Participants: Carlton P. Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000119
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00:02 ♪ (Theme Song) ♪ ♪ Jesus is worthy ♪
00:11 ♪ oh yes, he's worthy ♪ ♪ worthy of all... ♪ 00:18 ♪ all the praise. ♪ ♪ (Theme) ♪ 00:20 Pastor Byrd: If you would, take your Bibles and turn 00:22 with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10, 00:26 Hebrews chapter what everybody? 00:27 Hebrews chapter 10 verses 24 and 25. 00:35 Two familiar verses of scripture for us. 00:37 Hebrews chapter 10, verses 24 and 25. 00:42 The Word of God says to us today in Hebrews 10:24-25: 00:46 If you have it let me hear you say "Amen" - The word says: 00:50 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love 00:55 and to good works: What kind of works? 00:59 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, 01:04 as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: 01:09 and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." 01:22 Why are we here? 01:25 Father in Heaven, now through your Word we seek 01:29 to answer that question. 01:30 Why are we here? 01:31 And God, we pray that the power of your Holy Spirit would speak 01:37 to us and through us, that we might say a word 01:40 for Thee to Thy people, that, God, that question 01:45 might be answered in the affirmative, 01:48 why are we here? 01:49 And God, we give you the praise, the honor, 01:53 and every single bit of the glory. 01:55 Now move, God, by your powers, sprinkle out your grace. 01:58 When the appeal time comes, move in this place. 02:03 It's in Jesus' name we pray. 02:06 Amen. 02:09 Why are we here? 02:14 As I shared a little earlier, when I consider the state 02:20 of our world today, we're in trouble. 02:26 We've got unrest in Egypt. 02:29 We've got a football player who is a multi-millionaire, 02:36 who has everything a 23-year-old could ever dream 02:41 of, cars, homes, money, but now yet he is sitting in jail, 02:49 no bail, arrested for murder. 02:54 We've got the Zimmerman trial going on in Florida, where you 02:59 need to understand that racial overtones are heavy. 03:04 Emotions are running high, the arguments have been made 03:09 both by the prosecution and the defense, 03:11 the jury is now deliberating, and in every major city 03:18 in the U.S. the nation is bracing for the aftermath 03:24 of the verdict. 03:27 Last week, 19 firefighters in Arizona lose their lives 03:32 fighting wildfires. 03:35 Which means now somebody doesn't have a father, 03:37 a husband, a coworker, they don't have a friend. 03:41 And we just say to ourselves, oh, that's so sad, 03:45 because commonplace is tragedy, and so now we become 03:47 desensitized by somebody's loss. 03:53 Then last Sabbath, a week ago today, the San Francisco 03:56 International Airport is shut down. 03:59 Asiana Airlines plane goes down in San Francisco, killing 04:03 now three people, and I just say it was nothing 04:06 but the grace of God. 04:07 Because when you look at that plane, it was supposed 04:10 to be more than three people who were killed, 04:13 and a dozen others injured. 04:16 Then, since we've seen one another last, 04:19 the Supreme Court overturns the Defense of Marriage Act. 04:23 And so what the Bible has defined as 04:26 a sacred institution between a man and a woman 04:29 is now being changed by man, which shouldn't surprise us, 04:35 because that's what man has done with God's Sabbath. 04:39 Changed what God has said into what man has said, 04:44 which further illustrates the fact that what God 04:47 instituted in the Garden of Eden, which is the family 04:50 and the Sabbath, they're both being attacked. 04:55 Compromised by man, making what is right appear 04:58 wrong and what is wrong appear right. 05:00 Syria is still out of control. 05:06 War is still rampant in the Middle East. 05:10 Crime is still on the rise in the United States. 05:13 People can't find jobs, homes are being destroyed 05:17 daily, and with all that is going on in our world, 05:20 a church-goer asks the question, "Why are we here? 05:25 What's our purpose? 05:31 Is there really a God? 05:35 Is all of this worth it? 05:38 Why do we come to church? 05:40 Why are we here?" 05:42 It's no secret today that what people 05:44 look for in church today is totally different 05:46 and radically different than what they looked for 05:48 in a church yesterday. 05:50 You see, my parents' age group --some of you went to school 05:54 with my folks, and so some of you fall in this same 05:57 category --my parents' age group went to church and whatever 06:01 was said from pulpit, whatever was preached 06:04 from the pulpit, whether you liked it or not, 06:06 you did it and you didn't ask why. 06:09 My age group now goes to church, and whatever is said 06:14 from the pulpit, while they still do it, they still ask why. 06:19 But the age group underneath me, if they even go to church, 06:26 they don't necessarily do what is said from the pulpits, 06:30 and they don't respond well to "because I said so." 06:35 They want to know why. 06:39 In case you didn't know, times have changed. 06:43 And so have people. 06:45 The needs of people are changing. 06:47 No longer can the church be an exclusive club 06:50 where the elite come to socialize and see who's 06:52 here and who's not. 06:54 No longer can the church be Showtime at the Apollo, 06:59 where it's amateur hour and any and everybody can get up 07:02 and do whatever they want. 07:04 No longer can the church operate with an 8-track 07:07 mentality in a DVD society. 07:10 No longer can the church be a place where it merely goes 07:13 along to get along, just going through the motions, 07:17 day after day, those motions of week after week, 07:20 another month, another year of recycling hymns, 07:25 restating responses, repeating events 07:30 or special days, or rehearsing the same sermons. 07:36 No longer can the church be a place that just hurls out 07:40 directions, states rules and regulations, and thinks 07:44 no one would question why it does what it does, 07:49 when it does what it does, and how it does what it does. 07:53 The needs today of people are different. 07:59 There's a phenomenon on the horizon called 08:01 post-modernism which says there are no moral 08:08 absolutes, that there is no absolute truth. 08:12 Your truth is your truth. 08:15 My truth is my truth. 08:17 You believe what you want to believe, I'll believe what I 08:23 want to believe, and as long as you stay over there 08:26 with what you believe and I stay over here with what 08:28 I believe, we'll all be fine. 08:32 People's needs are changing. 08:35 People are looking for a place where their needs can be met. 08:37 No, let me be clear. 08:38 The church I'm representing this morning is not necessarily 08:42 a building. 08:45 Because there are a lot of people in the building 08:47 but not the body. 08:49 In the sanctuary but not in the spirit. 08:53 The church rather, I grew up in the Adventist church, 08:58 and we called it a movement. 09:00 The church is a people or a movement of people who 09:04 understand spiritual things, who live in spiritual places, 09:08 because it's possible when Jesus comes back 09:10 for his church that there will be some people 09:12 still sitting in the building. 09:16 Let me be clear today as I'm being real today. 09:18 The Lord is not impressed with you because you got up 09:22 this morning, put on your clothes, 09:25 and came to this building. 09:27 Because you can still come to church but not be 09:29 a part of the church. 09:32 In case you didn't know, the devil came here today too. 09:36 As a matter of fact, the devil has a better record 09:39 of attendance than most of us. 09:41 And I want you to understand that no longer today are people 09:45 staying at churches because Momma and Daddy are there. 09:49 No longer are people staying at churches out of loyalty 09:52 or allegiance. 09:53 No longer are people staying at church because of prestige 09:56 or position. 09:57 No longer are people staying at churches just to go through 09:59 form, fashion, ritual without deliverance, healing 10:04 and breakthrough. 10:05 So, why are we here? 10:10 Why are we even at church? 10:13 Why do we even come to Oakwood? 10:18 As I offer my reasons for why we're here, let me first 10:21 set a foundation. 10:24 Number one, I'm here because I believe in God. 10:33 Let me say that one more te. 10:35 I'm here because I believe in God. 10:42 I believe that before we were even thought of, there was God. 10:51 I believe that at the snap of His fingers, the heavens 10:56 were made. 10:58 I believe at the clap of his hands, 11:01 worlds on top of worlds swung yonder into space. 11:06 I believe that at the mere command of his lips 11:11 that the earth was formed. 11:12 The Bible says in the beginning God created the heavens 11:17 and the earth. 11:18 In the beginning, in John 1:1 the Word says, "In the beginning 11:22 the Word was the Word, the Word was God, and the Word 11:26 was with God." And so though I've never seen God, 11:31 I have faith to believe and know there is a God. 11:35 Faith is believing what I can't see. 11:39 Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence 11:42 of things not seen. 11:44 Without faith it is impossible to please God. 11:47 Those that come to God must come to him and seek him 11:50 because God is the reward of those that diligently 11:52 seek him. 11:53 Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, 11:56 and the Word of God says the Son of God, 11:58 Jesus Christ, built his church. 12:01 And his church is built upon the rock, and the gates of hell 12:04 shall should not prevail against it. 12:06 So I believe in God. 12:08 I believe God set up his church, and if God said it, 12:14 that settles it. 12:16 Number two, and I'll say this one quickly. 12:19 I believe that God's church is God's body 12:24 of which Jesus, the Son of God, is the head. 12:28 Pastor Byrd is not the head. 12:31 God is the head. 12:33 The conference is not the head. 12:36 God is the head. 12:37 The general conference is not the head. 12:40 God is the head of the church, through the Holy Ghost, 12:44 understand, the church, we are baptized into one body. 12:48 You see, church means ecclesia. 12:50 God's called out. 12:51 God's called out people. 12:54 Believers are members of his body. 12:57 Christ is the head of the body, the head of his church. 13:01 And so now, number three. 13:03 This is the one I'm going to spend time on, 13:06 my final point. 13:08 Not only do I believe in God, not only do I believe God's body 13:14 is his church and Jesus is the head. 13:17 But the reason why I'm here, number three, is because 13:20 I'm obedient to God. 13:22 I'm obedient to God. 13:24 Now, the Word of God says, "Remember the Sabbath day, 13:32 to keep it holy. 13:33 Six days shalt thou labor and do all they work. 13:37 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 13:40 thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, 13:42 nor thy daughter, thy manservant, 13:43 nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger 13:45 that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord 13:47 made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, 13:49 and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed 13:51 the sabbath day, and hallowed it." 13:53 Then the Bible goes on in Leviticus 23:3 and says 13:57 that God's Sabbath is to be a holy convocation. 14:02 Which means it's to be a holy coming together. 14:06 But then I go to the New Testament and I read 14:08 our scripture of the day, Hebrews 10:25, let us not 14:11 forsake "the assembling of ourselves together, 14:14 as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: 14:16 and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." 14:23 Now, I'll break this down, then I'm going to sit down. 14:25 The New International Version puts it this way, and I like it. 14:28 It says, verse 24, "Let us consider how we may spur 14:33 one another on toward love and good deeds. 14:37 Let us not give up meetings together are some 14:41 are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage 14:44 one another, and all the more as you see the day 14:46 fast approaching." Which means, friends of mine, coming together 14:50 is important to our spiritual growth and in our spiritual 14:54 encouragement. 14:58 Coming together is important to our spiritual growth 15:01 and encouragement. 15:02 We are to spur one another on. 15:06 To those things that will help us grow as believers. 15:09 You see, we come into the sanctuary, we come 15:11 to church to learn. 15:12 We come to sing praises. 15:14 We come to pray in Christian gatherings. 15:17 There is strength in numbers. 15:19 There is strength when the people of God 15:22 touch and agree and call on the name of the Lord 15:25 together. 15:26 God said wherever there are two or three gathered in my name, 15:29 I will be in the midst. 15:31 When I pastored in Soso Mississippi I live that text. 15:35 Because there were literally two or three of us gathered 15:37 in the midst. 15:38 Come on, say amen. 15:42 But that's why I got out of bed this morning. 15:46 That's why I put on this suit this morning. 15:49 That's why I came to church this morning, because I get 15:52 strength when I come to the house of God. 15:55 I get strength when I come and I worship with like-minded 15:59 believers. 16:00 Yes, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ 16:03 is an individual experience. 16:05 It's far from a private experience. 16:08 You see, when you become a Christian, yes, your faith 16:12 is not dependent upon anyone else. 16:15 Each of us is saved by our own trust in Jesus Christ. 16:17 But when a person becomes a believer in Christ, 16:19 that person becomes a part of the family of God, 16:21 which is God's church. 16:22 Just like a baby is born in to a family, 16:24 and that baby grows and matures, so Christians are born and they 16:27 mature in Christian families that help believers 16:30 go and mature. 16:34 Although we can pray and worship, yes, on our own, 16:37 we're told by Christ to do these things together. 16:40 Sometimes we need to be taught and led in worship. 16:49 God in God's providence may use somebody else to bring a word 16:54 or song to you that the Bible says in James 5 may convert 16:57 a sinner from the error from his way and save his soul 17:00 from death. 17:01 Now, let me make this practical. 17:05 God can use anybody. 17:11 I said, God can use anybody. 17:17 If God spoke through a donkey, then sure enough, God can speak 17:25 through you and me. 17:27 You see, let me be practical and plain, when I come to God's 17:31 house, it doesn't matter who's preaching. 17:35 It matters not who's singing. 17:38 I hear people all the time. 17:39 If so-and-so's preaching, I'm not going. 17:42 If a certain choir is singing, I'm not going. 17:44 He doesn't do a thing for me. 17:45 She doesn't do a thing for me. 17:46 They don't do a thing for me. 17:48 And you've got the wrong attitude. 17:51 That's your loss. 17:53 Because God can use the preacher you don't like, 17:57 the singer you don't like, the choir you don't like 18:01 to be a blessing for your life. 18:03 And you're not hurting the preacher or the singer, 18:06 but you're hurting yourself and depriving yourself 18:08 from what God has for you. 18:10 If somebody knows what God has for me, it is for me. 18:14 We need to be taught and led by others sometimes. 18:19 It may not be what we want, but it's what we need. 18:25 We need collective worship. 18:27 We need corporate worship. 18:29 There's a blessing when we come together and collectively 18:33 discuss the Sabbath school lesson. 18:35 There may be something in the Sabbath school lesson 18:37 that I don't see that one of my class members see. 18:40 There's a blessing when we come into the sanctuary and we sing 18:43 "We Have This Hope" in the coming of the Lord. 18:46 There's a blessing when we sing together, "Come, thou fount 18:50 of every blessing, through my heart to sing 18:52 and praise." 18:53 There's a blessing when we pray together, when we sing together, 18:57 when we read the Word of God, when we hear the Word of God 19:01 together. 19:04 There's an even better blessing when we worship together 19:10 with variety. 19:12 It's getting quiet in here now. 19:15 Somebody say variety. 19:18 There's a blessing when collectively we come 19:21 and worship with variety, and even in our cultural 19:26 differences. 19:27 Variety is the spice of life. 19:31 That's one of the things I love about being a Seventh-day 19:34 Adventist Christian. 19:36 It's a worldwide movement. 19:39 To be able to travel and see different and a variety of ways 19:43 through the lenses of people's cultural norms and how they 19:46 worship God on God's Sabbath is a wonderful thing. 19:50 For example, let me put it to you this way, make it plain: 19:54 the way we sing "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" 19:59 is not the same way they sing it in an African village. 20:05 And I know what I'm talking about because I've been there. 20:08 There is a drum. 20:13 There is a beat. 20:16 There is syncopation. 20:18 And when you hear it in that African village, it's beautiful. 20:24 The way it's sung in that African village, "What A Friend 20:28 We Have In Jesus," is not the same way it's sung 20:32 on a Caribbean island. 20:35 Somebody's from the islands, they know 20:37 what I'm talking about. 20:38 When I go to Jamaica and I preach, and they sing 20:43 "What A Friend We Have In Jesus," 20:47 someone from the islands, you know, they echo 20:50 each measure. 20:51 What a friend we have in, what a friend we in, 20:55 all our sins and griefs to, all our sings and griefs to." 20:59 And I just marvel. 21:02 When we come to Oakwood, the organ leads us, 21:13 it drives us, and we sing it. 21:18 But the way that it's sung in Africa is not wrong. 21:22 The way that it's sung in Jamaica is not wrong. 21:26 The way we sing it at Oakwood is not wrong, it's just based 21:31 on our cultural norms. 21:33 I've been to three camp meetings in three weeks, preaching 21:36 the past three Sabbaths, and I've had to preach 21:39 three different sermons because some of you all 21:41 have been watching on the Internet. 21:43 Come on, say amen. 21:45 And I've been in three different places. 21:47 Somebody says, well, preach the same thing over. 21:49 I said, no, them folk been watching and then they'll put 21:51 on there, "He preached the same thing." 21:53 [laughter] Tell the truth. 21:55 shame the Devil, Somebody else tell me, "Ooh, 21:56 Paster, you sure preached last Sabbath." I said, 21:58 "I can't preach that this Sabbath, Lord have mercy." 22:03 I've been to three different camp meetings, three consecutive 22:07 Sabbaths, and all of them corporately worship 22:12 in different ways. 22:14 Same denomination, same country, same language, same Sabbath. 22:23 New Mexico was a certain way. 22:26 Pennsylvania was a certain way. 22:29 New York was a certain way. 22:33 But I received a blessing in each place that I went to. 22:40 My lips were not poked out because they didn't do it like 22:43 we do it at Oakwood. 22:46 I didn't have rocks in my jaws because they didn't sing the way 22:50 I wanted them to sing. 22:52 But my personal spiritual experience grew 22:55 because of the collective spiritual experience. 22:58 Unity does not mean uniformity. 23:05 Let me be clear. 23:06 We bowl down the alley. 23:11 I am blessed when the voices of inspiration sing. 23:17 I am blessed, Sister Myles, when the church chorale sings. 23:24 I am blessed when the children's choir sings. 23:30 I am blessed when the youth choir sings. 23:35 I am blessed when the Aeolians sing. 23:38 I'm blessed when Dynamic Praise and the Voices of Triumph sing. 23:43 I'm blessed when Dr. Osterman plays. 23:48 I'm blessed when Brother Jimmy Wilson plays. 23:52 I'm blessed when Steven Manders plays. 23:56 I'm blessed and, no, I can't be here every week and hear 24:01 everybody sing and play all the time, and that does not 24:04 mean I like one group over the other. 24:09 I've got an assignment from the almighty God to go 24:14 preach this gospel into all the world, amen, somebody. 24:19 But when I'm here,hen I watch the DVD, I'm blessed. 24:26 And there's a blessing when I come to collective worship 24:28 and experience the differences these cultural norms represent. 24:30 And who am I to judge the authenticity, 24:35 the legitimacy, the genuineness of the people 24:37 worshiping God out of these cultural norms and one's 24:40 cultural experience? 24:43 Let me tell you all something. 24:45 When I come to church on Sabbath morning, I don't care 24:47 where I am. 24:49 Alabama, Paris, France, where I don't understand what 24:52 they're saying and they don't know what I'm saying, 24:54 I just say, "God is love." 24:55 Come on, say amen, somebody. 24:56 I just say, "Happy Sabbath," and they say "Bon Sabba" 25:00 back to me. 25:00 Come on, say amen. 25:01 When I go to the Spanish country, feliz Sabbado, 25:04 happy Sabbath. 25:06 When I come to worship God on God's Sabbath, 25:11 I come to worship God. 25:13 I come to praise God. 25:15 I'm not looking at whether your heart is right or wrong. 25:20 Because the reality is, I don't even know what's on your hearts. 25:24 I leave the judging of the heart to God and God alone. 25:28 I've got my eyes fixed on Jesus. 25:31 Let me tell you something. 25:32 To live in this world today is rough. 25:38 To live in 2013 is rough. 25:43 It's rough. It's tough, it's more than a notion. 25:49 People will come up here and preach, people come up here 25:51 and sing, and you have no idea what they're going through. 25:56 I'll tell my own testimony. 25:57 My wife and I, for the past few months, we're holding down 26:01 two households. 26:02 The house here in Huntsville, the house in Atlanta. 26:06 And guess what? 26:07 It can get rough. 26:09 But that's why I thank you today, Dr. Morris, because 26:11 I once was young, but now I'm old, but I've never seen 26:15 the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread. 26:21 Are you hearing what I'm saying? 26:23 There are times, because life is rough, in our lives that we 26:26 may have many different things hitting us 26:28 from different directions. 26:29 And oftentimes it's difficult to make sense out of life 26:32 when you're confronted with attack on every angle. 26:34 But if you've ever experienced the Lord, if you've ever let God 26:41 move you, if you've ever had God touch you on a personal level 26:46 and seen God do things in your lives that you thought 26:49 were impossible, then it's clear that it's impossible for you 26:53 not to give God some praise. 26:55 When I worship God, I'm trying to find strength where I can 26:59 get strength. 27:01 Try to find some power where I can get power. 27:05 Let me tell you something. 27:06 God does not need what we're offering him in worship. 27:09 We need it. 27:10 It's not like God is sitting back talking about, 27:12 if you all don't worship, you're all not going to get it. 27:15 Naw, he doesn't say that. 27:16 We need to worship God so that we can tap into God's strength. 27:19 PB: Thank you very much for tuning in and watching 27:21 Breath of Life today. 27:22 We do hope that you were blessed by our ministry and that 27:25 we gave a healing word in a hurting world. 27:30 In order for Breath of Life to continue ministry, 27:32 we need you. 27:33 We need your prayers, we need your support. 27:36 We want you to know that any and all donations, 27:39 small or great, they are sincerely welcomed 27:41 and appreciated. 27:43 To contact us or to make your donation, please feel free 27:46 to give us a call at 877-BOL-OFFER. 27:58 Or you may write to us at Breath of Life, P.O. Box 340, 28:03 Newbury Park, California 91319. 28:13 Or log onto our web site at www.breathoflife.tv. 28:19 PB: As the world gets worse, our church participation, 28:27 our church attendance and our |
Revised 2015-02-06