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| Omega Baptist Church. Org |
Nicodemus one of the high priest of the Sanhedrin comes to Jesus by dark, now there are those scholars that say that the the high priest came to Jesus by dark, because it made sense to come to a noted scholar by dark, because nobody else would be coming and there you could have some free time with him. But the Holy Spirit said to me, that Nicodemus came to Jesus by dark, because many of us are in a dark place right now, many of us live in dark places. I said many of us live in dark places; many of us will be before Judge Littlejohn or somebody like him, before he retires, because we live in dark places. We mess around with dark things; our life is filled with darkness. And it is like Jesus said, Jesus uses the analogy to explain an eternal truth; He says you must be born again. Now being born again is similar to the natural process of birth, you begin before you are born you are knitted together in your mother’s womb, that’s a dark place, you are inside your mother’s womb, nobody can see you, the world can’t see you, you’re not exposed to the world or the sunlight, or anybody else ideal, while you’re knitted together in your mother’s womb. And so during that time you are in a dark place, well I want you to know, that it’s similar in the spiritual rim. You have to be born again spiritually, and before you are born again spiritually, you are in a dark place, you are in the world’s definition of stuff, you’ re watching television, and you’re doing everything that the world does, and before you are born again into the spiritual realty, you live in a dark place, but while you are in that dark place, (help me holy ghost) God is working in your life, and knitting your bones together, that’s what God does in the womb, isn’t it? In that dark place in the womb, God this just makes it simple, your hand bone is connected to your arm bone, and your arm bone is connected to elbow bone, and your leg bone is connected to your ankle bone, God knits you together. Well in your worldly life God knits us together before we are born again. Don’t discount what God did to you in the world, because God was shaping in you, a theology, and a theology means “God talk”. That is how you frame God, and how you understand God’s activity in the world, and the way you understand God’s activity in the world is related to how God’s has worked in your life, and God started working in your life, before you said yes to God. God didn’t wait for your permission to start working in your life; God was already at work in your life, before Sylvia Mosley came and said yes to God at the Omega Baptist Church. Can I tell you a story, just a little bit; I ain’t going to tell everything, because I don’t know everything. But when she was a slave to alcohol in New York City, and when the drugs were in her veins and whatever she was doing, when that was running her life, God was still at work in her life, God was still bringing her through, the reason she is here right now, is because God, was at work. God was shaping in her a theology; God was shaping in her an understanding of who he is, and what her understanding of God is, is shaped by what God brought her thru. See God didn’t bring me thru the same thing Sylvia Mosley went thru. But I’m telling you before I was born again, God brought me thru some stuff, and my understanding of God is shaped by the stuff God brought me thru, I know that God can do a thing, I know that God is real, I know that God can work, and anybody can tell you, if now I was already born again, but my understanding of God is shaped upon how God worked in my life, when God brought me out of the hospital, my understanding of God is, God can do anything, my understanding of God is shaped in a real way, I’m not talking about what somebody told me, I’m talking about what God did for me, what God did thru me, we’re shaped in our mother’s womb physically, but were also shaped in God’s womb, as God takes us thru stuff, and as God blesses us to get thru stuff, so when I said yes to God, my understanding of God was shaped by God’s activity in my life, God is at work in your life, even before you say yes to God. I want to be clear about that, I want some of yall here this morning; you don’t know why you’re here. You know just something woke you up this morning, and told you to go to Omega Baptist Church you’re still not sure why you are here, that’s God at work in your life, God woke you up this morning, God sent you here, why, because God loves you, I wish I had somebody, I know God loves you, I know that God is at work in your life. Do you have everything right yet, did you live right yet, do you walk right yet, but God is at work, and that is what I love about God, that’s why I love God, that’s why we preach in prison cells, that’s why we go to the jails, people say to me, Reverend I don’t understand how you go to the jails, other pastors don’t go to the jails, but what I know about the jails, is God does he best work when we are locked up. God is at work, God works in the womb, God is at work, God works on your life, we don’t have sense enough to understand God or his work we don’t have sense enough to understand all of this holy talk or all this talk, but God is at work, if God can work on me to get my mother off of drugs, God can work on me to get my welfare check here on time, if God can work to keep them from kicking me out of my apartment next week, if God can, God works in your life, God is real I tell you, he’s real, he works in the womb, and I’m going to say it again, God does not need our permission to work in our lives. God is at work, but Jesus says, that you must be born again, now being born again is a dangerous work, there is danger in being born. We just had a celebration yesterday for Rachel and Bethany and they are here this morning. Give God the praise. Bethany graduated from Miami Valley High School, and Rachel graduated from Spellman College and I am so proud of them, come on give God the praise, and as I begin to think about them graduating and we have just gone thru a process where all three of them went to Miami Valley High School, and I paid tuition to get them thru school and I just finished with Bethany, but I thought about the first one, I thought about Joshua, I thought about how when I was in the delivery room with his mother, don’t seem that long ago, I was in the delivery room with Joshua’s mother and she was trying to push him out, and as she pushed then his distress signals went up, and the heart monitor would go down, so his heart was stopping every time she pushed, .and then they figured out, that Joshua being the rambunctious negro that he is, had rapped himself around in the womb, an umbilical cord was rapped around his neck, and every time Vanessa would push Joshua would choke, then they had to do an emergency C section, I’m standing right there and I’m watching them, as they sedate my wife, and she’s knocked out, then they cut her womb open, then they lift Joshua out, and as Joshua was born, and everybody was excited, and I was excited to have my little boy, I was so happy, but my wife she was still laying down, she was still sedated, they had cut her womb open, and I saw my wife, but y’all forgive, I saw my wife look like a side of beef, I’m telling you the truth, that’s what we all look like, that’s what we all look like, underneath, and I saw them take my son out, and I was so proud of my son, but my wife was still there, she was still sedated, and they were sewing her wound back up, so they wanted me go over and rejoice about the birth of my son, but I was still concerned about my wife, my wife had just given birth, and so I didn’t know whether to rejoice at the birth of the son, or to minister to my wife because she was comatose right then, but what I’m trying to say is birth is a dangerous thing, but when you are born again with Jesus, that there are some relationships that you have got to cut off, there are some people that you will have to cut off, there may be your mama or your daddy, they maybe your closest relatives, but you have got to cut off, you will have to change your walk, you been walking this way, you got to turn around and walk the other way, you’ve got to be born again, but I want to tell you, and nobody told you, trust me you heard it right here, birth is a dangerous thing, and look, if you’ve been born again and ain’t nothing dangerous happened, check with God to see if it’s real, because I guarantee you, you’re gonna mess somebody up, the devil has been stacking up his portfolio in your life, and when you’re born again you explode it all, and God starts a new reality in your life. I’m talking about being born again; I’m talking about starting all over, I’m talking about God doing a new thing in my life, I wish I had somebody, somebody needs a new walk, somebody needs a new talk, somebody needs a new family, we’ll be your family, we will love and protect you, we’ll pray for you, we’ll shelter you, people been talking about you, people have done you wrong, but I guarantee if you been born again, I said born, I said it like the colored folks said, I said borne again, I love God, I said I love God, and God has changed my life, I’m talking about being borne again, but sit down for a second, sit down for a second. I want you to understand, that when you’re born again, that you have a new walk, and a new talk, but having a new walk, isn’t easy, can you show that video, I just want you to see the birth of a giraffe, the birth of a giraffe is a difficult thing, and as the giraffe he’s trying to stand, trying to make those legs work he’s trying to walk, he’ s trying to be mobile, now I want you to understand that after he gets it together, he’s using the same muscles as he did when he got started, but those muscles had to learn how to walk anew, it is going to work, I just want you to know that this giraffe, he stumbles and he stands, and that’s the way a lot of us are doing. Look at him, look at him, that’s the way a lot of us are doing in our spiritual walk. Look, you can’t be so hard on each other. He’s trying to go forward, and he’s going backwards, that’s what some of us do, and then you think it’s all over, then you think you’ve failed, then you think maybe I wasn’t born again, but I want you to know, that when God enters your life, that you’ve got to start walking differently, you’ve got to start talking differently, but when a bad word slips out of your mouth that doesn’t mean, that you have lost your religion. What does matter is that the Holy Spirit has now given you recognition of the fact that you are speaking wrong, what you ought to rejoice about is that, you say oops! Give God the praise; because you were speaking ugly and you didn’t care anything about it, God is at work in your life now! I want you to know, that it may not be smooth it may not be pretty, but God wants to be at work in your life, God wants to sort out all of the bad stuff in your life, God wants to make you new, I said God wants to make you new, I, I,I, Reverend, I don’t quite act right, I don’t quite, but your understanding is changing, but you understand that God would have you to do the right thing, and so you’ re moving down a level, but you going to walk a little clumsy at first, but you got to keep walking, you got to keep trying, don’t quit, the imbalance is the devil’s effort to try and get you to quit, to try and get you to give up, to try and get you to sit down, but you otta be just like that giraffe, he kept falling down but he kept wobbling back up, he kept trying to walk, you ought ta be like that giraffe, it ain’t pretty but it works. Now that giraffe is going straight! I want us to understand, that being born again, makes us all equal, everybody in here, you may be black, white, yellow, green, whatever, you’re were born, I guarantee and I can be a real scholar on that, I, I guarantee everybody in here was born, so if you are born again, that means that you are just as good as the preachers, and the deacons, ain’t nobody better than anybody, I said ain’t nobody better, we’re all equal at the foot of the cross, see some things I’m better at, I’m good at reading scripture, brother Reggie Sergeant can tell you when I’m on the treadmill at the gym I’m listening to scripture on the pod cast I’m pretty good at public speaking, I’m really good at trying to live a Christian life. But I need help with other stuff, Bro. Allen Kyles, who played James Brown here; he helped me to lay the tile in my kitchen, Brother Crosby who’s with the men’s ministry, he cuts my grass, my wife she did the reception for my daughters yesterday, and she ensures that I have food everyday, Brother Buycks help me to fix my cars, cause I don’t know the difference between a wrench and a screwdriver. Brother Abney works with Brother Allen to make sure the Church budget is right, because I have wisdom, but I don’t know how to add up all those X’s and O’s, and all of that stuff, see I don’t have everything but God has given everything to the body of Christ. Allow me to pastor for just a second, it’s not the stuff that makes you different, it’s not things like speaking in tongues, and things like that, see that’s just the rustle that you hear after the winds blows, but the rustle is not the wind, anybody confused, raise your hand if you are confused, when the wind blows, it’s (blowing air) and if this paper moves, that’s the reaction to the wind blowing, but the paper moving is not the wind blowing, I just want to make that clear, I just want to be clear, and see Brother H. Leo Boales he’s a scholar in New Testament, he wrote “The Holy Spirit”. I’m gonna read his quote, cause I think it makes sense, it helped me, he says concerning this matter, I’m talking about tongues, he said “there are eight writers of the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, Peter, Paul, James, John and Jude, there are 27 books of the New Testament, there are 21 books of letters written to individual Christian Churches and groups of Churches, Paul wrote 13 or 14 of these letters, there are 27 Churches mentioned by name, in the New Testament, Paul is the only writer that discussed the gift of speaking in other tongues, he wrote not a word on the subject of tongues to the Church at Rome, Ephesus, Colossians, Thessalonica, Philippi, or the letters to the Church at Galicia, he wrote a letter or letters to all of these Churches, but said nothing about the gift of speaking in tongues, neither did he mention the gift in his Epistle to Timothy, Titus, or Philemon, James did not mention the gift of speaking in tongues in his general epistle, John who wrote the five books in the New Testament, does not mention the subject, even Peter the spokesman on the day of Pentecost who evidently had the gift of speaking in tongues did not mention the subject in writing his two letters. It’s strange it is a strange omission if indeed the gift of speaking in tongues is salvific (my word). “ It’s one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit; it’s just one of the gifts! It’s the rustle, but it’s not the wind, I want you to understand I’m not talking about; speaking in tongues it is wonderful. I’ve spoken in tongues before, but it’s the rustle, it’s not the wind, and it sounds like the wind and it’s an attractive thing and before you know it everybody will be speaking in tongues. But Paul says in the 14 chapter of 1st Corinthian if you speak in tongue you ought ta have an interrupter, now Paul also says in the 14 chapter that women she keep silent in Churches, and stuff but I think it is contextual, I think that Paul was talking to the women at Corinthian, but I want to say that what I do think is that and what I know from reading the whole of the New Testament is that tongues are a gift of the Holy Spirit. Tongues are not the gift of the holy spirit, there are other gifts, being an apostle, being a prophet, being a teacher, these are all listed in the New Testament, miracles, healing, helps in administration, and tongues is listed 7th but it is one of the gifts, but it’s not the most important gift, in chapter 13 of 1st Corinthian, Paul says that the most important gift is love! He says though I speak with the tongues of angles and have not loved. That’s what charity means, Love. It’s important for us to understand this because what we want to do is be faithful to God, we want to be faithful to the word of God. So how do I know that I’m born again, I think you know that you’re born again when you really do love your neighbors; you’re not doing stuff for them, because you expect them to do for you, but you really love your neighbors, how do I know that I’m born again, I think you’re born again, when you love God, when the love of God becomes more important to you than the love of alcohol, when the love of God is more important to you than the love of cigarettes, when the love of God is more important to you than the love of drugs, when the love of God is more important to you than the love of sex when the love of God is more important to you than the love of pornography, see with that Giraffe as he was standing he was trying to walk straight but he couldn’t get it straight, you need to be born again so that God can have power over your life and God will lead you out of enslavement to sex, drugs, cigarettes, pornography, alcohol, all of that mess, and it doesn’t matter how old you are Nicodemus said when a man is old can he enter his mother womb’s a second time, Jesus said you must be born again, he wasn’t talking about age there, it doesn’t matter how old you are, but it does matter that you love the Lord your God and if you love God, God can do anything in your life, I said if you love God, God can do anything in your life, I said if you love God, God can do anything in your life but you must love God, I’m trying to figure out how do I close this sermon how do I stop preaching to you about tongues and being born again and all of that stuff, how do I wrap it up, but all I got to tell you is that if you want to be born again, that you need to love God just love God beyond what you can see, you must love God beyond this church, you must love God beyond what your family has told you, you must love God beyond what your friends say you must love God. And what I can guarantee you is that God loves you. I’m telling you, you must be born again, perhaps you’ve already been born again, but I want you to know, that maybe you are struggling a little bit, but I’m telling you if you keep walking that God will straighten out your gate, God will make a difference in your life God will enable you to walk straight. God can make a difference in your life. And when God makes a difference in your life, God will make a difference in everyone life’s around you. I don’t know how he did it, but I love the Lord my God, I love him with all my heart and my strength and I love him, and he gave me a good wife, and I love him, and he gave me a good son, and I love him, and he gave me my first daughter, and I love him, and he gave me my second daughter, and I love him, and they went to school and I love God, and they went to a school, and I said to my father, I said, they have to pay tuition, y’all mind if a testify for a minute, I said they have to pay tuition to go to that school, but my father said is it the best school I said yell, he said well what did we talk about, and my children, but I’m telling you and I love God, and I started sending my first child to that school, and I love God, and I had to do the same for my second child, and I love God, and I had to do the same for my third child, and I love God, and I never had to pay bail money, and I love God, and I never had to get them out of jail, and I love God, and they’ve been protected, and I love God, and God has blessed them, and I love God and my oldest daughter is coming back to work for the CDC, and I love God, and my son is experiencing, a God calling, don’t nobody say anything but he’s just trying to work out, what God is saying to him, and I love God, and my youngest daughter is getting ready to go to Spellman, and I love God, and God just keeps on making a way out of no way, and I love God, and I’m trying to be Pastor of the Omega Baptist Church, and I love God, and God is a making way, and God is making a way, and God is making a way, and God is making a way. The newspaper says that NCR is leaving, but I love God, the newspaper said we got the highest drug problem, in the state of Ohio, but I love God, the newspaper said that crime is bad in our street, but I love God, the newspaper said that we have got a problem, and we don’t know if we can get above it, but I love God, what is my solution, Love God with all of your heart, with all of your strength, what’s my solution? Love the Lord your God, with all of your heart, with all of your strength, Sis. Rhonda when you don’t know the answer on the exam, love God, just keep loving him, just keep working, just keep trying, God will I said God will, I said God will, I said God will make a way out of no way, I’m testify now, I have left the script, the sermon is over, I just want to talk about God goodness, I want to talk about God’s mercy, I want to talk about how good God is, I want to talk about the fact that he brought me from a mighty long way, I want to talk about the fact about how we made it so far, but what I do know is that God is a good God, what I do know is that I work for God, what I do know is, that I talk for God, what I do know is that I try to lead for God, what I do know is that if you, will put God first, in your life, I ain’t talking about a first with footnotes, and this, and this, and this, I’m talking about if you will put God first, everything else will be added, I said everything else will be added, I said everything else will be added, and if yall just give me a second. I just want to shout on the overflow, Good God all mighty, I love the Lord, My God, I love me some Jesus, I love the Lord, my God, I said I love God, I said I love God, I said I love God, I said I love God, I’m trying to leave, I trying to be, but I got to tell you again, that I love God, but they said Reverend don’t you have a bachelor’s degree, don’t you have a Jewish doctrine, don’t you have a master of divinity, and what I say is yell, and I love God, hey, hey I love God, I love God, I’m going to tell you that God is so real to me, God is so real, because at my graduation I remember, I’m just testify, and yall just testify with me, but at my graduation from divinity school, my wife was hurt, because I had given a lot to the school and work and stuff, and they gave the award for most promising student, to a girl who had never preached a sermon, and but I told her that’s alright baby, and in 2004, right before I got sick, the Lord took me back to the Colgate Rochester Divinity School and I got distinguish alumni of the year for everybody, I’m telling you about what God can do in your life! He may not do it today, he may not do it tomorrow, but God is at work! Stop listening to folks, stop listening to people, trust in God, let God lead you, I said let God lead you, let him lead you. Let God lead you, what’s that song Mary Let Jesus lead you, all the way, all the way from Earth to Glory! Let Jesus lead you. |
Pastor Ward's Sermon Audio andText
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