The First Church of the Seventh Episcopal District
We are grateful for your attendance at tonight’s Church Conference! Here are the results of the Trustee Election.
Bro. James A. Barr, Jr.
Bro. Carl Burch
Bro. Steven J. Capers
Sis. Crystal Gathers
Sis. Kathy W. Heyward
Sis. Cheryl M. Lawrence
Bro. Windell Lawrence
Sis. Shirley Curnell-Scott
Bro. William Scott
Sis. Carlise Shedrick
Bro. Richard Singleton
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. — Matthew 6:33 (KJV)
Join us for our Church Conference and Trustee Election on Tuesday, September 13, 2016 from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm. This Church Conference marks the start of the 2016 – 2017 Conference Year; we will be prayerfully considering the following candidates for the Trustee Board. You will be able to vote for up to ten people.
Bro. Randolph Allen
Bro. James Barr
Bro. Carl Burch
Sis. Erica Wright Campbell
Bro. Steven Capers
Bro. Moses Frost
Sis. Crystal Gathers
Sis. Kathy Heyward
Sis. Diana Hunter
Sis. Cheryl Lawrence
Bro. Windell Lawrence
Bro. Leroy Logan
Sis. LaSherrelle Mullen-Blackmon
Sis. Shaquana Randall
Sis. Shirley Curnell Scott
Bro. William Scott
Sis. Carlise Shedrick
Bro. Richard Singleton
Sis. Winifred Stroble
Sis. Brittany Washington
Sis. Eula Wise
Bro. Carl Young
For your convenience, here’s a sample ballot that you can print and bring to the Conference with you.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
We are reminded constantly about Grace, God’s unmerited favor. Grace comes from God, through Jesus Christ, and we need Grace in order to inherit eternal life. However, we seldom talk about God’s careful attention to every detail of our lives through His Grace. God’s grace is everywhere. It is impossible to miss, reject, or even hide from Grace. The Bible says, God’s Grace is sufficient for everything! He cares about every detail of our life and covers our lives with His Grace.
We can be sure that God really cares! He numbers our hairs. Jesus says, “But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” If God cares that much about our body, how much more He must care about our soul. There is nothing about our physical being that God is not keenly aware of.
God counts our steps. Job said, “Doth not [God] see my ways, and count all my steps?” God knows every step we take, and He knows where those steps take us. God knows when we break His laws, but He also knows when we stay on the straight and narrow path!
God books our thoughts. Malachi 3:16 says, “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.” We cannot hide a single thought from God! We are admonished that God knows the thoughts that come from our carnal mind but, He also knows our thoughts that come from our heart. God knows the conflict raging inside us. Thus His solution, “Think upon His name.”
God bottles our tears. David wrote, “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book? When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.” God knows every tear we shed and counts every tear precious. God knows when we are in pain, frightened or disappointed. He sees our sorrow, and He harvests our tears and mixes them with the ones Jesus shed. Yes, Jesus wept!
God takes our hands. When Israel feared that God had abandoned them, He told Isaiah to tell them, “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.” There is never a time when God withdraws His hand of protection from those who belong to Him. There is no enemy He cannot conquer. When God takes our hand we are completely outfitted with the armor of God, thoroughly filled with the spirit of God and properly anointed with the power of God. In other words, when God takes our hand, “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper!”
Finally, God supplies our needs. When Paul wrote to the struggling church in Philippi, he said, “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” What more assurance do we need that God really cares? If we trust Him, no worry will weaken us, no trial will destroy us, and no challenge will frighten us.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.
We recognize faith as the genesis of our spiritual understanding. The truth of the matter is void of faith, the Bible becomes merely another book of words. Without faith, the holy writ, though interesting and thought provoking, has little or no impact. However, when we apply faith, the Bible then becomes a valuable resource fulfilling all of our needs. All that the God we serve can and will do for us begins with faith.
Our text is evidence of the writer’s faith. He testifies that faith is so strong that he calls faith evidence. Faith for him is living proof on which we can place all of our hope. We find in another translation that faith is assurance. In this context faith is our assurance, our guarantee, if you will, upon which all else is built. In other words faith, gives us the unquestionable assurance that we belong to God, and He belongs to us.
Faith in its simplest form is merely belief. In other words, God says it, and we believe it. We believe, however, only when we let go of what we know, and apply our faith in God who knows everything. The truth of the matter is though it sounds so simple, folk continue to stumble over the idea.
You see, we listen willingly and accept what God says because we believe that God would never lie to us. Believe me, getting to that point of belief in God can often be complicated! True, for some folk, the journey from unbelief to belief is short. Some folk hear and believe immediately. Lamentably, we find for most folk believing becomes problematic as it is clouded by worldly philosophies and self-righteousness. Not as many people find faith simply by reading the Bible as do people reading other Christians. There are many around us who are watching how we behave, what we say, and, especially, how we interact with others. People around us observe our demeanor, our emotions, and our temperament. And when people see our faith in action, they want what we have.
When we begin to put our faith to work, it then takes on a new confidence. The more we use our faith, the more confident we become in our faith’s ability to sustain us. God knows we need practice to build our confidence. God strengthens us through His permissive will, allowing trials and pitfalls along the way to bolster our confidence in Him. And the more we experience with God, the more confidence we have that God is right there with us through all of life’s challenges.
The question for each of us is simply what is our faith level? Are we limping along and mumbling our miseries? Well, beloved, it is high time to put our faith to the test. If we put on our “glasses of faith,” we will see our Savior listening to every word we pray, watching every choice we make. If we are attentive, we will feel our Savior monitoring the places we go. We will understand that Jesus knows every thought we have and witnesses every moment we live. Jesus is petitioning His Father for mercy.
We are challenged to grab hold of the Solid Rock! If we would only ask, Jesus will help us deal with our temptations and our circumstances. If we would be so bold as to reach out to Him, Jesus will help us handle our fears and frustrations, our troubles, and our torments.
When we walk and talk with Jesus, He will develop in us a visible faith. The world around us will be witness to the fact that the Lord has become our anchor through any adversity and our deliverer in times of despair. Our visible faith will be all the evidence we need to prove that the Lord is real!
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Becoming a Christian can be similar in some ways to starting a new job. Similarly, there are new rules to follow and new schedules to adopt. Like on the new job, there are new people to meet and, quite possibly, a new mindset to accept. Embracing the changes can be a bit overwhelming, maybe on some level even a little scary.
Becoming a Christian could be a problem especially if not everyone in our household is saved. It could be stressful if the folk where we used to hang out are teasing us and laughing at the fact that we chose to follow Jesus Christ.
Think about it, Beloved; we chose to follow a leader who was essentially homeless, broke, and alone in His hour of need. We were not promised financial security, comfort, or stability. The truth of the matter is, what we were promised was persecution. However, in spite of everything we read and heard, we said yes to the offer of salvation. We put our name on the role and vowed to wear this new garment of servanthood.
The question is, what does all this mean? In other words, what does it mean to be a Christian? In becoming a Christian, how is it that we change our entire existence, put on a completely new image and become a whole new human being? How can we be sure it is even possible?
To help us understand this new job, this new life, this new commitment, and these new requirements, we can look at it from a life in Christ, with Christ, and for Christ perspective.
Life in Christ is the starting point. This is where we begin. Sign up day, and we have just landed the job of Christian. We are excited, enthusiastic, and on fire with new possibilities. We have come to this point with high expectations and even higher hopes.
What should we be feeling, relief, liberation, or exoneration? I contend we should feel all of that and more! Think about it; we have just started over. We have just exchanged our old life for a new one. In fact, this is our fresh start. 2 Corinthians says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” This new life means that we have been released from condemnation, set free from sentencing and banished from blame. All that stuff that weighed heavy on our heart has been lifted. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” It is as if our sin sentence has been converted to time served.
How did all this happen? How could all that guilt we have been lugging around suddenly disappear? Maybe we are not quite sure; however, we do know for sure it feels good and we owe it all to Jesus! Romans 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
We are brand new living life in Christ; next comes life with Christ. Our heart has been sanitized, but now it needs to be sanctified. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) There is a new resident in our earthly house. His name is Jesus Christ.
Our old friends will start to wonder why we are not present at some of the places we used to go and why we don’t talk like we used to talk. In fact, folk may think we are missing in action. The Bible says, “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3). That old self was buried with Christ, and we are resurrected with Christ to a new way of life our old friends won’t recognize.
Living with Christ, He helps us develop new relationships, new goals, new habits, new attitudes, and new responsibilities. Christ sets a new standard of living that begins with our heart. He teaches us how to be holy and how to follow His example. Suddenly, we find ourselves hungering and thirsting for His righteousness. We don’t worry about the past or the future anymore because God’s got us in the palm of His hands.
We are a work in progress. We are being molded and shaped for our new assignment, life for Christ! Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24). We find out that there is work to be done. We must share our testimony with the ones who have yet to hear about Christ. In the Parable of the Great Supper, Jesus tells us to “go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled” (Luke 14:23).
Christ’s love motivates us, and His Spirit anoints us. Christ’s hand guides us, and His Grace energizes us. By His wisdom and through His power, God directs us to accomplish what we could never do by ourselves. We are becoming obedient soldiers because Christ is in us and with us. We are laborers, but we are laborers together with God. We no longer live for ourselves. Christ “died for all, that [we] which live should not henceforth live unto [ourselves], but unto Him which died for [us], and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
Living for Christ God’s love is our motivation, and His Word is our inspiration. The Blood of Christ is our justification. Living for Christ we will grieve over the sin in our life instead of trying to justify it and earnestly pursue holiness as our new way of life.
The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.
I would like to use this text to take a close look at our faith. Let’s focus on the faith Paul says we ought to preach. Let us consider the faith that should be in our mouth, and in our heart, where it comes from, and how it gets deposited into our spirit.
Faith is God’s provision for us made available by His mercy and His grace. It is drawn from the unseen realm of the spirit to this natural earthly realm. The amount of faith we take out of the storehouse depends exclusively on how much we hope for. The Bible reminds us that, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for” (Hebrews 11:1).
It may be a little difficult for some folk to understand just how God’s storehouse of faith could be full of everything we need. When we try to comprehend God’s provision, our programmed minds quickly turn to the material things of life. This is true most times because we think of God’s provision as tangible sustenance. Sustenance, for the most part, we think is bread, water, shelter, finances, and other material comforts. However, God’s storehouse does not operate quite like that. The faith plan operates more like, when we desire food and shelter, God provides opportunity. When our desire is healing, God provides strength.
Hearing deposits faith into our spirit. Our hearing is God’s transport system. The Bible says, “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). The truth of the matter is no one can build a faith foundation without first hearing the Word of God. Yes, the God who can do anything could have chosen other ways to send His Word to us. However, He wanted us to be more than mere puppets without choice. Thus, God requires us to hear His Word and make a personal decision. The grand design of salvation simply says, if we hear the Word and confess that Christ is our Savior, and we believe in our heart that Christ was raised from the dead, we shall be saved. The formula for salvation simply requires that we hear and then believe.
I believe the difficulty for some folk to truly grasp the real meaning of the Word lies in its simplicity. It may sound oversimplified; however, the reality of our relationship with God is that we merely have to hear and accept God’s deposit of faith in our spirit. There is no need for us to prove our value to God. The truth is God wants us, sins and all.
So, faith is God’s provision for us, and our hearing is God’s transport system. Then, there needs to be a storage place for all that we hear. That storage place is our heart. It is the place where faith is stored. The Bible says, “for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Our heart holds all the deposited promises of God, waiting for us to make a withdrawal. To withdraw, we need but to speak the Word of faith.
Seasoned Christians make small faith withdrawals from the heart all day long without hesitation. In many little ways, we allow God’s provision of faith to take up residence in our hearts. But that heart storage is not just for the little things. It’s for the big things also.
The faith stored in our heart is good for a withdrawal when our back is up against the wall and we don’t know which way to turn. The faith stored in our heart is good for a withdrawal when we can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and when we have been kicked, ruined, weakened, or shackled by circumstance beyond our control.
When Satan has kicked us, we can make a faith withdrawal, and God will lift us up. When we have been blindsided with sin, we can make a faith withdrawal, and God will forgive us.
The Right Rev. Samuel L. Green, Sr.
Presiding Bishop
The Rev. Dr. Juenarrl Keith
Presiding Elder
The Rev. James Keeton, Jr.
Senior Pastor
Sundays:
8:00 am and 11:00 am
First Sundays, Fifth Sundays, and Special Worship Days:
10:00 am