Higher Ground

A Stop At Gilgal

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Pr. Helvius Thompson

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Series Code: HG

Program Code: HG000010


00:35 This is the day
00:37 This is the day This is the day
00:41 That the Lord has made
00:44 That the Lord has made
00:47 I will rejoice, I will rejoice
00:51 And be glad in it
00:54 And be glad in it
00:57 This is the day
00:59 That the Lord has made.
01:02 I will rejoice
01:04 And be glad in it
01:07 This is the day This is the day
01:11 That the Lord has made.
01:14 Come on, say that again!
01:15 This is the day
01:17 This is the day
01:20 This is the day.
01:21 That the Lord has made
01:24 That the Lord has made.
01:26 And I will rejoice.
01:27 I will rejoice.
01:29 I will rejoice, I will rejoice.
01:31 And be glad in it
01:32 And be glad in it
01:34 And be glad in it.
01:37 This is the day
01:39 That the Lord has made.
01:41 And I will rejoice and be glad in it.
01:43 I will rejoice and be glad in it.
01:46 This is the day, this is the day
01:51 That the Lord has made.
01:54 How about what a mighty God we serve?
01:56 Say it.
01:57 What a mighty God we serve
02:02 What a mighty God we serve
02:06 Angels bow before him.
02:07 Angels bow before him
02:09 Heaven and earth adore him Heaven and earth adore him
02:11 What a mighty God
02:15 Say again. What a mighty God...
02:17 What a mighty God we serve
02:22 What a mighty God we serve What a mighty God we serve
02:26 Angels bow.
02:27 Angels bow before him Heaven and earth
02:30 Heaven and earth adore him
02:32 What a mighty God we serve
02:34 Come on and sing, victory is mine
02:36 Say it
02:38 Victory is mine, victory is mine
02:42 Victory today is mine.
02:46 I told Satan
02:47 I told Satan to get thee behind
02:52 Victory today is mine.
02:55 Victory today
02:57 Victory is mine Victory is mine
03:02 Victory today is mine.
03:05 I told Satan I told Satan...
03:08 You better get behind
03:10 To get thee behind
03:12 Victory today is mine.
03:15 Happiness is mine, Happiness is mine
03:22 Happiness today is mine.
03:25 'Cause I told Satan
03:27 I told Satan to get thee behind
03:31 Happiness today is mine.
03:34 Nobody told me like Jesus
03:37 There's nobody
03:40 Do we like Jesus?
03:42 There's nobody Do we like the Lord?
03:45 Do we like the Lord?
03:46 Ain't nobody do be like Jesus
03:47 There's nobody
03:50 Do be like Jesus
03:55 Take nobody
03:58 Do we like Jesus
04:03 Do we like the Lord
04:06 Ain't nobody
04:08 Do be like Jesus
04:11 He's my savior
04:14 This is the day, this is the day.
04:20 That the Lord has made, that the Lord has made.
04:24 And I will rejoice I will rejoice
04:27 Said I will rejoice I will rejoice
04:30 And be glad in it, and be glad in it.
04:36 This is the day that the Lord has made.
04:41 I will rejoice and be glad in it.
04:46 This is the day, this is the day
04:50 That the Lord has made.
04:55 Hallelujah
04:59 You are Alpha
05:06 And Omega
05:14 We worship you our Lord
05:21 You are worthy to be praised
05:27 We give you all the glory
05:30 We give you all
05:37 The glory
05:43 We worship you our Lord
05:49 You are worthy to be praised
06:00 You are Alpha
06:07 And Omega
06:16 We worship you our Lord
06:22 You are worthy to be praised
06:29 We give you all the glory, Lord
06:32 We give you all
06:39 The glory
06:45 We worship you our Lord
06:51 You are worthy to be praised
06:59 We give you all the glory
07:06 We give you all the glory
07:11 Oh, yes, Lord
07:14 We worship you our Lord
07:20 You are worthy to be praised
07:26 With our hands lifted up
07:27 we give you all the glory, Lord!
07:30 We give you all
07:37 The glory
07:41 We worship We worship you our Lord
07:48 You are worthy to be praised
07:55 Let's lift our voice and say it one more time.
07:57 We give you all...
07:59 We give you all
08:05 The glory
08:11 We worship you our Lord
08:18 You are worthy to be praised
08:24 We worship you, we worship you,
08:28 We worship you
08:30 We worship you our Lord
08:36 You are worthy
08:40 To be praised
08:45 In the city, in the field we worship you Lord
08:48 We worship you our Lord
08:55 You are worthy to be praised
09:03 Let's give the Lord a hand clapping praising.
09:35 We shall overcome,
09:44 We shall overcome
09:51 We shall overcome
09:58 Someday
10:06 Oh
10:09 Deep in my heart
10:17 I do believe
10:25 That we shall overcome
10:31 Someday
10:42 We shall see his face
10:50 We shall
10:53 See his face
10:59 We shall see his face
11:05 Someday
11:16 Deep in our heart
11:25 We do love him
11:32 That we shall see his face
11:40 Someday
11:47 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
11:49 Keep on praising the Lord
11:52 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
11:55 Keep on praising him the Lord
11:57 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
12:00 Keep on praising the Lord
12:03 I'm gonna praise him till I make it home
12:06 Make it home
12:08 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
12:11 Keep on praising the Lord
12:13 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
12:16 Keep on praising the Lord
12:19 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
12:22 Keep on praising the Lord
12:24 I'm gonna praise him till I make it home
12:28 Make it home
12:29 Oh, through trial
12:31 Through trial
12:33 Tribulation
12:34 Tribulation
12:35 Keep praising
12:37 Keep praising
12:38 Every day
12:39 Every day
12:41 I'm determined
12:42 Determined To go with him all the way
12:46 So, I praise him till I make it home
12:49 Make it home
12:51 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
12:54 Keep on serving the Lord
12:56 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
12:59 Keep on serving the Lord
13:02 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
13:05 Keep on serving the Lord
13:07 I'm gonna serve him till I make it home
13:11 Make it home
13:12 Oh, through trial
13:14 Through trial
13:16 Tribulation
13:17 Tribulation
13:18 Keep serving
13:20 Keep serving
13:21 Every day
13:22 Every day
13:24 I'm determined
13:25 Determined to go with Him all the way
13:29 So I serve him till I make it home
13:32 Make it home
13:34 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
13:37 Keep on working for the Lord
13:39 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
13:42 Keep on working for the Lord
13:44 No matter what I'm gonna keep on
13:47 Keep on working for the Lord
13:50 I'm gonna work till I make it home
13:53 Make it home
13:55 Oh, through trial
13:57 Through trial
13:58 Tribulation
13:59 Tribulation
14:01 And Keep working
14:02 Keep working
14:04 Every day
14:05 Every day
14:06 I'm determined
14:08 Determined to go with Him all the way
14:11 So I work it till I make it
14:14 I'm gonna work it till I make it
14:16 I'm gonna work it till I make it
14:19 I'm gonna work it till I make it
14:22 I'm gonna serve it till I make it
14:24 I'm gonna serve it till I make it
14:27 I'm gonna serve it till I make it
14:30 I'm gonna serve it till I make it
14:32 I'm gonna praise him till I make it home
14:36 Make it home
14:42 On Jordan's stormy banks
14:49 I stand, and cast
14:55 A wishful eye
15:00 To Canaan's fair
15:05 And happy land
15:09 Where my possessions lie
15:16 I am bound
15:19 For the promised land
15:25 I am bound
15:27 For the promised land
15:31 Oh, who will come
15:35 And go with me?
15:39 I am bound
15:42 For the promised land
15:52 Freedom
15:53 Freedom is in my view
15:58 Freedom is in my view
16:02 Starting with Jesus I'm going through
16:07 Freedom Freedom
16:09 Freedom! Freedom!
16:12 Freedom is in my view
16:16 Freedom is in my view
16:19 Yeah!
16:21 Freedom is in my view
16:25 Starting with Jesus I'm going through
16:30 Freedom Freedom
16:32 Freedom! Freedom!
16:35 Freedom is in my view
16:38 I am bound
16:41 For the promised land
16:48 I am bound
16:50 For the promised land
16:57 Oh, who will come
17:01 And go with me?
17:07 Freedom
17:09 Freedom
17:12 Freedom is in my view
17:15 I am bound
17:17 For the promised land
17:24 I am bound
17:27 For the promised land
17:34 Oh, who will come
17:38 And go with me?
17:44 Freedom
17:46 Freedom!
17:49 Freedom is in my view
17:53 Freedom is in my view
17:58 Freedom is in my view
18:03 Starting with Jesus I'm going through
18:07 Freedom! Freedom!
18:12 Freedom is in my view
18:16 I am bound
18:18 For the promised land
18:25 I am bound
18:27 For the promised land
18:34 Oh, who will come
18:39 And go with me?
18:44 Freedom! Freedom!
18:49 Freedom!
18:51 Freedom! Freedom!
18:56 Freedom!
18:58 Freedom! Freedom!
19:03 Freedom is in my view
19:15 Well, the preachers are always in a dilemma
19:18 and that is that some folks say after the sermon.
19:23 "Boy, he sure preached." "What did he preach about?"
19:25 "I don't know but he sure preached."
19:29 Or they say, "Rev took his text and his text took him."
19:38 So we depend upon the holy spirit to church.
19:42 I live from the call from the altar
19:45 and ask God for He his mighty God.
19:47 Let us pray as we open the word of God.
19:48 Father in heaven,
19:50 today thank You for this wonderful privilege
19:53 an opportunity to come back to the people of God
19:56 and His marvelous and powerful pastor
19:59 and the leadership and growth
20:01 that this church had this experienced.
20:04 And Lord we now ask for You
20:08 to visit us through Your word.
20:11 It is not a preacher,
20:13 it is the power of the Holy Spirit.
20:16 And so take us this morning
20:18 and take the preach of the young himself
20:20 and give us the eyes to see, ears to hear up,
20:24 heart's that will understand,
20:25 comprehend your word as our prayer
20:29 in the worthy name of Jesus, our Lord
20:31 and for His sake we pray.
20:32 Amen. Amen.
20:35 Joshua Chapter 4 verses 18 through 24.
20:41 Joshua Chapter 4.
20:46 And verse 18 through 24.
20:53 It says, "And it came to pass." You have it there?
20:58 "Priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord
21:04 were come up out of the midst of Jordan,
21:09 and the soles of the priests' feet
21:11 were lifted up unto the dry land,
21:15 that the waters of the Jordan returned unto their place,
21:20 and flowed over all his banks, as they did before.
21:25 And the people came up out of Jordan
21:31 on the tenth day of the first month,
21:34 and encamped."
21:36 In where everybody?
21:38 "In Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.
21:42 And those twelve stones,
21:44 which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch."
21:48 Where everybody, in?
21:50 "Gilgal, and he spake unto the children of Israel,
21:53 saying, 'when your children shall ask their fathers in
21:57 time to come, saying, 'What mean these stones?'
22:02 Then ye shall let your children know, saying,
22:04 Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
22:09 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan
22:12 from before you, until ye were passed over,
22:15 as the Lord your God did to the Red sea,
22:18 which He dried up from before us,
22:21 until we were gone over.
22:23 That all the people of the earth might know
22:27 the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty,
22:32 that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.
22:38 " Pray with us this movement.
22:39 We've talked about stopping at Gilgal.
22:43 40 years after God had delivered
22:47 the children of Israel
22:48 out of the suffering bondage of Egyptian slavery
22:52 and had let them through wildness of the wilderness
22:57 on the leadership of Moses.
22:59 At last they reached the final barrier
23:04 to the promised land, the Jordan river.
23:09 They could liberally look over across the Jordan
23:12 and see the land that float with milk and honey.
23:17 At the Exodus, Egypt Exodus,
23:20 God had miraculously opened the dry path,
23:25 highway to the drive through deep waters of the Red sea.
23:30 And now, 40 years later,
23:32 they have reached a second by the water
23:36 which was now the only obstacle
23:39 that stood between them and the promise land.
23:43 Now the Jordan river was much was a much smaller body
23:45 of water by the Red sea.
23:47 In fact, when I saw it, I was pretty disappointed.
23:50 It's only 90 to 100 feet wide,
23:52 only about ten feet deep
23:54 and its lowest point certainly is not Mississippi.
23:58 By now, the tortured leadership has passed
24:01 through Moses to Joshua.
24:04 And the first command that God gave to Joshua
24:07 was to lead the people forward
24:10 and cross over the Jordan into the land
24:13 that God had promised to Abraham,
24:16 Isaac, and Jacob.
24:18 However, it was spring time when the Jordan river
24:22 was added was to yearly flood stage
24:24 and had swell to overflow by the melting snow
24:29 of Mount Hermon in the north.
24:32 In fact, it's been reported that many people had lost
24:35 their lives, trying to cross the Jordan
24:37 in its dangerous flood season.
24:41 Though the river is not very wide,
24:43 its waters are swift and treacherous
24:45 and causing whirlpools and rapids
24:48 that make crossing dangerous if not impossible.
24:53 There was no bridge over the Jordan.
24:56 And they didn't have any boats or ferry
24:58 to navigate the swollen river.
25:01 And so Israel's final entrance
25:03 in the kingdom was blocked by the barrier
25:06 of the surging flood waters of the Jordan.
25:11 All but the same God,
25:13 who opened our highway through the Red sea,
25:17 who was abundantly able
25:19 to make the flooded surge in Jordan crossable.
25:23 You know that it tells me that it has no situation
25:26 that God can't solve.
25:29 No problem He cannot penetrate.
25:31 No trouble He cannot transform.
25:34 No storm He cannot calm.
25:36 No struggle He cannot conquer.
25:38 There are no impossibilities with God.
25:42 He can open any door, move in a mountain.
25:46 Re-direct any the river, river down any wall.
25:51 Wilt any wind, stop any storm
25:54 and be victorious in anywhere.
25:57 I love to hear Keller say God spoke unto Joshua
26:02 and to the river he pointed the way Jordan uncrossable.
26:06 Things seemed impossible, but the water has divided
26:10 as they marched and obey.
26:13 So have you gone any rivers you think are uncrossable?
26:18 Have you got in any mountains you can't stumble through?
26:22 But God specializes in things man think are impossible.
26:28 And he can do what others cannot do.
26:32 Now, the sacred record declares that
26:34 as soon as the feet of the priest
26:37 that carried the Ark of the Covenant merely
26:39 touched the waters of the Jordan,
26:42 suddenly and miraculously,
26:44 something happened to the Jordan.
26:46 The flood waters parted
26:48 and the downstream waters were blocked up like a wall
26:51 and the rest of the waters ran on
26:54 and left a dry bed for the people of God to cross.
26:58 So I'm gonna tell you,
26:59 that day Israel march over the Jordan mud
27:03 between their toes but dust hold their feet
27:06 because God can do the impossible.
27:10 He can make the uncrossable a cake walk.
27:14 Now the sacred record says that
27:16 after they had crossed the Jordan,
27:18 the king walked out of the river bed
27:21 and they arrived and stopped at little place called Gilgal.
27:27 It wasn't a city.
27:30 In fact, it was nothing.
27:32 They went on leg about from the Jordan five miles
27:37 through the place called Gilgal.
27:40 They stopped there because by divine direction,
27:44 they were only allowed to go five miles inland
27:48 to this place called Gilgal.
27:51 And when they stopped and camped at Gilgal,
27:54 they were only two and a half miles
27:57 from one of the major cities of Canaan,
28:00 the great wall city of Jericho.
28:03 In fact, they were so close to Jericho
28:05 that not only could they see the wall fortress of the city
28:08 but the people of Jericho
28:10 could see them camped at Gilgal.
28:13 They watched them as they have crossed the borders
28:16 of the Jordan.
28:18 Jericho would be the first major battle
28:20 for them to occupy the land of Canaan.
28:23 But here's what I wanted you to see.
28:25 God did not command them to go directly
28:29 and march around Jericho immediately.
28:34 God haven't had a problem taking care of Jericho
28:38 but He ordered them to stop at Gilgal.
28:42 They were not to go any further towards their final destination
28:45 until they had stopped at this place called Gilgal.
28:50 They were on the right road,
28:53 they were following the right path,
28:55 and their blessed destination was just ahead of them.
28:59 But God had decreed that before they should go in to possess
29:04 the land that was already ordained for them,
29:08 they had to stop off at a place called Gilgal.
29:13 You see, there is a blessing,
29:15 that was a blessing waiting for them right down the road.
29:20 But God did not allow them to rush head long
29:24 into the blessing before they stopped in Gilgal.
29:28 It was the blessing that had been promised
29:31 long time ago to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
29:35 Let me tell you, that God didn't have to do anything
29:38 to get the blessing rain for them.
29:41 He had to get them read to seek the blessing
29:43 or I just said something.
29:46 God didn't have to do anything to get the blessing.
29:48 Well, He had to get them ready to receive the blessing.
29:52 He had to get them the stop of the Gilgal to get them prepare
29:57 for what God had already prepaid for them.
30:01 He had to get them ready for the blessing
30:03 that he already had in store for them.
30:08 They stopped at Gilgal to be prepaid
30:11 to receive the full blessing God had for them
30:15 in the land that flowed with milk and honey.
30:18 Well, then we leave this row and come to your house now.
30:21 I got some good news for you, no matter who you are
30:24 and what situation you are in, I come to tell you this morning
30:27 that God has a blessing with your name right on it,
30:30 upfront that was right up the road.
30:33 And God doesn't have to think of ways to bless you.
30:36 He doesn't have to make up ways to bless you.
30:39 He already has a blessing just for you,
30:43 it has your name written right on it.
30:46 Amen.
30:47 But He wants us to get ready to receive that blessing.
30:51 He has to get us spiritually ready
30:53 to walk into that blessing.
30:55 We have to stop off in a place called Gilgal
30:59 so that we can be prepared to receive that blessing.
31:03 So, now I know where Israel, Gilgal was.
31:08 But where's our Gilgal?
31:11 Where do we need to stop to receive our blessings?
31:14 Where for us Gilgal, we need faith,
31:18 prayer, surrender and obedience.
31:20 But I checked it out more than the average pastor.
31:22 I found out our Gilgal is found in Malachi 3:10, 11.
31:28 When the Lord invites us to bring Him His tithe
31:31 and an offering into the storehouse.
31:34 Gilgal is where we recognize God's creatership
31:39 and his ownership of all that we have
31:42 and all that we hope to get by returning unto Him
31:46 a faithful time and offering.
31:49 Oh, I would be sweeping into this morning for us
31:51 Gilgal was a tied envelope.
31:53 And our worship in giving as faithful students
31:57 so that we can uphold the church of God.
32:01 Some of us go through a whole Sabbath service,
32:05 We're not stopping at Gilgal with our faithful giving to go.
32:10 Let me tell you that you running to trouble
32:12 after all without his help
32:15 if you don't stop at your given Gilgal.
32:19 But if you stop at your Gilgal,
32:22 let me tell you there is a guaranteed blessing
32:25 just waiting for you.
32:27 God has promised to bless our side
32:29 if we will stop there like.
32:31 He said that He is going open the windows of heaven.
32:34 Now, I mean the full windows in heaven
32:37 and pour such a blessing up
32:40 that there will not be room enough to receive it
32:42 if we would stop at Gilgal.
32:45 I check my Bible.
32:47 Abraham stopped at Gilgal with Melchizedek
32:50 and God abundantly blessed him,
32:51 he was one of the richest men of the East.
32:54 Jacob stopped at Gilgal
32:55 in his flight from home from his uncle Laban
32:59 and despite all of his problems and all that his uncle did
33:03 God blessed Jacob beyond his father's dream.
33:06 Jacob stopped at Gilgal
33:09 and even though he lost everything that he had,
33:12 in the end God gave him more than what he lost.
33:15 For I want you to know, that if you need God at Gilgal,
33:19 He will bless you every time.
33:22 Some of us had stopped at Gilgal
33:24 but haven't given it to God the way God wants us to give.
33:30 Some of us might have already think
33:32 that God's already blessed you.
33:34 But I want to tell you your only at Gilgal.
33:38 That's the bigger blessing up the roll
33:40 if you just be faithful to him.
33:44 Now the question on the table is,
33:47 what was so special and significant about Gilgal?
33:54 Why did God hope their progress
33:56 into the promise land until they stopped at Gilgal?
34:02 The lessons of truth and the principles of power
34:05 that makes Gilgal a mandatory stop
34:09 on the path of their pilgrimage.
34:12 But I will give you just a few things
34:14 and I will be through this morning.
34:16 The first clue about Gilgal was is found in Joshua 4:19
34:20 where it says, "And they the Israelites,
34:23 came out of Jordan
34:25 on the tenth day of the first month."
34:28 Here it is now, watch it, "And encamped at Gilgal."
34:32 Another Bible version said they tabernacled
34:35 or they pitched their tents at Gilgal.
34:39 Now the word "encamp" comes from the Hebrew word "hanah"
34:43 which means to incline or to recline
34:48 or to assume a position of rest.
34:51 I want you to follow me now.
34:53 Why did God have Israel to stop on their journey
34:57 to the promised land at a place called Gilgal?
35:00 I'll tell you, because Gilgal
35:03 first of all was the place of rich.
35:06 Say rest everybody. Rest
35:09 They had journeyed for 40 long years
35:11 through rough and rugged wilderness.
35:14 And they had crossed the job and they got to Gilgal
35:17 and God told them, "Stop, it's time for you to rest."
35:21 You see God had brought them across the river
35:24 and He now knew that they needed to stop and rest.
35:29 Let me pause and ask you, have you been so tired
35:32 that you just can't go a step further?
35:35 And you had just stop where you were?
35:39 Have yet come from work and all you need to do is
35:42 just lock down and add easy a chair?
35:44 Or sometimes fall in the bed, sometimes with your clothes on?
35:49 Have you been so terribly tired
35:51 that you didn't know how tired you were
35:54 until you stop what you were doing
35:56 and liberally just fell asleep?
35:58 Well, God know that we get extremely tired
36:01 and these hectic lives that we live.
36:04 God know that sometimes we got to stop and rest.
36:09 And now I've got to remind me that
36:11 the word "rest" always is associated
36:13 with one the oldest and greatest gifts
36:15 that God gave to man, a creation
36:18 and it is His blessed sacred sanctified Sabbath of rest.
36:24 The Sabbath means rest.
36:27 And God knew that at end of the week,
36:30 we will need a Sabbath Gilgal.
36:33 So he gave us a Sabbath.
36:35 A Sabbath is a weekly oasis
36:38 at the end of the wilderness of the week.
36:41 It allows us to rest physically, mentally
36:45 and above all, spiritually.
36:47 And while we rest God will renews our spirit
36:51 and He will refreshers our souls.
36:54 Before you tackle the problems and the frustration
36:58 and the toil of another week,
37:00 you better stop at God's Sabbath Gilgal
37:04 and rest up so the Lord can empower you
37:07 to handle the challenges of another week.
37:11 I discovered that Gilgal, actually became for Israelites,
37:15 their base camp, their home base,
37:19 their military headquarters.
37:21 So what happened if they would camp at Gilgal
37:24 and they would go out and battle
37:26 and then they would come back to Gilgal and rest
37:28 and then they would go and fight at AI,
37:31 and they would come back to Gilgal and rest.
37:33 They would go to battle at Bethoma
37:35 and then come back to Gilgal and rest.
37:38 They would go and fight at Jericho
37:40 and come back to Gilgal and rest.
37:43 They would go and battle at Amorite
37:45 and come back and rest at Gilgal.
37:48 Well, we all need a place where we can come and rest
37:52 after battling sins, Satan and mean people all week.
37:56 And Sabbath is the best Gilgal you can find.
38:01 Oh, you all have forgotten some of those old hymns
38:03 that said there is a place of quiet rest
38:07 near to the heart of God,
38:10 a place where sin cannot molest near to the heart of God.
38:15 Oh, Jesus best redeemer,
38:17 sin from the heart of God, who does,
38:20 who wake before the near to the heart of God.
38:24 In fact, you need to look at the Sabbath a different way.
38:26 I see the Sabbath as a... watch this.
38:30 A vacation cruise at the end of the week.
38:37 If you go on a cruise, you get all excited
38:39 and you can't wait for a day to board a ship.
38:42 You start making preparation and packing things
38:46 that you need for cruise way in advance.
38:48 Not, not, the day before, not, not just the hour before.
38:52 Way in advance.
38:53 Finally, when cruise day comes, we arrive, you board the ship.
38:57 And you know what I'm not doing on this cruise day.
39:00 You let the crew take care of you
39:03 and feed you and take care of you.
39:07 All you got to do is just relax
39:10 and enjoy the cruise and have a good time.
39:14 God approves to this morning at the end of every week.
39:18 God has a Sabbath cruiseline.
39:21 At sunset put, ready for bowling,
39:25 and all you have to do
39:27 is prepare for this Sabbath cruise
39:30 and then step on board on Friday evening.
39:33 Just rest in the Lord.
39:35 Just relax and let the Lord,
39:38 as cal gone said, take you away.
39:41 He will take you away. He wants you to go.
39:43 And when that Sabbath cruise in that sunset,
39:47 let me tell you, if you're camping right,
39:49 you will feel refreshed and revived and restored
39:54 and ready to face whatever may come your way the next week.
40:02 That's what Gilgal is all about.
40:05 It's all about rich.
40:08 Now in Deuteronomy 12:15,
40:10 God gave Israel an additional and an important reason
40:13 to absorb His Sabbath
40:15 beyond and being a memorial creation.
40:18 And I want you to get a look at verses.
40:21 And remember thy was
40:24 a servant,
40:27 a slave in the land.
40:29 And see, the Lord didn't say just remember the Sabbath.
40:34 The Lord said, "Don't forget that you were a slave
40:38 in the land of Egypt.
40:39 The Lord, thy God, brought thee out thence
40:43 through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm.
40:46 Therefore the Lord, thy God,
40:48 commandeth thee to keep the Sabbath wholly.
40:51 The slaves of the Israelites had been salves
40:54 under the land of the Egypt
40:55 and got suffered and slavery and get beaten and bondaged.
40:59 But the God in heaven did not leave them
41:02 and in that cruel condition.
41:04 By His Mighty Hand,
41:05 He liberated His suffering people
41:08 and brought them by faith out of Egypt.
41:11 And when He reminded them, He then reminded them,
41:15 that every Sabbath was the day for them
41:18 to celebrate their deliverance from Egyptian slavery
41:22 so that they could truly rest in the Lord.
41:26 And know that it was not man
41:28 but it was God that liberated them.
41:32 I know we're so sophisticated,
41:34 we don't want to remember that we were slaves.
41:39 Some black folks spent entire year
41:40 about Black history and slavery.
41:44 Some other people that don't have our color and they say,
41:46 "We tired of y'all talking about slavery."
41:48 Well, let me tell you something.
41:51 The Germans were never...
41:53 I mean the Jews will never let the Germany
41:55 and the world forget the Holocaust.
42:00 And I got a word from the Lord where he said for you remember,
42:05 you remember that you were a slave.
42:08 And African American people,
42:09 we've known the awful scourge of slavery.
42:12 People went through the middle passage
42:14 on those crowded slave ships
42:15 and then we were sold up and down their land
42:18 like animals on the auction block.
42:20 Black families were divided then.
42:22 Children were snatched from the arms
42:24 of their crying mothers.
42:26 Black slaves were ripped and worked
42:28 from sun up to sun down.
42:30 But God says to us today to remember
42:33 that you were a slave.
42:36 And you should know that it wasn't just a signature
42:39 of Abraham Lincoln that set our ancestors free.
42:43 It was the same mighty hand of God that brought us,
42:48 that liberated us,
42:50 that protected us, and that thus...
42:56 And therefore like ancient Israel,
43:00 Black people have an added reason.
43:03 Watch this...
43:05 To preserve and keep the seventh day Sabbath.
43:08 Amen.
43:10 Even though many of our brothers and sisters
43:12 know nothing about this.
43:16 Every Sabbath we keep celebrates our liberation
43:20 from physical as well as spiritual slavery.
43:25 It gives a refreshing rest that the world cannot give.
43:30 Every Sabbath on reminds it also
43:33 that, we were slaved and that the Lord delivered us
43:39 from both slavery and segregation.
43:42 Amen.
43:43 Israel had many battles but God had made sure
43:47 that they got enough rest
43:48 before they went to the next battle.
43:51 Because God knows if you go out to face the enemy
43:54 tired and fatigued, you'll be most vulnerable.
43:58 Vulnerable to the enemies' attack.
44:01 In fact, you can't even think straight if you are tired.
44:04 You can't make good decisions if you're tired that.
44:08 That's why so many of you all come to church.
44:10 You are easily annoyed and agitated,
44:12 I'm picking on you now.
44:14 And irritated because you just tired.
44:18 Don't take time to pray and ain't got time to wake
44:21 when you are tired.
44:23 So God made sure and He placed a Sabbath Gilgal
44:28 on your journey to make sure that you have rest.
44:32 Gilgal first of all was the place of rest.
44:37 Only got two more.
44:38 Second reason why God had people stop
44:40 and encamp at Gilgal is because Gilgal, watch this now,
44:44 was the place of removal.
44:47 Say, place of removal, everybody.
44:49 Place of removal.
44:50 place of rest, place of...
44:54 God needed, to do something special for them
44:57 and Gilgal's right in the text.
44:59 It's right in the text.
45:01 Joshua 5 and verse 9 it says, "The Lord said unto Joshua,
45:04 This day
45:06 I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you.
45:13 Wherefore the name of the place
45:16 is called Gilgal unto this day."
45:20 In Hebrew the name "Gilgal" means "to roll away."
45:23 Why Gilgal?
45:25 Because it was the place of removal.
45:27 And another Bible translation said,
45:28 "This day, I will roll away and remove your shame."
45:33 The word reproach means shame.
45:35 God told Israel, "At Gilgal, I'm gonna take away your sins."
45:39 He said, "I want you to stop and rest at Gilgal.
45:42 And while you rest, I'm gonna roll away your shame.
45:46 I'm gonna remove all of the stigma
45:49 and the shame that is on you at Gilgal."
45:54 I'm gonna make a shift.
45:56 Because Black Americans have suffered through
45:58 a history of ridicule and shame.
46:03 Our ancestors experienced hundreds of years
46:07 of raw ruthless racism.
46:11 And our humiliating ordeal, the slavery, our people
46:15 were captured and stolen from the African homeland.
46:19 Packed like sardines in old slave ships, sold like cattle,
46:25 worked like mules,
46:26 whipped like animals, treated worse than dogs.
46:32 Our women were raped, our men were dehumanized.
46:36 Our children were taken from our families, were divided.
46:40 Our human rights were deprived.
46:42 We had no secure family life.
46:44 We had no respected marriage right.
46:46 We can own no property and receive no education.
46:50 And then we were told that we were inferior,
46:55 abnormal and subhuman,
46:59 only because of the darkness of our skin.
47:04 Worse than that, they called us the most despicable
47:07 despised, and debased names.
47:13 from "boy" to...
47:17 But the same God who liberated Israel
47:22 and removed their shame
47:24 has not only liberated us but he has lifted us,
47:28 from racial ridicule to a place of respectability,
47:33 recognition and restoration.
47:36 Oh, look at Black people now.
47:39 There is not a field or feat in human endeavors
47:43 that Black people have not excelled in
47:46 and they are highly honored and recognized.
47:49 I don't have time to call names
47:51 but our accomplishments have gone from sports to science.
47:55 From medicine to music.
47:57 From law to literature, from acting to aviation.
48:01 From business, to broadcasting.
48:04 From movies to the military.
48:06 From politics to publishing.
48:08 From congress to the clergy.
48:10 The God of love and mercy and righteousness
48:14 has removed our ridicule
48:17 and swept away our shame
48:21 for had it not been for the Lord on my side,
48:25 where would I be?
48:30 Look at you Black people, you were stumped on.
48:35 Dehumanized.
48:37 The loss of the land were against you.
48:39 You were nobody.
48:41 You were nothing.
48:42 You were not even counted as a human being.
48:45 When the founding fathers said, "All men are created equal,"
48:48 they weren't thinking about you.
48:52 You weren't created equal.
48:55 You were half human.
48:57 You weren't fully...
48:58 You weren't created equal to them.
49:01 The only problem was that they left,
49:03 and didn't say all white men are created equal.
49:06 And because of that Martin Luther King
49:07 exploited that, "Didn't you write that
49:10 all men are created equal?"
49:12 And look what God has done with us.
49:15 He has taken us from slavery to the Supreme Court.
49:18 From the cotton fields to Congress,
49:21 from segregation to the senate.
49:24 From the plantation to receiving
49:26 the Nobel Peace Prize.
49:28 From the slave house...
49:43 You can't tell me this isn't my whole...
49:47 I believe that one of the greatest signs of the success
49:50 of our Black people's restoration
49:53 and the removal of our ridicule and stigma
49:56 was the election of the first African American
49:59 to be the President of the United States.
50:03 Amen.
50:04 Ain't it interesting how God does things?
50:07 He's not just an African American,
50:09 he's an African African American.
50:18 And to move to Roots,
50:20 they took Kunta Kinte's name and gave him Toby.
50:25 And now all of us got Toby names.
50:28 But when God got rid of the selected black man
50:32 to be the first President in United States,
50:34 he didn't have an American name.
50:37 He didn't have the slave masters name.
50:39 His name is Barack Hussein Obama, Africa.
50:51 And I know that God ordained that.
50:54 I got Bible for that.
50:56 Because the saying says of kings.
51:02 Somebody ought to know that they better be careful
51:04 'cause He'll send someone down...
51:09 I went to Philadelphia the first time
51:12 and I went to Constitution Hall.
51:17 And the guy there,
51:19 showed us where the founding fathers sat.
51:23 And all these signs, the Constitution,
51:26 Declaration of Independence, and where everybody sat.
51:30 And much of the furniture's gone
51:34 but the main chair that George Washington sat in
51:37 is still there.
51:38 I was sitting there and looking
51:40 and half of the men that were signing this decoration
51:44 and this Constitution were slave owners.
51:50 Slave owners making this great new nation with slaves.
51:57 They had no idea in their foggy imagination
52:01 what the God in heaven had planned for America.
52:04 So when he finally finished,
52:06 it got all quiet and somebody asked,
52:09 he asked, "Is there a question?"
52:11 With my dumb crazy self, it just came out.
52:15 I couldn't help it, I just go,
52:16 "A black man is president. Yeah!"
52:22 I knew I was wrong but I just couldn't help it.
52:25 God has certainly lifted us, can't you say amen.
52:29 Now, now, when God talked about
52:31 removing Israel's shame with Gilgal.
52:35 The Hebrew word for shame means "to point a finger at."
52:39 It means to ridicule or mark or taunt.
52:43 We see ridicule now and then but the make to fun of.
52:47 Notice God said that, "I will remove
52:50 and roll away the reproach of Egypt."
52:54 That means that there was some shame
52:56 that they had that was connected
52:59 with the exodus from Egypt.
53:02 And, that's stream has caused Egyptians
53:04 and all the nations to point the finger
53:07 and to ridicule Israel.
53:09 Now watch this.
53:11 Embarrassment is always connected with shame.
53:16 But don't confuse the embarrassment with shame.
53:20 Shame is my personal, emotional condemnation
53:25 that comes from me doing what I know
53:28 that's wrong whether any anybody else knows it.
53:33 But embarrassment means when others find out Herman Cain.
53:37 I mean, embarrassment is when others find out.
53:48 I have shame because I did it.
53:51 But I'm embarrassed because others found out what I did.
53:55 So God told Israel, I'm going to remove your shame
53:59 that has caused you embarrassment from Egypt
54:01 and the other nations
54:03 for they are pointing the finger
54:05 and they are ridiculing you.
54:07 So what caused the shame, embarrassment and ridicule?
54:10 It was this.
54:12 Israel had spent 40 years
54:16 wandering around in the wilderness
54:20 after they had left Egypt.
54:22 They claimed to be the children of God.
54:25 God had opened the waters of the Red sea
54:28 and yet though he had delivered them
54:31 they still had not reached their destination.
54:36 They were out there wandering around.
54:40 Just going in circles, just lost in the wilderness.
54:44 In other words, Egyptians will say,
54:47 "If you were the children of God,
54:49 what you doing out there in that wilderness
54:51 with no water and no food?
54:53 If you really the God's own people,
54:55 then why have you been running round in wilderness
54:57 for 40 years in the state of lostness?
55:01 When you left Egypt,
55:02 why didn't you go straight to your destination?
55:05 If you left Egypt
55:07 only to wander in the wilderness 40 long years,
55:10 you might as well stayed in Egypt.
55:13 Are you sure you're the people of God?
55:16 And that God is leading you?"
55:19 That was the source of their shame.
55:23 The problem that brought upon, the shame
55:25 and the ridicule of the nation was their inconstancy.
55:29 Watch this, between who they claimed to be in the wilderness
55:35 and who they had actually been.
55:38 The problem that prompted their shame
55:41 and ridicule was the inconsistency
55:45 between their powerful exodus from Egypt
55:47 and their pathetic wilderness wandering.
55:51 In other words, they claimed
55:52 they're not conformed with their conducts.
55:58 And their potential didn't match their performances.
56:02 They didn't act in the wilderness
56:04 like they claimed they were in Egypt.
56:08 And yet, as Christians and followers of Christ,
56:10 you know, we have the same problem.
56:12 We share the same shame of Israel, that too often
56:16 we look good, but we've got inconsistent lives.
56:20 Worst thing in the world for Adventists when somebody says,
56:23 "What you doing in here?
56:29 I thought you all didn't drink that.
56:33 I thought you all didn't eat that.
56:37 Aren't you all or don't you all go to church on Saturday?
56:39 Well, why you here?"
56:43 Now, it will not be so bad if we did what we did
56:47 and didn't claim to be who we are.
56:50 It wouldn't be so bad if we were who we claim to be
56:54 and did not what we said, we were
56:57 but our pathetic problems is
56:59 that often our conduct is inconsistent with our claim.


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Revised 2016-04-11