Speaking @ Mt. Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church

On yesterday, I was fortunate to be able to preach the morning message for the 23rd Pastoral Anniversary of Dr. W. Louis McDowell who is the founder and Pastor of the Mt. Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in Passaic, NJ. Mt. Pilgrim is a wonderful church that Dr. McDowell organized 23 years ago in an old, dilapidated church that had only 9 pews inside of it. Dr. McDowell and the few members that he began with, paid $10,000 for the downpayment of the building, and presently they have over 500 members, with ownership of most of the buildings in the general area that surrounds the church. Dr. McDowell has an awesome view on ministry, which is expressed in the participation of the members in the ministries of the church. Their youth ministry is second to none, with numerous praise dance teams and their choirs are incredible. Going to this church was just as much a benefit for me as it was for them with the exposition that the Lord gave me to deliver to them. I was inspired in the fact that God is able to move a small people into the blessings of being a great people, and with our church in the process of moving to a newer location, we need the Lord to do for us what he has done for Mt. Pilgrim and Dr. McDowell. I am praying for the continued growth and development for the ministry of Mt. Pilgrim and Dr. McDowell.

Light in the Midst of Darkness

We continued our series on the seven I AM's of Christ, which is our study of those accounts housed in the book of John. We examined the second I AM that is found in John 8:12, when Jesus said I AM the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of fire. For the Israel people were in celebration during what is called the Feast of the Tabernacles, which was a celebration of their exodus out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. They would take four Jewish candelabras and place them upon the four corners at the highest point on the walls, and this would illuminate the entire temple. At the end of the celebration, they would turn out the lights which made the temple dark because they were still awaiting the coming of the messiah. The next morning Jesus was teaching in the temple, and the scribes and pharisees brought to Jesus a woman caught in the very act of adultery. Jesus rebukes them by saying he that is without sin let them cast the first stone. It was this that Jesus tells them that they highlighted this woman's sins and neglected their own sins, and just like the darkness of the temple without light, so is this world dark without the light of Christ. Here is the sermon outline:

Thesis: in a world stumbling in darkness, Jesus Christ offers himself to us as our guiding light

I. Ransom of the Light

-whoever follows me

II. Reason of the Light

-will not walk in darkness

III. Reward of the Light

-but will have the light of life

Preaching @ New Hope Baptist Church

On last night, I had the expressed privilege to preach the opening service for my Pastor, Joe A. Carter's 14th Pastoral Anniversary at The New Hope Church, Newark, NJ. This was an honor of the highest magnitude for me, as I am his first son in the ministry, and for me to finally preach during this grand celebration is without a doubt a great highlight in my ministry. Having said that, this was also the most nervous that I have ever been since my initial sermon almost 10 years ago. I had to really talk to the Lord for direction as I wondered what do I say to the man whom the Lord has used to pour into me to develop my preaching and pastoral ministry? The answer is that I didn't say anything to him, but I attempted to let the Word of God say something about him. The Lord showed up and showered his power on that place. Here is the outline:

Title: Approved By God
Text: I Thessalonians 2:4

Thesis: Whenever God calls a leader, he sends them through a series of tests to prove that their faithfulness is genuine

I. Faithful in His Message - verse 4

-entrusted with the gospel

a. confidence in the face of discord - verse 2
b. did not compromise in the ferver of his declaration - verse 3

II. Faithful in His Methods - verse 4

-not to please men

III. Faithful in His Motivation - verse 4

-rather to please God

a. did not propogate his fame - verse 5 - words of flattery
b. did not perpetuate his fortune - pretext of greed
c. please the father - verse 4

The Living Bread

We continued our series on the 7 I AM's of Jesus Christ this past Sunday during our 10:00 AM worship service as we looked at the first I AM that our Lord's Gospel According to John records in John 5:35-40 when Jesus says that I AM the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. We dealt with the fact that the Jews challenges Jesus to provide them manna from heaven just as Moses did in the wilderness. Jesus replies to them that manna is not a food but it is a person, the same person who provides life to humanity. His name is Jesus. For he is our living bread. Here is the sermon outline, I pray that it is as much a blessing to you as it was to our church.

Thesis: Jesus Christ is the universal and fundamental source that sustains us day by day in our spiritual lives.

I. Desires Will Be Satisfied - verse 35

II. Destiny Will Be Secured - verse 37

III. Deity's Will is Supreme - verses 38-40

a. Origin of His Will - verse 38
b. Objective of His Will - verse 39
c. Outcome of His Will - verse 40

He's All We Need

I began a new sermon series on the I AM's of Jesus Christ yesterday entitled He's All We Need. I was led to begin this series because our church is at a point in our history where many of our members have begun to let our present condition get them to the point where they feel that it doesn't matter what they do, it will never be enough for us to make it up the rough side of the mountain. They have begun to act as if nobody cares about us and nobody will come to our rescue. Well the Lord has instructed me to tell the people through this series of sermons that we don't need people to show up to help us, for in our times of distress, God is all that we need. So in us knowing that he is all we need, I began this series on the I AM's of Christ found in the Lord's Gospel according to John. However, before I could deal with the book of John, I needed to introduce this series with the first time we see the words I AM in scripture, found in Exodus 3:14. Here is my sermon outline:

Title: Remedy For Our Inadequacy

Text: Exodus 3:13-15

Thesis: when we recognize our shortcomings as his servants, our success as his servants rests solely in our complete trust that God will make up the difference

I. Trust in the Evidence of God's Existence

-verse 14 - I AM
-means the self-existent one
a. scripture states it
b. scenery suggests it
c. sprit senses it

II. Trust in the Presence of God's Personality

-verse 14 - I AM WHO
-God's personality comes not from anyone
-we as humans are a combination of our parents
-God's personality comes from himself
-his personality to different things to different people

III. Trust in the Awesomeness of God's Authority

-verse 14 - I AM WHO I AM
-because of his sovereignty he has power to do anything and everything
-and his authority rests in who is is

A Visit To Yale Divinity School

On yesterday I had the honor of visiting one of the great divinity schools in this county, Yale Divinity in New Haven, CT. This institution, which sits on the great hill in New Haven, is a pastor's delight, in that everything you could ever want to have in a divinity school can be found at YDS. Great reputation, check. World recognized professors, check. Beautiful campus and community, check. Diverse students, check. I literally fell in love with this place during my time there.

I was able to meet with an admissions recruiter named Melissa Pucci, who herself is a recent graduate of YDS, and she answered all of our questions with seemingly unrehearsed confidence that made me feel very comfortable and impressed with her passion for YDS. We then went to their chapel hour, which is scheduled during the day so that there are no classes at this time in order for every student and professor and staff member can be available to attend chapel. Although the style of worship was not what I am used to experiencing, I did feel the presence of the Lord in that place. The music was great and the speakers showed that most of all they loved the Lord Jesus with all of their hearts.

I attended a wonderful class lecture taught by Professor Harry Stout entitled History in American Society. This class deals with the church's role in establishing our society during the inception of America, and how it's role has changed in the century's since. Yesterday's lecture centered around the Geneva Bible Translation and how the Puritans used this bible and the formation of the church in their migration to the New England states, and how the community was developed around the church, not the church developed around the community.

They had an interesting practice of stating that the only men who could purchase land were those who were members of the church, and the only men who could vote in the election of officers would be land owners. So this ensured that all land owners and voters were members of the church. Everybody went to church, but not everybody were members of the church. If you didn't go to church, you were in danger of being looked down upon. I wonder how our communities would be if everybody in our community went to church.

The best part of my visit was the manner in which the students, especially the Black students gravitated to me and made me feel very welcome. As a matter of fact, they all were encouraging in that they hoped that I would present my application for acceptance as early as possible to ensure that I was in a better position to receive scholarship monies that are available. They were so helpful to even offer their assistance in my process, which is greatly appreciated and welcomed. I can't wait to get there.

All this has done is to give me something else to pray for, because I believe that God will give us the desire of our hearts and I am praying that the Lord will open this door for me at YDS. An Ivy League Divinity degree is without a doubt something that is important to me. To God Be the Glory!

Pastors in Politics

I was on the plane last night flying home from a wonderful fellowshipping experience with my brother Pastor Keith Witherspoon in South Bend, Indiana, and I picked up this week's edition of Newsweek. Inside of it was an interesting article regarding the Democratic National Convention's impending courtship of conservative evangelicals who have traditionally since 1979, been at the forefront of helping Republican candidates get elected to the office of President of the United States. It was said that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have made serious overtures to the Evangelicals in order to at least get to the discussion table, which is especially significant because in the past, evangelicals would never even accept calls from Democarats because of their liberal views on homosexuality and abortion. Newsweek had a very telling picture of Pastor Rick Warren, author of the best selling book Purpose Driven Church, holding hands with Obama in a corporate prayer at his church.

This led me to ask myself an important question, where do Pastors fit in the grand scheme of politics. Throughout history of this country, there have been many pastors who have run, even successfully for various offices, but I have to give my own views on it out of the book of Lance Mann, chapter 7 verse 14, which states that I don't prescribe to the idea that Pastors should be politicians. For if that Pastor is a true Pastor, then that Pastor should have the well-being, growth and development of his congregation at the forefront of his heart, and if that's the case, then he probably does not have enough time to handle a secular position. Now I know that somebody will suggest that at mega-churches, most of those Pastors have full-time staff to handle the day to day operations of that church, they should have time for a political career. But I want to suggest that with consistent study of the bible for both exposition on Sundays, bible class during the week, evangelism efforts, expansion meetings, their weeks should still be full to the capacity.

I also feel that when you are a Pastor who gets into politics, he opens himself up to criticism and scrutiny that secular politicians don't have to face. Such as a prominent Pastor in New Jersey was under investigation for who he gave consulting jobs to, secular politicians have been known to do the same things, yet those deeds are ignorned when it comes them, but magnified when it pertains to a Pastor.

I believe that politicians must come to a Pastor in order to become elected as Pastors ought to have influence with politicians, as they come for counsel and guidance, but we have enough to do with the preaching of the Gospel that is designed to change the lives of humanity to become involved that intently with the world's government.