Participants: Pr. Carlton Byrd
Series Code: BOL
Program Code: BOL000181A
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00:01 Are you looking for an exciting change in your life? Well, get ready for a breath of new life.
00:06 Today Dr. Byrd speaks on the topic Stop Fighting Each Other. And now, here he is, 00:12 speaker/director of Breath of Life Ministries, Dr. Carlton Byrd. 00:18 PB: Exodus chapter 2, verse number 11. The Word of God says to us in Exodus chapter 2 verse 11. If you have it, 00:28 let me hear you say amen. The Word of God says, "And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, 00:35 that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, 00:44 one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, 00:57 and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the second day, behold, two men"--how many men, everybody? 01:03 Aud.: Two. PB: "Two men of the Hebrews strove [or were fighting] together: and he said to him that did the wrong, 01:11 Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, 01:22 as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known." Verse 15, 01:31 "Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt 01:40 in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well." Do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor and say, "Neighbor, 01:48 stop fighting each other." Let's pray. Father, in the name of Jesus through the intercession of the Holy Ghost, 01:54 come now in this place. You're here. We sense, we feel Your presence but we need You in a sevenfold way as we 02:02 preach Your Word today. Give me strength, I pray, and may Thy people not hear me but hear Thee living and working 02:08 through me. Forgive us for our sins, and at the appeal time, move, O God, like You always do. But I'm asking for 02:14 something special today, O God. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Stop fighting each other. The story is told of a 02:26 little white first-grade school who, on the first day of school for her, went to a newly integrated school at the 02:37 height of the segregation era. Anxious and nervous all day long, the little girl's mother met her at the front door 02:47 of their home when the little girl came home from school. The girl's mother asked, "How did everything go, honey?" 02:56 "Oh, mother," she said, "you know what? A little black girl sat next to me." In fear and trepidation, because the 03:06 mother was expecting the worst, she tried ask her daughter calmly, "And what happened?" The little girl said, 03:15 "We were both so scared that we held hands all day." [Aud. reaction] 03:23 Now, when I share this story I acknowledge that the Lord has brought and blessed us a mighty long way. 03:33 We may not be where we should be in terms of race relations, but today I praise God that we're not where we used to be. 03:55 we are still in a valley. We still have a long way to go. Let's be real. Can we be real? Though we're not where 04:04 we used to be, race relations in the United States are still not where they should be. While many have thought 04:14 that the racial tensions of the 1960s were behind us and that we were entering a post-racial era with the 04:21 election of President Barack Obama, that Jim Crow was over, that the segregated South was done, think again. 04:29 We've still got problems. This is evidenced by the fact that just three years ago our honoree lost her unarmed son, 04:40 and quote me, in a senseless, foolish, unnecessary act. We all know the story so I'll spare you and the honoree the 05:00 if you're watching the news this week, just this past week the United States Justice Department announced that it did 05:08 not find sufficient evidence to establish that the perpetrator willfully deprived Ms. Folton's son of his civil rights 05:26 And the problem, hear me good, hate me if you want, the problem is not just in the world but the problem is also in the church. 05:37 [Aud. reaction] PB: Now we can be in denial all we want. Pastor Byrd, that's not true, we're all one happy family. 05:56 I'm telling you what I know. You see, I'm telling you what I see on committees in the church. I'm telling you what I hear 06:05 people say on these committees in the church. I'm telling you how I see people connive and navigate in such a way that it's 06:12 not overt but it's covert. I know what I'm seeing. I'm telling you what I saw in South Africa last week. 06:37 took place and it was called for as the church pondered the issue of integration. Finally the vote was announced, 06:56 thinking about how he had been rejected by the church. He said, "Lord, I don't understand those folks. I tried to join 07:04 their church, but they voted me out." About that same time the man heard a voice from heaven. The Lord said, 07:12 "Don't worry about it, my child. I've been trying to get in that church for years. They won't let me in either." 07:20 Do I have a witness in this place? [Aud. reaction] PB: I'd better understand, after I read that story, 07:37 Only love can do that." Church, we've got a problem. An author I was reading this month calls it a state of emergency. 07:48 He says America considered 9/11 to be a state of emergency, but he says African Americans have been in a state of 08:17 The Emancipation Proclamation preserved the Union. [Aud. reaction] 08:22 PB: During the Jim Crow era, black America was in a state of emergency. During the Civil Rights era, 08:56 but they make up 35 percent of drug arrests, 55 percent of drug convictions, 74 percent of drug prisoners, and commit 09:03 55 percent of all robberies. And because of this, our children are in a state of emergency as well. When black men in 10:26 with its countless social injustices, is also responsible. Racism runs rampant in America's work force, schools, communities 10:35 and churches and society at large. Segregation continues in many schools. Urban schools are underfunded and understaffed. 11:05 unattended for too long, so it's just a matter of time before the have-nots confront the haves in a manner that's going 11:15 to produce casualties of a serious kind resulting in the logical outcome of a system predicated upon the notion that 11:23 some lives still don't matter. Let me make this more plain. Let me bowl down somebody's alley. In 2013. 11:35 What year did I say? Aud: 2013. PB: Of those African Americans--you call them African Americans, black Americans, 11:41 people with skin color like me--in 90 percent of the cases in which an African American was murdered, the perpetrator 11:49 or offender was an African American. Now, the system. would have you to believe that blacks are just 12:00 killing blacks. But the same thing afflicting the black community is the same thing afflicting the white community. 12:10 Because also in 2013, 83 percent of white murder victims were killed by white perpetrators. Just as it was for blacks, 12:21 it is for whites. The killings are primarily intra-racial, which is within a race, and not inter-racial, between races. 12:36 So today, it's not either or in reference to blacks and whites, but it's both and. But too often we're only quoted 12:44 one-sided statistics with specificity to the black man. So in the spirit of equal opportunity, let me declare that 12:53 white men are in trouble too. There are fewer white men in college and graduate programs per capita than there were 13:07 so much talk today about stem programs, science technology, engineering, and they've added art and math. America's 13:14 unreadiness to deal with the oil shortage and global warming, the definite deterioration of the United States in 13:22 industrial competence, the loss of market share in the automobile, textile and steel industries, the utter lack of 13:30 nonbelligerent imagination when it comes to solving world crises, and the papal lack of initiative in dealing with 13:36 a budget crisis, the job crisis, the drug crisis, are just a few indications of the moral and intellectual 13:43 decline of the white American male. [Aud. reaction] PB: So either we're going to learn to love each other 13:51 and hang together, black and white, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, or 13:59 as Martin King said, we will surely hang separately and die tragically like fools. There is a conspiracy led 14:07 by the devil to destroy the black man, the white man, the red man, the yellow man, the black woman, 14:18 the white woman, the red woman, the yellow woman. Society is trying to eliminate each other, but the devil 14:27 is trying to eliminate us all. Stop fighting each other. You cannot hate people without hating yourself. 14:38 Stop fighting each other. A doctrine of black supremacy is just as evil as a doctrine of white supremacy. 15:08 Freedom for the wolves cannot mean death to the sheep. Stop fighting each other. 15:45 thrown into the Nile River. The Bible teaches that Moses' mother hid him for three months and then prepared a basket boat. 15:53 Knowing that Pharaoh's daughter would come to a certain spot at the Nile to bathe, she put him into the boat and placed the 15:58 boat into the reeds along the banks of the Nile. The princess, Pharaoh's daughter, found the boat; found the baby; fell in 16:07 love with the baby, because we all know that a woman cannot resist picking up a baby. Do I have a witness in this place? 16:20 was raised as Pharaoh's adopted grandson, but Jochebed, his real mama, taught him of his heritage and of the God of the Hebrews. 16:53 A Hebrew in religion. A Hebrew in loyalty. He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; he chose to suffer the 17:01 afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Moses grew up seeing his people oppressed. 17:10 He saw their slavery; he saw their forced labor, he saw their oppression, repression and suppression. 17:18 Moses loved people, and so it was, the Bible says, that at the age of 40 he saw an Egyptian beating up one of his people. 17:28 He looked to the left, he looked to the right, he saw this Egyptian beating up his brother, and thinking no one was 17:40 looking he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Verse 13 of the text says--we read it--and when he went 17:47 out the second day, after he had killed the Egyptian, "two men of the Hebrews strove together." They were fighting. 17:58 Verse 13, the second part says: "And he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?" 18:06 In other words, why are you fighting this man? This is your brother. This is not your enemy. Stop fighting your brother. 18:19 But the Hebrew said, "Who do you think you are? Who made you ruler and judge over us? Do you plan to kill me just 18:28 like you killed that Egyptian?" Lesson to all of us today: there's always somebody watching you. There's always 18:35 somebody who sees what you're doing, when you think nobody is looking. In this day and age, you'd better believe security 18:42 cameras are everywhere. In fact, we've got them in Oakwood Church. Come on, say amen. [Aud. reaction] 18:47 PB: Somebody right now is watching everything going on in this service. Somebody is always watching you. 18:55 Do I have a witness in this place? Moses was afraid. His cover had been blown. He was now exposed. He had 19:04 now been found out. Moses now flees, because Pharaoh now knows and seeks to kill him. Just as Adam and Eve 19:12 tried to hide their sin, so did Moses. Why? Sin must always have a covering. That's why Adam and Eve sewed fig 19:22 leaves together, made aprons and made clothes after they'd sinned. No one told them they were naked, but now they 19:26 knew they were naked because sin must always have a covering. But concealing sin only delays its discovery. 19:33 Because what's in the dark will one day come to light. I wish I had a witness in this place. Moses' brand of 19:39 vigilante justice was observed by some Hebrews, and so what did the Hebrews do? They turned against Moses. 19:48 The Israelites knew no better, but to turn against one of their own, who was trying to help them. According 19:56 to Acts chapter 7 verse 25, it had been revealed to the elders of Israel that Moses was to be their deliverer, 20:18 Two thousand years ago Jesus did something especially for you. He died on the cross of Calvary. 20:26 That day you were on his mind. Our offer today is Max Lucado's "He Did This Just For You." 20:33 This easy to read inspirational book reveals what God did to win your heart. 20:39 Let Max Lucado beautifully lay out the way home to our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. 20:46 Call today and ask for "He Did This Just For You." It's yours for a gift of five dollars or more. 21:02 Get up close and personal with a passion and promise of God Almighty, in "He Did This Just For You." 21:20 ones you're trying to help, the oppressed, will turn on you and hurt you. They will turn on the one who helped them, rather than 21:45 that God sent to liberate them. Harriet Tubman said, "I freed a thousand slaves." She said, "I could have freed 21:53 a thousand more if they only knew they were slaves." People under oppression often turn on each other, 22:15 People, quit turning on other people. Stop killing each other. Stop fighting each other. Stop dogging each other out. 22:39 The one, listen, who was in the wrong--wrong and strong--the one in the wrong is the one who got the attitude. 22:48 Who made you a prince over us? Who put you over me? But hold up, brother, Moses says. The one you're fighting is 22:59 not oppressing you. The one you're fighting did not enslave you. The one you're fighting did not pass segregation laws. 23:08 The one you're fighting did not pass Jim Crow laws; did not pass apartheid laws. The one you're fighting didn't put 23:16 Nelson Mandela in prison. Didn't ignore the hundreds of thousands of blacks killed in Rwanda; didn't kill Martin King; 23:23 didn't kill Metgar Evars; didn't kill Malcolm X. The one you're fighting didn't kill Emmett Till, Treyvon Martin, 23:43 to kill thousands of black men, injecting them with syphilis. The one you're fighting did not invent the HIV AIDs virus. 23:52 Stop fighting each other. Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew? Why do you strike your brother? 24:04 As I was studying this week, interesting to note is the fact--listen to me good--that the Egyptian guards 24:10 never stopped the Hebrews from fighting one another, because if they did, Moses would never have had to step 24:18 in and stop them from fighting in the first place. The fact that they were fighting and no one stopped them 24:26 suggests that this was not an isolated incident, but this was a daily occurrence. Which means, the system 24:34 wanted them to fight each other. The system wanted them to hurt each other. The system wanted them to hate each other. 24:42 The system wanted them to kill one another. The system wanted them to remain at odds with one another. 24:48 The system believed in divide and conquer. The system believed in oppression. Moses was trying to help 24:58 his own people under oppression, but the Hebrew--who made you over me? Who made you my ruler? Are you going 25:09 to kill me like you killed that other Egyptian? Pharaoh hears about the murder and he seeks to kill Moses. 25:19 Now, either the one who was getting the beating ran and told on Moses, or the one who was doing the beating, 25:30 in the wrong, ran and told on Moses. Now, my holy hypothesis says that the one who was doing the beating ran and told, 25:42 because sin must always have a covering. Remember that. Because if I'm wrong, then we're all going to be wrong. 25:49 If I go down--you've heard that before--then all of us going down. Have you heard that? [Aud. reaction] 25:55 PB: But whichever one ran and told on Moses ended up hurting the very one who was trying to help him. 26:01 Again, my eisegesis--so you know it's the doctrine according to Pastor Byrd--suggests to me that the Hebrew 26:10 in the wrong got an attitude, ran and told the king on Moses, one of his own, to cover up his own wrongdoing 26:20 and then divert attention away from himself. Let us never forget that there are always those who are ready to 26:27 run to the king. On the job, in our communities, even in the church, there are always those who consider it their 26:33 personal mission to be that of reporting to the king on their brothers and sisters in captivity. During slavery times, 26:40 one of the greatest obstacles to the freedom of blacks would be those who would run to the king in an effort to show loyalty, 26:47 when in actuality all they were doing was showing their cowardice and the fact that they could not be trusted. 27:01 South Carolina, under the leadership of Denmark Vesey, had a brilliant plan to take over the town; however, 27:06 their strategy was never executed because at the last minute somebody ran to the king and told him about the plan. 27:16 Stop fighting each other. But back to the disloyal, distrustful, angry Hebrew: Who made you judge over me? 27:25 Who made you in charge over me? You've got skeletons in your closet; you don't live in a glass house. 27:34 Before you come getting the moat out of my eye, make sure you've got the beam out of your own eye. 27:40 And that's just like people. When we try to confront them with the truth, they will try to confuse 27:45 you with some trash. Let me give you some advice: You can't keep a clean reputation hanging out with messy people. 27:54 Thank you for joining us for another exciting broadcast. We'd like you to partner 27:59 with us as we offer the Breath of Life to a dying world. All of our sermon titles 28:05 and DVDs can be purchased at www.BreathofLife.tv. Until next time, God loves you. |
Revised 2015-03-06