Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000046
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00:00 (Island Music) PB: Hello. My name is
00:01 Dr. Carlton Byrd and I'm the speaker director 00:04 of the Breath of Life television ministry. 00:07 Right now I'm standing on the beautiful island of Bermuda. 00:11 That's right, Breath of Life is in the county of Bermuda. 00:14 This wonderful island nation of 20 miles long, pink sand, 00:19 beautiful beaches, palm trees, it's just paradise on earth. 00:25 But when I think about how beautiful it is, I say to 00:28 myself, God must have something even that much 00:31 better for us because the Word of God says, eyes have not 00:34 seen, neither have ears heard the things that God hath 00:38 prepared for them that love him. 00:40 Heaven is going to be that much better than this, and 00:44 while I can come here and vacation, I can come here and 00:46 swim and jet ski, we've come, Breath of Life has, to preach 00:51 the Word of God. 00:53 That's right, we're here for their Campmeeting and we're 00:55 preaching that Jesus Christ loves us and he is 00:59 soon to return. 01:01 May God bless you as you watch as we minister to you 01:05 to tell a dying world that Jesus saves. 01:09 ♪ (Music) ♪ ♪ (Theme Song) ♪ 01:15 ♪ Jesus is worthy ♪ ♪ oh yes, he's worthy ♪ 01:23 ♪ worthy of all... ♪ ♪ All The Praise... ♪ 01:30 PB: I'm Dr. Carlton Byrd and I'm speaker director of 01:35 the Breath of Life telecast and I've been enjoying myself 01:40 all week long on the wonderful island of Bermuda. 01:44 I am here for the Bermuda Conference camp meeting and 01:46 we're here to praise the name of Jesus. 01:50 If you don't do it, the people in Bermuda will do it. 01:54 Praise me to God. 01:57 Today I am grateful for the invitation of Dr. Jeffrey 02:02 Brown and his lovely wife, the invitation that is mine to 02:06 come with my wife and our children to share our 02:08 ministry. 02:10 But not only Dr. Jeffrey Brown and the workers and pastors 02:12 and members of the Bermuda Conference, we are grateful 02:15 today that the premier of Bermuda is in our presence 02:21 today, and Breath of Life is grateful that we have in our 02:26 presence in worship the Honorable Paula Cox and her 02:31 husband, Mr. Germain Nkeuleu. 02:34 Let's give them a big round of applause. 02:38 Praise be to God. 02:40 God bless you. 02:41 Amen. 02:43 We're ready to hear the Word, and if it's not in the Word, 02:46 it doesn't deserve to be heard. 02:49 Isaiah 8:20 says to the law and to the testimony, if they 02:54 speak not according to this Word, it is because there is 02:59 no light in them. 03:03 And so we preach the Word of God. 03:06 I make no apologies for the Word of God. 03:08 God's Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. 03:14 Thy Word have I given my heart that I might not sin against 03:20 thee. 03:21 Having said that, let's go to the Word. 03:24 We have simply one verse of one count. 03:28 Romans. 03:30 What book did I say, everyone? 03:31 Romans, Chapter 12, and we're going to verse 1. 03:35 Romans 12:1, familiar text in scripture so we all can 03:46 remember it today. 03:48 The Word of God through the Apostle Paul says, "I beseech 03:53 you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye 03:59 present your bodies a living," what, everybody? 04:06 Come on, a living what, everybody? 04:09 "Sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your 04:11 reasonable service." One more time because repetition 04:15 deepens the impression. 04:17 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of 04:20 God, that ye present your bodies a living," what? 04:25 "Sacrifice, holy," and acceptable unto whom? 04:27 "God, which is your reasonable service." Today we want to 04:31 talk about this living sacrifice. 04:35 God's now come in the midst. 04:37 We feel you, we sense you, we know you are here, but we want 04:41 your anointing to break loose today. 04:45 So, God, I pray that you be glorified. 04:48 I pray your people be edified. 04:50 And I ask that the devil be horrified. 04:55 God, let some drops fall on us today. 04:59 Hide me behind your cross, forgive me of my sins. 05:02 When the appeal is made, I pray that men, women, boys and 05:06 girls will come and give their lives to the Lord Jesus 05:10 Christ. 05:14 It's in his name we pray. 05:17 Let everyone who loves Jesus say Amen. 05:21 And Amen. 05:22 Living sacrifice. 05:24 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of 05:28 God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, 05:33 holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable 05:39 service." It is this great gospel writer himself, the 05:45 Apostle Paul who is responsible for most of the 05:48 New Testament theology that we possess today. 05:52 The Apostle Paul is speaking in the text, writing to his 05:56 brothers and sisters in Rome, in order that they might have 06:00 a deeper and more holistic understanding of who God is 06:04 and what God is able to do, because in case you didn't 06:09 know, God is able. 06:11 Now Paul was zealous. 06:14 Even before his conversion, even before he was Paul, even 06:18 when he was Saul, concerning the law, Paul was zealous. 06:23 In fact, Paul was a Pharisee and he was respected by the 06:28 Scribes and Pharisees of his day because of his zeal. 06:33 But not only was Paul zealous, Paul was smart. 06:37 He was a man who was articulate, intelligent and 06:39 well endowed to verbalize his various positions and 06:42 attitudes among the greatest thinkers of his time. 06:47 In our every day vernacular, Paul was a bad boy. 06:52 Some theologians report that Paul was multilingual, that he 06:56 was able to speak at least five different languages. 07:00 When Paul went into a city he was welcomed at the courts of 07:04 the great thinkers who were aged men of great wisdom 07:07 gathered to espouse and to explain various ideologies and 07:11 concepts of his time. 07:14 Paul was in a class all by himself. 07:18 Even before his conversion, he was zealous about what he 07:24 believed. 07:25 He was a zealous sinner. 07:26 He describes himself, in fact, as chief among sinners. 07:31 But he was not the kind of sinner who was a sinner 07:34 because of his depravity, debauchery or his decadence. 07:37 Paul was a sinner because he was zealous in religious 07:41 ideologies that made him persecute Christians. 07:45 Paul was zealous for persecuting them. 07:49 One theologian suggests that it was Paul who held the coats 07:52 of those men while they stoned Stephen. 07:57 Even as a young boy, Paul came up trying to defend Judaism in 08:01 its most original form against this new ideology called 08:05 Christianity. 08:08 Paul was a Christian killer. 08:11 Going up and down the road, high and low, looking for 08:16 anybody who was praying to Jesus. 08:19 He would take them out. 08:22 He was robust and radical, mean and malicious. 08:26 He was a terrorist of his day against Christianity. 08:32 The Bible teaches that one day he was going down the road to 08:37 Damascus and he was going down the road to kill some 08:40 Christians, when the Bible says that he was interrupted 08:43 by a force that he had never encountered before. 08:46 That on the way to Damascus Paul saw a great light, a 08:51 light that knocked him off his beast. 08:55 He fell down to the floor and Paul said, what is this? 08:58 The voice said, "It is Jesus, whom thou persecuteth. 09:05 It is hard for thee to kick against the prince." Let me 09:10 throw this in. 09:12 Lesson number one for us today, nobody is so big that 09:17 God can't bring them down. 09:18 Do I have a witness in this place? 09:20 You can be on your high horse, but God can bring you down to 09:25 your knees. 09:26 But not only did God bring him down, but God brought down 09:30 Paul into total submission until the Paul whom all the 09:35 church was terrified with, when he got up off the ground 09:38 and knocked the dust off his knees, Paul was humble. 09:42 Number two lesson for us today. 09:45 God will humble you. 09:47 Paul was humbled, Paul was quiet, Paul was ready to be 09:51 taught, Paul, who had been such a terror to the 09:56 Christians. 09:57 God had to speak to Ananias in the church at large and say, 10:01 don't be afraid of him, because he was a known 10:04 murderer. 10:05 Because, you see, they knew him when, and sometimes when 10:10 people know you when, they won't accept you now because 10:15 they don't believe what God has done in your life. 10:19 But you better tell somebody. 10:21 I may not be all that I need to be, but praise God I'm not 10:27 what I used to be. 10:29 Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. 10:34 Hallelujah, somebody. 10:36 God brought Paul to a place of humility and sent him of all 10:39 people to minister to the Gentiles. 10:41 It was Paul, my friends, whom God used. 10:44 Not the other disciples who had walked with Jesus. 10:47 It was Paul, not the disciples who had been with Jesus, been 10:51 there when Jesus turned water into wine, been there when he 10:54 raised Lazarus from the dead, been there when he healed 10:58 Jairus' daughter, been there when he healed blind 11:01 Bartimaeus by the wayside, been there when he healed the 11:04 woman with the issue of blood. 11:06 No, God didn't use any of them, but God used Paul. 11:10 Lesson number three. 11:12 You know God has a habit of using other folk that people 11:15 don't like. 11:22 He does that purposefully so people cannot take credit for 11:26 who you are. 11:28 God often uses the ostracized, the isolated, the alienated 11:31 and the hated. 11:34 That's the very one that God often uses. 11:37 Today, where would we be without the Apostle Paul? 11:41 Most of the New Testament epistles are granted to us 11:43 from Paul's pen. 11:44 We've heard it all the time, I may not be able to sing like 11:48 they do, I may not be able to preach like Paul, but, you 11:51 know what? 11:52 I'm not so sure that Paul was a great preacher, but I am 11:55 sure that he was a great writer. 11:59 I'm not so sure, friends, that he was a great preacher, 12:02 because one time the Bible records that Paul was 12:05 preaching and he got so bad that a man fell asleep and 12:08 fell out the window and broke his neck. 12:11 And let me tell all the preachers out there, when 12:16 you're preaching and it's so bad that somebody falls out of 12:18 the window and breaks their neck, you need to bring the 12:21 sermon to a close. 12:22 Do I have a witness in this place? 12:25 And so, I'm not so sure he was a great preacher, but he was a 12:31 powerful man. 12:33 Because, even when the man broke his neck, Paul, the 12:36 Bible says, went downstairs, laid hands on the man, woke 12:42 the man up from the dead, Paul came back upstairs and went to 12:46 preaching again. 12:48 What a mighty God we serve. 12:50 Angels bow before him. 12:51 Heaven and earth adore him. 12:55 What a mighty God we serve. 12:57 Hallelujah, somebody. 12:58 It is Paul who teaches us that I am not a ashamed of the 13:03 gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God unto 13:08 salvation. 13:09 It is Paul who teaches us, for we know that all things work 13:11 together for good to them who love the Lord and are the 13:13 called according to his purpose. 13:16 It is Paul who teaches us that great is the mystery of 13:17 godliness for God which manifested in the flesh, 13:19 justified in the spirit, seen of angels, 13:22 preached as the Gentiles, believed on in the world 13:25 and received up into glory. 13:27 It is Paul who teaches us that we know if we have this 13:30 earthly house or tabernacle which shall be dissolved, 13:33 we do have another building, eternal in the heavens, whose 13:36 builder and maker is God. 13:38 It is Paul who teaches us that I can do all things through 13:41 Christ which strengtheneth me. 13:43 It is Paul who teaches us that the wages of sin is death, but 13:46 the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our 13:49 Lord. 13:50 It is Paul who teaches us the truth about God and the state 13:54 of the dead. 13:55 "Behold I'm telling you a mystery, we shall not all 13:59 sleep, but we shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling 14:02 of an eye, for the Lord himself shall descend from 14:05 heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, the 14:09 trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 14:12 Then we which are alive remain shall be caught up together 14:15 with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so 14:17 shalshall we ever be with the Lord." It is Paul who teaches 14:22 us that the Lord gave some to be apostles, some prophets, 14:25 some pastors, some teachers, some evangelists for the work 14:30 of ministry until we all come into the unity of faith. 14:33 It is Paul who teaches us the kind of truth that makes hell 14:36 nervous and demons tremble. 14:37 It is Paul who causes us to understand that God has not 14:42 forgotten us and we should comfort one another with the 14:45 same comfort by which we have been comforteth. 14:48 It is Paul who makes us to know that we cannot compare 14:50 ourselves with one another because in so doing we are not 14:52 wise. 14:53 It is Paul who teaches us the profound principles of 14:56 scripture. 14:57 It is this intellectual, articulate, profound Paul who 15:02 judged cities with the letter, wrote down letters that 15:05 changed the entire city, that is preaching here in this 15:07 text. 15:09 It was Paul who was even stoned to death. 15:12 The Bible says even death couldn't take him out. 15:16 He shook death off his clothes, walked away from 15:18 death. 15:20 It was Paul who ended up on the coast of Melita stoned and 15:23 left lying for dead, but Paul gathered up some sticks, got 15:26 bitten by a snake, shook the snake off and started 15:30 preaching. 15:34 I told you, Paul was a bad boy. 15:38 Paul was so full of the Word, that even when he was dying he 15:42 was still preaching. 15:43 When he was dying he told his understudy, Brother Timothy, 15:47 Timothy, bring me some paper because the Holy Ghost is 15:49 still talking to me. 15:50 All the way down to the grave he was good to the last drop. 15:54 It was Paul who told Timothy, now the time of my departure 15:58 is at hand. 15:59 I've fought a good fight, I've kept the faith, now is laid up 16:04 for me a crown of righteousness. 16:06 Do I have a witness in this place? 16:09 And so while I read all that it then concerns me, why would 16:15 Paul get on his knees and say, I beseech you, brother, by the 16:23 mercies of God. 16:26 Now the word beseech means to beg. 16:29 It means to what, everybody? 16:30 Beg. 16:31 What would bring Paul to his knees? 16:34 What would make Paul beg? 16:38 Paul was not the kind of man who fell down on his knees and 16:40 begged anybody to do anything. 16:41 But yet in the text he says, I beg you therefore. 16:49 What is he talking about? 16:51 What is the context to which he speaks? 16:53 Well, we read and we do Bible study, 16:54 we can't prove the text of scripture, because if you're 16:59 not careful you will make scripture say whatever 17:02 you want it to say. 17:04 I can't just read one text to find the context. 17:09 I've got to read the history surrounding the text. 17:13 So if I'm going to understand Romans 12:1, I've got to go 17:18 back and understand first, Romans 1:1. 17:23 But can we go back? 17:25 In Romans 1, Paul runs into heathens who have no Bibles. 17:30 He says to them they should have seen God in nature, that 17:32 creation attests to the creator, by looking at the 17:35 things that God created. 17:36 And yet they looked at the things that God created and 17:39 failed to acknowledge God, worshiping creation instead 17:41 of worshipping the creator. 17:43 In Romans 2, Paul begins to deal with religious folk 17:47 and he says, why are you all self-righteous one that would 17:51 look at the heathen and turn up your noses and judge them. 17:54 Paul goes against pride, idolatry and 17:59 self-righteousness. 18:01 You know, the kind of things that happen to church folk 18:04 when they think they are superior. 18:06 Not here, but somewhere else. 18:07 In Romans 3, Paul sums up unbelief and says that the one 18:13 on the inside is no better than the one on the outside, 18:16 that the cross is the equalizer and that with 18:20 humility we can all come before God. 18:22 Paul is saying that a religious man needs the blood 18:25 of Jesus just like the whore and the whoremonger, just like 18:29 the drunkard and the drug dealers do. 18:32 I know this is not positive, I've got to preach it anyway, 18:34 because some folk try to make you think that since they've 18:37 never smoked, they've never drunk or chewed, that they 18:39 don't need the blood of Jesus. 18:41 But the devil is alive, the truth is we all need the blood 18:47 of Jesus to reconcile us unto God because all of us have 18:50 sinned and come short of the glory of God. 18:54 That's why the truth is, I know the blood was for me. 18:57 Paul goes on. 19:01 Romans 4, Paul reminds you that God took a man named 19:04 Abraham and waited until his body was old and dead and when 19:10 Abraham's body was old and dead, he was impotent. 19:13 Now back in those days, there was no Viagra. 19:18 But before there were blue pills, there was faith in God. 19:21 Are you hearing what I'm saying? 19:23 Paul said in Romans 4 that God waited until Abraham's body 19:26 was old and dead, when he could no longer produce a 19:31 seed, God gave him a seed. 19:33 I know it was God's seed because when it hit Sarah's 19:36 dead womb it quickened it to life back again. 19:42 When Sarah had to move that walker out of the way and 19:45 start knitting some booties because she was pregnant. 19:49 Are you hearing what I'm saying? 19:51 What am I saying? 19:53 Next lesson. 19:54 God doesn't care what time it is in your life, when God gets 19:57 ready to bless you. 19:58 God will bless you at any age or stage in your life. 20:02 Do I have a witness in this place? 20:05 So do me a favor. 20:06 Turn to your neighbor which may be your husband or wife, 20:09 turn to them, tell them, it's not too late. 20:17 So if we see some little Johnnies and Marys next year 20:19 at camp meeting, we'll know what happened. 20:21 Do I have a witness in this place? 20:23 And then in Romans 5, Paul says, therefore being 20:33 justified by faith, we have peace with God. 20:36 It's Romans 5 that begins to speak on the power 20:39 of justification, that being justified in God, we have 20:42 peace with God. 20:43 Romans 6, I like this, Paul teaches that baptism 20:48 commemorates Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, 20:51 not worship on the first day just because Jesus 20:55 rose on the first day. 20:57 In Romans 7, it's my text, because Paul begins to deal 21:01 with the trouble that we have. 21:02 He says, that which I do, I do not. 21:08 That which I would not do, that I do. 21:11 That which I hate, that I do. 21:15 For the good that I would do, I do not, for the evil which I 21:17 would not do, that I do. 21:20 O wretched man that I am. 21:22 Who shall deliver me from this body of death? 21:26 But I, thank God, that through Jesus Christ I have the 21:32 victory. 21:35 Then in Romans 8, he says, therefore now no condemnation 21:37 to those who are in Jesus Christ, who walk no longer 21:40 after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 21:41 He continues in Romans 8, we know not what to pray for as 21:44 we offer the Spirit itself make an intercession for us, 21:47 where moanings and groanings, hallelujah, that cannot be 21:49 uttered and he that searches the deep things of God knoweth 21:52 what is the mind of the Spirit for he maketh an intercession 21:54 for us according to the will of God. 21:55 He continues in Romans 8, and we know that all things work 21:58 together for good to them who love the Lord, for them who 22:01 are called according to his purpose; what shall separate 22:05 me from the love of God, neither heights nor depths, 22:06 nor power, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things 22:08 to come, nor any other creatures shall be able to 22:10 separate me from the love of God. 22:16 Paul in Romans 9, deviates from his discussion from Rome. 22:20 He begins to weep for his own people. 22:22 Paul says, I have a burden for my own people. 22:25 He makes them to understand that God does not forever cast 22:27 away his children. 22:28 He says, God is God. 22:30 God says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, I will 22:34 have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 22:36 And then in Romans 10, regardless of what I've done, 22:41 regardless of what you've done, Paul says, if thou will 22:47 confess with thy mouth and believe in thy heart that God 22:51 raised Jesus from the dead, then thou shalt be saved. 22:58 For whomsoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be 23:04 saved. 23:07 Then we get to Romans 11. 23:09 Paul helps us understand that we have only a short amount of 23:13 time left until the fullness of the Gentile period is over 23:18 and because we have only a short amount of time left, 23:22 church, we don't have time to play. 23:25 You don't have time to be petty, you don't have time to 23:28 major in minor, you don't have time to sweat the small stuff. 23:33 You don't have time to be jealous, you don't have time 23:36 to be envious. 23:38 You don't have time to hate on somebody. 23:40 You don't have time to worry about who doesn't like you. 23:42 You don't have the time to worry about he says and she 23:45 says and what they say. 23:47 You have only a limited amount of time before this 23:50 dispensation is over. 23:52 If you don't hear anything else, I beg you stop playing 23:55 church. 23:57 Stop playing games. 23:59 Stop being critical. 24:00 Stop being hindsighted. 24:02 Stop being hypocritical. 24:04 Stop being judgmental. 24:06 I beg you, I'm running out of time. 24:09 I don't have time to play games. 24:11 I'm running out of time. 24:12 I tell my church, I don't worry about what you 24:15 think about me. 24:17 I'm running out of time. 24:19 I don't have time to care about your cute dress and your 24:22 nice suit. 24:25 I'm running out of time. 24:26 So you have the biggest house in the church. 24:28 I don't care, I'm running out of time. 24:31 See, I've learned, some of us, we don't understand what makes 24:34 some folk shout. 24:35 But they don't care that you look at them funny anymore. 24:37 They don't care that they get on your nerves anymore. 24:41 They don't care that sometimes tears stream down their cheeks 24:45 in church and they walk down the aisle or they lift their 24:48 hands and they just sit there and smile. 24:51 They don't care if they're jumping up in your face. 24:52 They've been through hell and high water and they're running 24:55 out of time. 24:57 They say, he say, she say, they say. 25:01 Who is they? 25:02 I don't have time. 25:05 And so you better do it now. 25:06 Preach now. 25:08 Teach now. 25:10 Sing now. 25:12 Testify now. 25:14 Minister now. 25:15 Educate now. 25:16 Write the book now. 25:19 Start the ministry now. 25:22 Do it now. 25:23 You see, things I used to worry about when I was 18, I 25:25 don't worry about anymore. 25:28 I don't care what folk think anymore. 25:30 I used to chase down rumors, but I don't chase down 25:32 anything anymore. 25:33 I don't have time. 25:34 Believe what you want to believe, I don't care. 25:37 I don't have time. 25:38 And so, Paul says in Romans 12:1, I beseech you, brothers, 25:46 by the mercies of God, that ye present your body a living 25:53 what? 25:54 Sacrifice. 25:55 Let me back up. 25:56 I beseech your therefore, brother, by the what of God? 25:58 Mercies. 26:00 Let me stop here. 26:01 The mercies of God. 26:04 That's what Jeremiah said are new every morning. 26:09 The mercies of God. 26:11 Hallelujah for God's mercies. 26:13 Mercy is what God gives you when you don't 26:17 even deserve it. 26:18 Thank God for his mercy. 26:20 Do I have a witness in this place? 26:22 Let me stay here just a little minute. 26:24 Mercy woke you up this morning. 26:28 Mercy let me have something to eat this morning. 26:30 Mercy kept your heart beating while you were sleeping 26:33 through the night. 26:34 Mercy kept you from getting in a car wreck 26:37 on your way to camp meeting. 26:38 Everybody say mercy. 26:41 We're living in an age where people want to act like 26:43 they don't need any mercy, but somebody knows 26:45 you wouldn't be here today if it weren't for 26:47 the mercy of God. 26:49 Sitting up looking all cute, wise and other wise, you 26:52 better thank God for his mercy. 26:55 But what I like about Paul here. 26:58 Let me stay here for a little bit, because the people of God 26:59 need to understand what mercy is all about. 27:01 What I love about Paul's defense here, if you read the 27:03 text, is that Paul does not reduce God to one mercy. 27:10 But he mentions mercy in plurality. 27:15 He says mercies, morning by morning, new mercies I see. 27:23 hello i'm Dr. Carlton Byrd, Speaker Director for the 27:27 Breath of Life Television Ministries. 27:30 For the past year it has been my joy to preach the gospel of 27:33 Jesus Christ across the globe, but principally from the 27:37 sanctuary of the Berean Adventist Church 27:40 in Atlanta Georgia. 27:41 Beginning in January 2012, I will continue to preach the 27:46 gospel of Jesus Christ, and Breath of Life 27:48 will still be here, but it will come from 27:51 the sanctuary of the Oakwood University Church in Huntsville 27:54 Alabama, on the Campus of Oakwood University. 27:58 It will be the same Breath of Life, 28:00 The same preacher, The same gospel 28:02 of Jesus Christ, the same channel, 28:05 the same station, at the same time; 28:07 Just a different location. 28:09 We solicit your continued prayers, and support, as we 28:12 take this wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ, 28:16 to a dying world. 28:18 May god bless you. 28:20 ♪ Music ♪ PB: You've got to thank God |
Revised 2015-02-06