to our striving cause us to understand that only through human betterment true fellowship and deeds of kindness can we feel thy presence may this day of atonement bring peace to our hearts and strengthen our desire to live in peace with all our fellow men amen blessed art thou o lord our god king of the universe who has kept us in life and hast enabled us to reach this season is in the house of the lord in the house of the lord all the days of my life one thing have i desired of the lord oh of the lord to [Music] i want to dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life oh holy place to behold into his holy place my lips shall greatly rejoice rejoice the lips shall gravely rejoice rejoice when rejoice [Applause] oh oh all the days is [Music] have mercy upon me your god according to thy lovingkindness a according until the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for i acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is ever before me against thee the only have i sinned and done this evil in thy sight that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear when thou judges behold i was shaping in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me behold thou desirous truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean wash me and i shall be whiter than snow make me to hear joy and gladness that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice hide thy face from my sins and block out all my iniquities create in me a clean heart oh god and renew a right spirit within me cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy holy spirit from me restore unto me the joy of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit then will i teach transgresses thy ways and sinners shall be converted unto thee deliver me from blood guiltiness oh god thou god of my salvation and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness o lord open thy my lips and my mouth shall show forth thy praise for thou desirous not sacrifice else would i give it thou delightest not in burnt offerings the sacrifices of god are a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart oh god thou wilt not despise do good in thy good pleasure unto zion build thou the walls of jerusalem then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness with the birth offering and whole burnt offering then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar have mercy on upon me o god according to thy law the kindness of glory on to the multitude of the tender is [Music] [Music] according to the multitude of transgressions me [Laughter] [Music] foreign my transgress [Music] is [Laughter] oh [Music] [Music] oh is [Music] [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] restore unto thee the joy of thy salvation is restore unto me the joy of thy salvation thy righteousness restore unto me the joy of thy salvation is [Music] [Applause] will [Music] shall be unto thees oh oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] benediction god the lord over all works blessed is he yea blessed by the mouth of everything that hath breath his greatness and goodness filled the universe knowledge and understanding around him the luminaries are good which our god hath created he formed them with knowledge understanding and discernment he gave them might and power to rule in the midst of the world they are full of luster they radiate brightness beautiful is their luster all over the world they rejoice in their going forth and are glad in their coming in performing with all the will of their master thou giveth light and mercy to the earth and to them that dwell their own and in thy goodness renews the creation every day continually how great are thy works o lord in wisdom thou hast made them all the earth is full of thy possessions o king thou alone has been exalted in times past praised glorified and extolled from days of old o everlasting god and thine abundant mercies have mercy upon us rock of our stronghold shield of our salvation oh thou stronghold around us the blessed god who is great in knowledge hath designed and made the radiance of the son the beneficent one hath brought glory unto his name he had said luminaries round about his strength chiefs of holy hosts continually declare the high praises of the almighty the glory of god and his holiness be thou blessed o lord our god for the excellency of thy handiwork and for the bright luminaries which thou has made they shall glorify thee be thou blessed our rock our king and redeemer creator of holy beings praise be thy name forever o our king creator of ministering angels who stand in the heights of the universe and together proclaim with all alive the words of the living god and everlasting king all of them are beloved all of them are pure all of them are mighty and all of them in dread and all do the will of their master all of them open their mouths in holiness and purity with song and song and bless and praise glorify and reverence sanctify and ascribe sovereignty to the name of god the great mighty and awful king holy is he and they all take upon themselves the yoke of the kingdom of heaven one from the other and they give leave one until the other to declare the holiness of their creator in tranquil spirit with pure speech and holy melody they all respond in unison and exclaim with all holy holy holy is the lord of hosts the whole earth is full of his glory [Applause] [Music] is [Applause] is [Applause] for sin and young [Applause] [Music] me [Music] angry with me [Music] deliver me not in the hands of a mine teach me walk through [Music] [Applause] is [Music] me [Music] my god foreign here oh israel the lord is our god the lord is one one is our god great is our lord holy is his name blessed be the name of his glorious kingdom forever and ever and it shall come to pass if ye hawking diligently unto my commandments which i command you this day to love the lord your god and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul that i will give you the reign of your land in his due season the first rain and the latter rain that thou mayest gather in thy corn and thy wine and thine oil and i will send grass in the fields for thy cattle that thou mayest eat and be full take heed to yourselves that your heart be not deceived and ye turn aside and serve other gods and worship them and then the lord's wrath will be kindled against you and he shut up the heaven and there be no rain and that the land yield not her fruit unless ye perish quickly from off the good land which the lord gives you therefore shall we shall ye lay up these my words in your hearts and in your soul and bind them for a sign upon your hand that they may be as frontlets between your eyes and ye shall teach them to your children speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house and when thou walkest by the way when thou lie is down and when thou risest up and thou shalt write to them upon the doorpost of thine house and upon thy gates that your days may be multiplied in the days of your children in the land which the lord swear unto your fathers to give them as the days of the heaven upon the earth hear o israel oh [Music] [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] which is the holy city where the lord shall appear in his glory [Applause] unto the lord the glory that [Music] his is name singing singing unto the lord [Music] is [Music] foreign [Music] for out of the shall go for the lord and the word of the lord from [Music] [Music] [Music] the lord the lord the lord our god [Applause] the [Music] lord the lord our gods [Music] hey lord [Music] [Music] holy [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] oh raise me to him [Music] [Applause] uh [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] is is [Laughter] is [Music] [Applause] um [Music] responsive reading true and faithful is all of this and it is established with us that he is the lord our god and there is none besides him and that we israel are his people it is he who redeemed us from the hand of kings he is our king who delivered us from the hand of all the terrible ones the god who on our behalf dealt retribution to all our adversaries and required all the enemies of our soul who does great things grass who is like unto thee oh lord among the mighty ones who is like unto thee glorious in holiness fearful in praises doing wonders my children be held by sovereign power as i'll disclaim the sea before moses they exclaimed this is my god and said the lord shall reign forever and ever and it is said for the lord hath delivered jacob and redeemed him from the hand that was stronger than he blessed art thou o lord who has redeemed israel calls us o lord our god to lie down in peace and raise us up o our king unto life and spread over us the canopy of thy peace direct us with thy castle and save us for the sake of thy name r [Laughter] is good bring my soul out of trouble [Applause] [Laughter] oh bring my soul out of trouble i shall be happy happy [Music] my happy i shall be happy happy happy see my soul saved from the fiery flame i shall be happy happy happy all my days i shall be happy happy happy all my days i shall be happy happy from the fiery flames i shall be happy so happy happy all my days i shall be happy and be happy happy i shall be happy from the i shall be happy happy happy all my days [Music] [Music] yes [Laughter] i shall be happy so happy happy so happy happy happy eternal god open thou my lips that my mouth may declare thy praise amidah blessed art thou lord our god who bestow us loving-kindness who remembers the good deeds of our forefathers and who will bring a redeemer to their children's children for the sake of thy name remember us to life o king inscribe us in the book of life for thy sake o ever living god blessed art thou o lord shield of abraham thou art mighty forever thou reviveth the dead thou art powerful to save thou sustainest the living supporters the falling the sick set us the captives free and keepeth faith with those who sleep in the dust who is like thee oh lord our god thou art holy and thy name is holy and holy being praise thee daily for there is no god but thee thou lord our god has graciously given us this day of atonement wherein our iniquities are to be pardoned and forgiven a holy festival in remembrance of the exodus from egypt our god and god of our fathers pardon our iniquities on this day of atonement block out and remove our transgressions and sins from thy sight as it is said i will forgive their iniquity and i will remember their sin no more on this day shall atonement be made to cleanse you from all your sins shall you be clean before the lord oh lord our god inscribe thy people of thy covenant for a happy life grant abundant peace to israel thy people forever for thou art the king and lord of peace may we and all israel thy people be remembered and inscribed before thee in the book of life for prosperity for blessing and for peace blessed art thou o lord the author of peace o lord our god hear our cry and spare us have mercy upon us and accept our prayer cast us not away from thy presence our father forgive us for we have sinned our king pardoned us for we have transgressed oh pardon the sin of this people according to thy abundant kindness and thy tender mercy for thou o lord are truly kind forgiving and merciful to all who call upon thee hear our prayer o lord and let thine ear be attentive to the voice of our supplications amen answer me and answer me when i [Laughter] cry with my voice when i cry with my voice answer me when i cry thee hear o lord when i cry with my voice unto thee [Music] upon me answer me when i cry [Applause] [Music] oh when i cry with my voice when i cry unto thee hear o lord when i cry with my voice [Music] when i cry when i cry with my voice soul upon me and answer me and answer me when i cry [Laughter] hear o lord when i cry with my voice me and answer me when i cry we are brazen face but thou art merciful and compassionate we are stiff-necked but thou art long-suffering we are full of sin but thou art full of mercy as for us our days are as a shadow but thou art immutable in thy years never ending our god and god of our fathers let our prayer come before thee hide not thyself from our supplication for we are not arrogant and stiff-necked that we should say before thee oh lord our god and god of our fathers we are righteous and have not sinned verily we have sinned we have trespassed we have dealt treacherously we have robbed we have spoken slander we have acted perversely and have wrought wickedness we have acted presumptuously we have done violence we have framed lies we have counseled people we have spoken falsely we have solved we have provoked we have rebelled we have committed iniquity we have transgressed we have committed abomination we have gone straight and we have let others astray we have turned away from thy commandments and thy judgments that are good and they have not profited us but thou art righteous in all that have come upon us for thou acted truthfully but as for us we have done wickedly we have acted wickedly and have transgressed where therefore we have not been saved oh incline our hearts to forsake the path of wickedness and hasten thy salvation unto us as it is written in the hand of thy prophet let the wicked person take his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return unto the lord and he will have mercy upon him and unto god for he will abundantly harden [Music] be as scarlet they shall be as warm as snow oh they be brave [Music] [Music] oh wash you and make you clean all evil [Music] wash you wash you and make you clean [Music] wash you and make you clear [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] please [Music] they shall be as wise [Applause] [Music] all [Music] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] now may be thy will lord our god and god of our fathers to forgive all our sins to pardon all our iniquities and to grant atonement for all our transgressions for the sin we committed in thy sight forcibly or willingly and for the sin we committed against thee by acting callously for the sin we committed in thy sight unintentionally and for the sin we committed against thee by idol for the sin we committed in thy sight by lustful behavior and for the sin we committed against a publicly or privately for the sin we committed in thy sight knowingly and deceptively and for the sin we committed against thee by offensive speech for the sin we committed in thy sight by oppressing a fellow man and for the sin we committed against thee by evil thoughts for the sin we committed in thy sight by lewd association and for the sin we committed against thee by in sincere confession for the sin we committed by contempt for parents or teachers and for the sin we committed against thee willfully or by mistake for the sin we committed in thy sight by violence and for the sins we committed against thee by defaming thy name for the sin we committed in thy sight by evil impulse and for the sin we committed against thee wittingly or unwittingly for the sins we committed in thy sights by fraud and falsehood bribery slander scornful defiance sordid selfishness tail bearing groundless hatred etc etc etc forgive us all sins o god of forgiveness and grant us atonement our god and god of our fathers forgive and pardon our iniquities on this day of atonement oh be thou entreated for us forgive our transgressions and our sins and cause them to pass away before thine eyes subdue our hearts to serve thee and bend our will to turn to thee renew our reigns to observe thy precepts and circumcise our hearts to love and revere thy name as it is written in thy law and the lord thy god will circumcise thy heart in the heart of thy seed to love the lord thy god with all thine hearts and with all thy soul that thou mayest live amen return unto me foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] me [Applause] as [Music] [Applause] me [Applause] foreign amen and amen under the the burden of the the list of all of our sins under that burden we now turn to the reading of the scripture by sister elder elaine franklin of belleville virginia 23 and verses 26 through 32 and the lord spake unto moses saying also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement it shall be in holy convocation unto you and ye shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire unto the lord and ye shall do no work in that same day for it is a day of atonement to make an atonement for you before the lord your god for whatsoever so it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day he shall be cut off from among his people and whatsoever so it be that doeth any work in that same day the same soul will i destroy from among his people ye shall do no manner of work it shall be a statue forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings it shall be unto you a sabbath of rest and ye shall afflict your souls in the ninth day of the month at eve from eve unto eve shall ye celebrate your sabbath our second scripture comes from joel chapter 2 verses 12 through 18. therefore also now saith the lord turn ye even to me with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping and with mourning and rin your heart and not your garments and turn unto the lord your god for he is gracious and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and repentance him of the evil who knoweth if he will return and repent and leave a blessing behind him even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the lord your god blow the trumpet in zion sanctify a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people sanctify the congregation assemble the elders gather the children and those that suck the breast let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber and the bride out of her classic let the priests the ministers of the lord weep between the porch and the altar and let them say spare thy people o lord and give not thine heritage to reproach that the heathen should rule over them wherefore should they say among the people where is their god then will the lord be jealous for his land and pity his people so ended the reading of the two verses [Music] the lord is my shepherd i shall not want he may get me to lie down is the lord is my shepherd i shall not watch he may give me [Applause] [Laughter] besides the waters of [Music] of righteousness for his namesake for his namesake for his namesake for his name i will fear no evil oh [Music] me me me with [Music] mercy shall follow me all the days and i will dwell in the house of the lord [Laughter] [Music] life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever said mercy shall follow [Applause] [Music] house me the lord forever [Music] amen and amen surely goodness and mercy oh i had to hear that after after that heavy weight of those sins laid on us surely goodness and mercy nevertheless goodness and mercy shall follow us it is now my pleasure to present to give us the sermon for this morning evangelist joseph weatherford of richmond virginia vanessa weatherford thank you chief rabbi thanking god almighty for allowing us to be here though virtually but still granting us the privilege and opportunity to atone for our past sins thanking him for giving us a chance to get this thing called life right one more time thanking him for the sending and receiving of prophet william sanders crowdy and thanking him for the gift of our grand and noble leader chief rabbi phillip eugene mcneill grandfather abraham to all of the ministers members and friends who have joined in on this service i greet you shalom malacca if you will allow me to take a few moments to just skip across the 4 and 20th chapter of joshua verses 14 and 15 where it says now therefore fear the lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your fathers serve on the other side of the flood and in egypt and serve ye the lord and if it seemed evil unto you to serve the lord choose you this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father served that were on the other side of the flood or the gods of the amorites in whom's land ye dwell but as for me and my house we will serve the lord for the next few moments if we can use for a thought and a theme faced with two choices faced with two choices in one of my favorite poems a road less traveled robert frost wrote in part two roads diverged in a yellow wood and sorry i could not travel both and be one traveler long i stood and looked down one as far as i could to where it bent in the undergrowth and he goes on to write i shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence two roads diverged in a wood and i i took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference we are faced with many choices in life and and we and when we come to a fork in the road where two paths those seemingly slight we may think it doesn't matter which one we take but in reality at those moments the decision we make as uh robert frost said will make all the difference do we continue down the same path that has provided us with very little success and peace do we continue to try and place our square pegs into round holes or do we continue to make decisions that lead us to at best just getting by or do we take a long honest look in the mirror and make the changes in our lives that uh we've tried to avoid or procrastinate over or even pretend didn't exist do we confront those dreaded demons face to face and relieve them of their influence in our lives clean the bones out of the closet pull back the rug exposing all those things that we have swept under it all year long when faced with this fork in the road of life do we do as robert frost did and take the road less traveled you see the road less traveled is unpopular uh the the crowd doesn't choose this path because oftentimes it leads uh to peace but not popularity it leads to integrity but not fame it leads to joy but not riches uh but make no mistake about it god keeps a watchful eye on those who uh choose the path less traveled because it's the path of righteousness a righteous path on which our burdens become more bearable our problems become more solvable our relationships become uh more enjoyable and our trials become more conquerable last monday evening at the beginning of rosh hashanah we began walking down the road of introspection uh reconciliation and healing uh a road that has led us to a fork that yom kippur now presents because of our humanity we have all sinned and that sin pulls us away from our creator it causes a strain between god and his children but because we serve a god who is full of love and compassion he ordains this time of year for israel to consider his sinful acts atone and ask for another chance god is full of mercy and wants to dismantle the stronghold of sin and darkness in our lives so we can truly have a closer walk with him but we must first choose the path of righteousness we must be bold enough to go against the grain and take the first step to righteousness so god can meet us where we are and then help us the rest of the journey god wants us to strive for righteousness not perfection but righteousness each person day by day striving to do what's right that's the key to salvation salvation is that simple joshua in his last days placed one of the most imminent choices in front of the children of israel after his warning to israel about the consequences of apostasy the bible says he gathered all the tribes of israel to shechem with all the officers judges and elders and there he reminded israel of all that god had done for them from the departure of abraham abram away from his kindred to living in homes that they did not build and land that they did not have to chill let me tell you something sometimes we must pause and consider not where we're going but consider where we've come from the mountains we've climbed the valleys we've forged the rivers we've been able to cross it'll humble us because we'll start to realize that we should have never made it yet if it were not for the hand of the lord we wouldn't be here joshua had been through a lot joshua who crossed the muddy chili jordan on dry land to joshua who marched the elders around the walls of jericho and uh at god's direction blasted their trumpets and made the walls come tumbling down joshua who through god's might commanded the sun and the moon to stand still joshua knew what god could do he was fully aware of god's omnipotence he knew god and god knew him joshua saw the children of israel approaching a proverbial fork in the road where they would have to decide whether to follow the path of righteousness or head down the path of apostasy so joshua told israel now therefore fear the lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in egypt and served the lord he told them the only way israel could truly serve the lord or would be with a pure heart their intentions had to be genuine and then he laid the ultimate choice before them choose you this day whom you will serve we prayerfully started this 10-day trek with the determination that we will put all evil down now all means all this isn't a a buffet where we can pick and choose which one we're going to put down we must strive to put it all down now i know that that that's a lot of work but we can't say that we will put it all down on september 6 and start picking up the sin bit by bit on september 26 of 2016 saying the lord will understand what if this year he chooses not to understand what if this year he withholds his blessings because of our sins listen we can never be absent from god's presence but our actions can cause us to be distant from his activity but but but we're serving a gracious god a god who loves us so much that he's giving us a new chance to start all over again wipe the slate clean during this day of atonement this climatic peak to the 10 days of all god will prayerfully wipe that slate clean uh turn uh to a clean page in the book of our lives and inscribe our names for one more year but like israel vote we've come to a fork in the road because we have the unique opportunity to start over we must choose this day whom we will serve and we've got to choose it either consciously or we'll do it subconsciously but everyone must make and will make a decision will we choose the god of idols the god of economics the god of the slave mentality the god of no vision the god of self-isolation or will we choose the god prophet william saunders crowd he opened our eyes to almost 116 years ago the god of love caring and compassion the god who teaches his children to turn to aiding one another the god who is ultimately concerned about the affairs of man whom will we serve he has shown the o man what is good and what does the lord require of thee but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy god saints time is too precious september 17th isn't promised to any of us the time has fulfilled the kingdom of god is at hand repent and believe the gospel we sing serve the lord while you have the time before it is too late make your choice weigh the odds make yourself a one-person jury deliberate the evidence given on the goodness of god and at the end of this day submit your verdict to the judge but in doing so don't make any hasty decisions like a life is weighing in the balance yours and mine don't make any promises we can't keep if we choose the lord serve him not only in beautiful words but serve him in our sincere actions and deeds ecclesiastes says better is it that thou should not buy then that thou should abound and not pay we've got to take this decision very seriously because god takes our promises seriously even if we don't and a hasty decision of any sort is bound for certain failure and we can't choose god as an incentive to get something in return the god of israel is not a god of quid pro quo and we have no business trying to bargain with god while standing on the scale of atonement if he chooses to bless us that's god's business uh but we should do right because it's right to do right as bishop powers evelyn plummer once said now as we contemplate the choice that we all must make coming out of these high holy days i want to give you three points from the 24th chapter of joshua that has helped me and i hope that it helps you the first point that i want to leave with you is that we have to let go of the gods of our past let go of the gods of our past verse 14 says now therefore fear the lord serve him in sincerity and in truth and put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in egypt and serve ye the lord generational curses have plagued some of us for far too long plagued by the curse of alcohol and drug abuse plagued by the curse of hatred malice and envy plagued by the curse of adultery and fornication plagued by the curse of sexual abuse plagued by the curse of lying and bearing false witness against our neighbor plagued by the curse of stubbornness and if we are to serve god in sincerity and in truth we must stop giving these curses power over our lives just because these things may have appeared along our family tree doesn't mean that this generation must succumb to them we can and we must put them out of our lives so we can choose to serve the true and living god with sincerity so the first point is to let go of the gods of our past the second point ask yourself just ask yourself does it seem evil to do right does it seem evil to do right verse 15 starts off by saying and if it seem evil unto you to serve the lord choose you this day whom you will serve joshua told israel to worship god in sincerity and in truth and then he said in a paradoxical way uh if it seems evil to serve the lord then choose whom you will serve if it seems like a waste of time to keep his sabbath holy then you choose if it seems beneath you to observe his sacred holy days than you choose if it seems like a hassle to love your brothers and sisters with a pure heart then you choose if god's commandments are too burdensome to follow then you choose if you can't do these things wholeheartedly without half stepping then choose ye this day whom you will serve the second point i leave does it seem evil just to do right the third and final point is stop being concerned with other people's decisions as i said we all have to make a decision that decision is personal and it's individual and it's not to your neighbor it's to god so why are you concerned with what your uh what your neighbor does verse 15 ends by saying but as for me and my house we will serve the lord stop trying to spiritually keep up with what the joneses are doing and letting your own house fall apart the joneses must make up their own decision just like we do we can't base our decision on what anybody else does because when the trump sounds god isn't going to ask us well what did the joneses do he's going to say what did you do god is going to judge us based on our own individual actions so we must be concerned only with breaking up the idols in our own house sacrificing our own isaacs wrestling with our own angels crossing our own red seas killing our own goliaths confronting our own souls and building our own temples listen in 2012 denzel washington had a movie in theaters titled flight he was nominated for several awards especially the oscar that year for his role as captain william wick whitaker he was a gifted airline pilot who wrestled with uh the demons of alcoholism and drug abuse those demons cost old whip his wife his children and it almost cost them his life he almost lost it all because of his kinship to those demons after a long night of drinking and partying with his girlfriend who was also a stewardess with the same airline he had an early flight back to atlanta so to help recover from his hangover he does more drugs to balance himself out he compounded this he compounded a problem by increasing the activity that caused the problem in the first place don't judge whip because many of us have walked down that same path uh he then gets on the plane uh that he is supposed to fly with 102 lives on board due to heavy turbulence whip suspends the drinking service yet uh he goes to the galley himself and discreetly pours vodka into an orange juice bottle and drinks even more he partied last night he woke up did drugs to balance himself off and now he's on a plane that he has to fly and he's drinking more surprisingly no one knows for sure of his condition because he wrestled with his issue for so long he learned how to cover it all up let me tell you something just because a person can disguise the problem that does not mean the problem isn't still there whip ends up falling asleep in the cockpit as his younger less experienced co-pilot takes command they hear a loud metallic boom the plane is violently shaking and it wakes whip up before they realize that the plane do the mechanical film it is in a full nosedive uh whip's girlfriend tries to strap in a little boy and she ends up bumping her head and dies whip makes the heroic yet unorthodox decision to roll the plane and fly inverted to arrest the rapid descent and guess what it works he's able to roll the plane right side up and then glide the plane into a crash landing away from any heavily populated areas into a church field saving 96 of the 102 people on board throughout the movie whip tries to uh stop drinking and uh drugs uh doing drugs but to no avail until he came to a fork in uh his own road and is finally forced to confront the truth his entire adulthood he was able to lie and cheat around the truth people allowed him to get away with it because he was good at flying planes but let me tell you there will come a time in our lives uh that we will become sick and tired of being sick and tight a time when we must make a change in our lives when the status quo won't do any more and we're compelled to make that necessary change whip drunk and high is being questioned at the ntsb hearing on the events of the crash it was explained to him five of the crew members toxology reports came back three were negative his was excluded due to technical reasons and yet his girlfriend's report was the only one they could use to prove someone on that flight uh drunk the alcohol uh in two empty bottles that were flat found in the trash and whip is sitting there taking all of this in and all he had to do was tell one more lie all he had to do was pin it on his dead girlfriend and this would all be behind he can continue to fly party and lie around the truth but something happened his conscience wouldn't let him take another step down the road of sin and degradation he wanted to be free but to truly be free he could no longer hide under the canopy of falsities and to truly be free he had to let his conscience be his god uh whip then owned up to his problem admitted he drank the alcohol and he said it was as if he reached his life limit in lies and couldn't tell one more oh he lost his license he ended up in jail but he said he was truly free of those demons now why am i bringing this story up because i believe that it's an ideal story for this season we all have a sin or an issue or a problem that we must confront if we didn't we wouldn't be fasting now it may not be to whip to extent but it's still there and for us to move forward in righteousness we must face them so we can be free we we may lose a friend here or there we may lose a couple of bucks we may lose our popularity but when we choose righteousness whatever we seem to have lost god will give it back to us tenfold we entered these 10 days of our wrestling with sin and our our minds were wrapped around the mistakes we've made in the past but saints uh we can and we shall be changed changed uh because second chronicles 39 says for the lord your god is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you if you return unto him change because proverbs 28 13 says he that covereth his sins shall not prosper but whosoever confesseth and forsaken them shall have mercy changed because isaiah 55 7 says let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our god for he will abundantly pardon uh we shall change because psalms 23 6 says surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of my life and i will dwell in the house of the lord forever we shall be changed changed from the mortal to immortality in a twinkling of an eye but the choice to the change is up to us i ask the house of israel to please pray for me [Music] make the heavenly archers unto the lord make the heavenly archers [Applause] foreign [Applause] his presence is children of the heavenly kings oh [Applause] [Music] lord is [Music] [Applause] great oh children of the heavenly kings that you may be able to stay oh [Music] amen and amen and amen again let us now have closing remarks from rabbi marcus carr of washington dc given praise to the king of kings and the lord of lords to our leader chief rabbi philip e mcneil grandfather abraham the minister of body faithful members of this religious organization to our friends we have heard from on high this morning we have felt in this sermon the shaken of the foundation i was inspired and i'm sure everyone that's listening was inspired by this message this morning when you're inspired by a message you want to get up and do something and you want to do what's right you want to move forward i can go to a football game and have a good time but when i hear the word of god i'm looking for inspiration we've received that inspiration this morning by their great sermon preached to us by evangelist joseph weatherford faced with two choices we're faced with many choices but he talked about those two choices good and evil do we take the road less traveled the path let's travel is the righteous path and he put us on the righteous path letting go of the gods of our path of our past does it seem evil to do good remind us just do what is right and stop trying to keep up with everyone else powerful message you know we've been taught we need to wear this world by one of our former leaders we need to wear this world and everything in it like a loose gun for on this date of atonement yom kippur we are afflicting our souls we must fast and pray but understand that faster than praying is not enough as the preacher preached this morning we must change our behavior in isaiah chapter 58 verses 3 through 7 it reminds us of an empty fast reminding us that a empty fast is not sufficient nor acceptable before god this is the fast that god desires to share your bread with the hungry to clothe the naked as isaiah spoke about not to ignore or mistreat our brothers and sisters and not to gossip we do not serve a god who is built on the foundation of paganistic concepts but he is a god of the oppressed he proved that when he brought our forefathers out of the land of egypt and the house of bondage for what a mighty god we serve he has blessed us through this great not just a pandemic but a trident because right now today we are faced with a great economical crisis in this country with social unrest number two and the third one is that health pandemics so we are faced in this country right now with a trident but we need hope during this season a holy and righteous day that we are celebrating this sabbath day yom kippur reminds us that our life is in god's hand and he will give us hope in the midst of hurt hope in the midst of all that's going on in this world and promise and potential in the midst of pain in our suffering the book of life is open the book is still so our prayer is that god will inscribe us all in the book of life for another year may god bless you and keep you is my prayer god i will place my name for [Music] more [Music] him childhood oh [Laughter] because is is the king the king the kingdom of the king the earth of all the earth and all nations shall bow down at his feet because he is the key because he is foreign the king of all the earth is because he is his feet his feet amen and amen the house of israel to my brothers and sisters in tabernacles around the kingdom to any guests and friends who may be worshiping with us on this yom kippur morning i'm thanking the lord for for this service as as hard as it was for me to hear that list of sins and transgressions as hard as it was for me to hear them i picked out a number of them and i know you did too of which you are guilty and i am guilty evangelist weatherford brought to the fore some of the demons that you and i are facing and gave us and gave us a path a clear path speaking of the road less traveled a clear path to address those demons to the glory of the almighty god i thank you so much for that beautiful sermon and that's the purpose and and i believe that's that that's the purpose that the lord had in mind for ordaining this day so that we could hear from heaven hear his words hear his thoughts hear his path to be convicted yes but to hear his word and to become determined to change to turn over a new leap to go down another road that road less traveled we heard from evangelist weatherford and we saw from evangelist weatherford a man of of judgment and wisdom and insight and a man who can inspire a man who whom i am hereby appointing as chairman of the board of presbytery i don't know if you remember our discussion last time we we talked well that the lord had already made made his decision this this board of presbytery was instituted by god's prophet william saunders crowdy in 1898 at the first assembly of the church of god and saints of christ in emporia kansas and over the years a number of great men have occupied the position of chairman of the board of presbytery including the next to the last one who who resigned from that position and to his credit he james a parker to his credit he nurtured and groomed his successor for for this position speaking of brother james a parker he is to be credited for the outstanding service that he gave to that board over over the many years the outstanding service indeed he is to be credited for the outstanding service that he gave as local pastor of 6th 16th tabernacle bethel alexandria virginia and i personally thank him and i know many of you who've been the beneficiary of many of his acts of service acts of kindness and acts of consideration and i hereby charge evangelist weatherford with his first order his first order is to come up with a an appropriate plaque of appreciation and recognition of the many years of service that brother james a parker gave as chairman of the board of presbytery i have not selected a successor for brother parker in the in the alexandria tabernacle local pastorship have not selected his successor there but the first order of his successor in that tabernacle would be to come up with a gesture a way of acknowledging the service of giving him the appreciation that is due him for the service that he's rendered and i give an order to the the general congregation that you respect his wishes by permitting him to operate inside of the church of goddess antichrist with a measure a full measure of dignity now we don't normally give plaques to individuals who resign positions but this is a special case and this is a special season and so i i hereby order those things to occur but brothers and sisters make no mistake about it the church must roll on the church must roll alone must roll along with with dignity must roll along with kindness and consideration the church must roll on in this rarified air of repentance and self-introspection and humility in this rarified air there's no room for judging anyone there's no room for rejecting anyone there's no room for condemning anyone because you and i don't want to be rejected and you and i don't want to be condemned and you and i don't want to be judged ourselves judge not says the scripture that she be not judged i'm so thankful to the to the god of our salvation for giving us this giving us this time together oh we've we've prayed and we've well we're fasting we've prayed and we've fast and we've and we've we've read the scripture we've searched ourselves and we've tried our best to to repent we've we've confessed we we we've given the lord an offering a sincere offering and we've done all that we can do and now the our case now our case is in the hands of the righteous judge and on this afternoon in this afternoon service we will we will do one final gesture as mandated by the scriptures i as high priest of this august body will go with trepidation into the holy of holies and pray for my sins first of all and pray for the sins of my family and pray for your sins and ask the lord to give us another chance lord will you give us another chance we we lord we're going to do better i feel we're going to do it's going that the church is going to be better corporately and individually if it's to do if it's to be better corporately it's got to first be better individually as so many of our preachers have have told us so i encourage you brothers and sisters to continue to pray continue to seek that good path that vanish weather for spoke about that path at least travel that that other that other path is easy as i said the other day is downhill a whole lot of people on it a whole lot of enticements just turn on the tv for for about five minutes and and you you you'll see some of those enticements but prophet william sounded crowded came to give us another way another path a path not well traveled not many people on this road but a path that hooks us up with the true and living god and hooks us up with the faith of our biblical israelite fathers and thereby gives us the obligation the obligation to walk upright in god's eyes so let us continue to pray brothers and sisters i'm just overjoyed with the service i'm overjoyed with the sermons that we've heard with the singing and the praying and the preaching but the but the singing and the praying and the preaching of somebody says over now it's over now it's time for some a-c-t it's time for some action so once again thank i thank all of the participants who did a beautiful job in this service i certainly enjoyed the the selection of those songs and i want to take this opportunity i i failed to do it so many times i want to take the opportunity to thank our technicians who made it possible through the goodness of the almighty god who made it possible for us to hook up in this virtual situation and it's not easy these people on my technology technological staff work hard at work night and day and they lose sleep one of them came dragging in here late this morning and not dragging in here but he came running in here and and and we had all linked hands and had started to say the benediction [Laughter] to give him a little ribbing but but but the but these people work hard and and they desire and they and they deserve our thanks and our praise of course god almighty is at the helm but they are working with the almighty to make sure that to make sure that we can have these services to pray and preach and sing with one another to fellowship with one another until such time and that time is coming until such time as we can worship together sing and pray and preach and hug one another together that time is coming and i'm and i'm praying for it i'm asking the lord to give us some relief from this terrible dread pandemic so as we close this service let's close it on a note of thanks on a note of praise and let's prepare for one final service this afternoon at 3 p.m where we'll have our closing ceremony and a part of that sermon will be my going into the holy of holies and giving a final prayer so let us close the service with one final musical selection after which we'll hear the mizpah from elder stevie marshall [Applause] hello [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] oh [Applause] [Applause] oh welcome shalom god bless and keep you this is my prayer we we're just we're just standing here just praising and glorifying the god of our salvation reluctant to even to even leave just thinking about the goodness the goodness of the almighty god and and make no mistake about it brothers and sisters god himself is at the helm god himself is at the helm of the church of god and saints of christ i'm i'm simply his his handmaiden and and i say handmaiden deliberately i'm just simply his handmaiden striving to do his work for the sake of the congregation god bless and keep your peace be under thee until three o'clock you

Channel: Church of God and Saints of Christ

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Keywords: Church of God and Saints of Christ, COGASOC, Temple Beth El, Belleville, Phillip McNeil, William Crowdy, William S. Crowdy, Howard Plummer, Howard Z. Plummer, Israelites, Black Jews, Judaism, Hebrew, Sabbath, Bible, Torah, Commandments, Passover, Jewish, William Saunders Crowdy, Jews for Jesus, Messianic Jews, Prophecy, Saints, Robert Grant, Robert Stallings, Corey Hendricks, Bishop Stallings, Bishop Grant, Bishop Hendricks, Church of God, Bishop Plummer, jehu crowdy, Yom Kippur

Id: Xb7luiqLyrY

Length: 146min 40sec (8800 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 16 2021