As I've been reflecting over my own experience in growing up in church, church, I'm at a point in my life where I can genuinely and sincerely say, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for me. God, you've been so good, so good, so good, and if I had 10 ,000 tongues, as the old saints would say, I could not thank you enough for how good you've been.
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Oh, you just need to taste and see this morning that the Lord is good. He'll be your rock in a weary land. He'll be your bridge over troubled waters. Ezekiel said, he's my wheel in the middle of a wheel. He's the balm in Gilead. He's whatever you need him to be. He's the great I am.
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And I can say, I can truly say that the Lord has blessed me, been good to me, made ways for me, opened doors for me, healed my body, saved me, set me free, picked me up, turned me around, and placed my feet on some solid ground. The Lord has been good to me.
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If it had not been for Jesus on our side, God, I don't know where I would be. I know I would be lost, tossed to and fro by the whims of life. I know I would be lost like a ship with no anchor. But Jesus, you stepped in at the right time and you changed my life. You changed my life.
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If it had not been for the sacrifice that you made on Calvary's cross, we would not be standing here as free people. Thank you, Jesus, for all that you've done, all that you're doing, all that we believe that you will do.
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We thank you for our Heavenly Father first and foremost, our Heavenly Father who has had a plan of salvation laid out for us even before the foundations of the earth.
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We can open our eyes and look into today. We can open our eyes and look into today. to see that, God, you're still faithful. You're the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, and you are a faithful God.
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Our job as fathers is to teach our kids and to help our kids to learn how to survive and preserve the faith that has been handed to them in a dark and dying world.
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The historic black church has been a father to a whole race of people for generations in this country. And if you ask me, I would say that it is the most miraculous, courageous, and resilient organization that this country has ever seen.
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But you would not be sitting here this morning. You would not have what you have this day in this life if it had not been for some church fathers who ushered in the faith that we know today we would not be here the way that we are.
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When times got hard, they never pulled away from the faith, but they would lean in so that they could protect the faith. And so what you had all over this country, you had different churches and different places and different locations and different denominations working in unity with the same Bible and the same Jesus to bring about change and encouragement and strength in a community.
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Our fathers understood what Sabbath was all about. They understood that true rest and refreshment was found in the Lord. See, they knew what self -care was all about. See, self -care for our ancestors was church on Sunday morning.
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In the absence of hardship, believers tend to stray away from the Lord. But because they lived and breathed hardship 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year, they never had the temptation to stray away from the Lord.
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They may not have been to seminary. They may not know the Bible inside out. They may not even know how to read. But they knew how to call on the name of Jesus in the midst of trouble, in the midst of hardship, in the midst of pain.
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Are we teaching them what it looks like to call on that name in the morning, in the midday, and in the midnight hour? Are we preserving the faith for them just as it has been preserved for us? Are we protecting the faith?
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They were going through their own traumatic experiences but they still found enough capacity in their hearts to serve other people. We would say they need to be taken care of let's show our sympathy to them and they are saying yeah we're gonna be alright let's show some sympathy to some other people.
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This is one of the best lessons a father can teach their child their children or their child is restraint with compassion in the face of opposition now I'm not saying fathers don't teach your children how to protect themselves but I'm saying in the face of opposition our default it should be restraint with compassion to joyfully serve others even when we feel justified in our anger our bitterness and even in rebellion.
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If the blood of Jesus knows no color line then the church must never be a place of segregation but a refuge for all who seek God in the context of this is not just racial unity in Christ for the oppressed but also for the oppressor everybody should be working towards racial unity in the body of Christ because to Jesus it don't matter if you're black you're brown you're yellow you're purple or you're blue the only color that matters to Jesus is red because that's the color of his blood it's his blood that unifies us and brings us together.
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If you are in Christ you don't just respond according to the flesh anymore you now respond by the spirit and when the spirit is at work in you it causes you to respond differently it allows you to have restraint and compassion even when everything else around you suggests that you ought not have it.
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One of the signs of maturity is your ability to delay gratification and look forward to pleasure to relief to rest you can look forward you don't have to have it right now.
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They had come face to face with this reality that you can find trouble be in Christ and have done nothing wrong let me say that again let me say it this way trouble can find you and you having done nothing wrong and you being in Christ they were face to face with this reality that suffering might just be a part not might just be is a part of what it means to be a Christian.
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I may not be able to count on the government I may not be able to count on my neighbor I may not be able to count on the police I may not be able to count on Congress I may not be able to count on my doctor my lawyer my financial advisor I may not be able to count on this life but one thing I can count on is that one day the sweet chariot is going to swing low and pick me up one thing I can count on is that trouble don't last always.
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Even if your life is horrible you always have a next life to look forward to if you're in Christ.
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But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. Now the writer of Hebrews is warning and encouraging the church do not lose ground do not lose ground do not allow the hardship and the persecution and the pain to allow you to go backwards do not shrink back keep moving forward so that you can preserve he says that's not who we are we're not a people who shrink back that's not who we are we're not a people that give up that's not who we are a people that walk away from the faith that's not who we are hold it together and we do this we keep the faith to the preserving of the soul.
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If we want to honor our ancestors if you want to honor the sacrifices the prayers the fasting the giving the building of your ancestors the way you do that well is by taking the faith that they handed down to you not only preserving it but growing it and building it and praying for it and loving it and serving it that we might preserve it and pass it down to the next generation in a better way than what we got it we are those type of people.
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