Ever Faithful, Ever Fruitful - Pastor JD Howell 8-9-2026

Have your Bibles. Will you turn with me to the

Book of Psalm. May I direct your attention to the

ninety second chapter in the fourteenth verse. Brother Nathaniel Salm,

chapter number thirty seven and verse number twenty five. Brother Jesse,

read that to us a little while ago, Our brother Jesse,

First Corinthians, Chapter number thirteen and verse number thirteen. My

brother again, Brother Nathaniel, Salm thirty seven and twenty five,

Brother Jesse, First Corinthians, Chapter number thirteen and verse number thirteen.

Brother Nathaniel, would you read our first co text? I

have been young, and now I'm old. You have I

not seen the righteous for shaking, nor his seed begging bread?

Amen?

He had not seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed

begging bread, Brother Jesse, one Corinthians, Chapter number thirteen, Verse

number thirteen.

And now abide it. Faith, Hope, charity, these three. But

the greatest of these is charity.

We do run out of some things. We do run

out of strength. There are some things in our life

that are depleted. We do lose hair, we do lose teeth,

But some things can remain. Three of them be in faith, hope,

and love. Let's stand for the reading of our Golden Text,

the Book of Psalm chapter number ninety two, in verse

number fourteen. While this is a great looking group of

people here this morning, the Bible said, they shall still

bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat

and flourishing. Look at verse number twelve. The righteous shall

flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a

cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house

of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.

They shall bring forth fruit in old age. Praise the Lord.

Let's pray, Heavenly Father, we love and we praise you.

We thank you for the opportunity to be in your

house this morning. We thank you for our senior saints.

God.

They're beyond senior citizens to us, their senior salty seasoned saints,

people that we respect and we hold in the highest

of regard.

God. We pray that you would anoint their ears.

To hear what the Spirit of God speaks directly to

them this day.

Help us to hear as well.

Help us to grow in grace and in the knowledge

of the Lord, Savior Jesus Christ. Anoint me, Lord, help

me to be thy servant and to speak your words.

We pray you'd set a guard at my mouth and

help me to say only the things that you would

have me to say, nothing more or less. Help us

to depart this place joyfully and not sorrowly, in Jesus's name.

And the church said, Amen, I want to preach your

message the Holy Ghost titled ever faithful, ever fruitful, ever faithful,

ever fruitful. Because God is faithful, we can be fruitful forever.

Amen.

And first and foremost, I want to say good morning

to our elder saints. We love and appreciate each and

every one of you, and it is our honor and

privilege this day to celebrate you all. I'm thankful for

this church family and for the respect that they have

paid towards you today.

You are deserving of it.

Not everybody that is of a ripe age are worthy

of the accolades that you have received or the applause

that you have received today. But you are double worthy.

And I appreciate you. And I want to say it

is my privilege an honor to be your pastor and

to serve you. You make serving easy and I appreciate that.

And this day is a day that the Lord hath

made and already we have rejoiced in the present of

the Lord and being glad in it. Today though, we

seek an opportunity to celebrate each and every one of

you from the age of sixty five and upward. And

I want to call you our senior saints. You're more

than just a senior citizen to me. You are senior saints,

salty seasoned experience children of God. In recent weeks, I

have come to clear understanding that the Lord Jesus cares

for his children at every stage of life. And I

know that sometimes as we age, we wonder do friends

and family members care for us as much as they

did when we were younger, And there is valid concern there.

I know sometimes when people grow old, their friends and

family tend to forget them because of the busyness of life.

But they forget about in the busyness of life about

the brevity of life as well. And sometimes, if we're

not careful well, we will forget to celebrate and cherish

those that did so much for us. Again, young people,

in the busyness of life, let us not forget the

brevity of life. That there are some people in this

building today that you won't be able to reach out

in touch in the next three to five years. That

is heartwarming to me in many ways. But it's also

heart cooling in many ways because I know what a

blessing these people of God have been to the Bethel

Holiness Church, and I know what a benefit it is

for you to have them as an example. And so

I want to help you come to a clearer understanding,

to know that even though you are young, the Lord

is caring for you. But while the Lord cares for you,

you need to care for our elders. The Bible said

to fulfill the very law of Christ. In other words,

the mind of Christ, the objective of Christ, the task

of Christ, the project of Christ, the will of Christ,

the desire of Christ. Is to bear one another's burdens.

And as our saints age, and as they grow older,

they require more attention, they require more service, They require

of us assistance. There's some that have told me recently

that when they reach a time in their life when

they are of no service to anyone, they'd rather the

Lord take them home than them be a burden to others.

But we must help bear our brother's burdens, and we

must be their keeper in spite of their age, whatever

they're going through. In spite of their circumstances, we must

bear their burdens. So to fulfill the law of Christ

is to bear one another's burdens, no matter their age,

whether young or old. So we know through reading the

Word of God that Christ cares for everybody at every

stage of life. He pities the birth experience of a child.

He says, it's more blessed at the time of one's death.

It's more beautiful, it's more assuring, it's a more certain time.

It's a more assuring and comforting time. How can that be,

Because at the time of one's death, if they have

proven faithful to the Lord, who has been faithful to them,

we know that they will soon be in the presence

of the Lord, and that they will no longer be

tested and tempted and sorely tried, and that there's no

longer the possibility of them running well and being hindered,

that there's no longer a possibility of them succumbing to

temptation and losing their soul. Even the apostle Paul said,

you know, I'm concerned about this fact that I could

grow old and after I've had a ministry, where I

evangelize and reach the masses and pioneered and planting many churches,

I find myself a cast away. One thing Paul never

said was I'd find myself not being cared for by

the Lord. He knew that the Lord would care for

him all of the days of his life. An apostle,

Paul said, the greatest burden in my life is my

care for the churches. So I want to encourage our

young to care for the elders in the same way

that they cared for us when we were much younger.

In the thirty seventh chapter of the Book of Psalm,

if you'll look at the twenty fifth verse, the sweet

Psalmist of Israel David wrote, I have been young and

now am old, and I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

nor his seed begging bread. When a person steps foot

into this sanctuary, they notice that we are blessed with young.

People and old people alike.

Each person within both groups are an active part of

our beautiful church church family. Here at the Bethel Holiness Church,

we do not support division.

We do not promote cliques.

We don't like schisms and divisions within the Body of Christ.

In fact, we're very concerned concerning the various denominations within Christenom.

Today.

We do not find in the Bible anywhere where there

are supposed to be divisions or denominations. In fact, you

find two columns or two categories. You find believers and unbelievers.

According to the New Testament, those that served God had

all things in common, whether young or old. And if

there was ever a time of discord or division, the

Apostle Paul, through his Pauline epistles and through his messages,

he would encourage the church to come together. And the

only thing that was to separate them was distance. The

only thing to separate them was distance. They saw things

the same way, They supported and promoted the same doctrine.

In other words, if they had all lived in the

same local, they would have been able to attend the

same church. They would have had the same mind concerning

Jesus Christ. And that's what the Apostle Paul said. Let

this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

And the Apostle spoke to you, Adias and Senticki. He said,

I beseech you, I beg of you. I plead with

you to be of the same mind. And one of

the things that we have witnessed here at the Bethel

Holiness Church. No matter the age, whether young or old,

we are of the same mind concerning biblical truths and doctrine.

And I'm thankful that this group of people have embraced

sound doctrine. There's a lot of people today in racing

division and cultism, schisms, discord. There's people going about so

and discord among the brethren. Even in independent Holiness and

Pentecostal churches, there are people who find it their business

to sow discord and disharmony among the brethren. And the

Lord said in his word he hates those that soweth

discord among the brethren. So here at Tobethel Holness Church,

we have never promoted or encouraged discord. And we've never

supported those that fill at their job to be a

busy body and to get on the coconut wireless as

gossip goblins, and to work in the print house at

the rumor meal, and to sow discord. We've always correctly

and quickly chastised those that we felt like had succumbed

to the temptation of bringing division. At to Bethel Holness church,

and use see here a perfect meshing of the young

and old. Oh, what a beautiful material it is, as

we have seen the Holy Ghost mesh together the silver

threads with the black and the red heads threads. God's

blessed us here in a wonderful way. And when I

walk into those wonderful, wonderful, wonderful pews, I see people

fellowshipping of all ages, Brother Jesse, and it blesses me.

I'm gonna say it again.

When I walk into those pews, I see the young

and the old fellowshipping. And this pew there's a twenty

year old talking to an eighty year old, and this

other pew over here there's a fifteen year old talking

to a fifty year old. And I feel like that's

the way it ought to be, that when people come

into the House of God, they ought to see because

of the faithfulness of God, that it is a fruitful

house of God. Again, preaching a message the Holy Ghost

titled ever Faithful. God is ever faithful. Therefore we can

be ever fruitful. So you'll notice that David noted in

the time of his youth he was blessed to the Lord.

There is no doubt his reflection upon that period of

time brought him great joy.

It does not appear to bring him great sorrow.

In fact, I would say that he was encouraged greatly

when he thought about the many notable victories that the

Lord had allowed him to experience, including beheading the Philistine

champion Goliath. There's no doubt a huge smile appeared upon

his face, and his spirit was warmed by the Holy

ghost as he thought about the legendary prophet of God Samuel.

Who could hear God speak into his soul that time

that Samuel came and anointed him to be King over all?

Is it's real?

There's no doubt this man thought of the many hours

that he spent on the hillside as he tended his father,

Jesse's sheep, brother Nathaniel. I'm sure he reflected especially upon

the day that Jesse's servants came to him and said,

son of Jesse, David, your father has requested your attendants

and his presence. And David hurried along and left the

company of the sheep and went to be with his

father Jesse. And Jesse said, I have a basket of

goods here that I need you to take to your brothers.

There were a lot of things concerning David's youth that

David fondly recalled, fondly reflected upon. And I know concerning

our elders right here today they can tell you of

their first car. I have listened to them. Some of

you need to learn how to take time to listen

to them. If I could give God one request right now,

and he would grant that request, although I know it

will not be granted. But if there was one request

that I would give to the Lord right now that

would could be be granted, it would be Lord. I

would love to have every deceased elder and member for

remember past member of the Bethel Holiness Church in my

presence one more time where I could just sit down

beside them and talk to them and ask questions and

listen to them. Tell me about their first car. Tell

me about the key ring that held the keys of

their first car. Tell me about the first job and

how little you made, what your pay, skill and pay

rate was at that first job.

Tell me about your marriage.

Tell me about the birth of your first born, Tell

me the places of the birth of your children. Tell me,

and there's people well in this building right now that

could tell you of the first meal they prepared for

their spouse. There's men that can tell you of the

first paycheck they brought home as a married man, and

how they both wondered. Husband and wife was concerned whether

or not it would be enough. But they'd say, God

always was faithful. He was faithful to allow me to

grow in grace. He was faithful to allow me to

be married. He was faithful to allow me to bring

forth children, which were a blessing to me. He was faithful.

God was faithful to supply our needs. There were times

that it was just potatoes and a little bread. There

was times that it was just all potatoes. There were

times that it was all bred. There was times of

water down soup. But God always filled our bellies. There's

a man that I know very well. His name is

Cecial come Show, and Cecil come Show was a multi

talented individual.

Whenever I worked for him, I.

Just was in awe and just bewildered in amazement at

how gifted and how talented this young man had been

in his earlier days, and then how talented and gifted

he still was in his latter years. And I'd listened

to that seventy something, your old men talk. And he

talked about when him and his wife Gloria come Show

first got married. He was working as an iron worker,

and brother Jesse said he was climbing the ranks quite quickly.

But because him and Gloria did what people do. You know,

they had a family and had some children, and back

then the pay wasn't very good. And sister how he said,

this old timer approached him and said, Cecil, sometimes you

have to live on potatoes, but God will always be faithful.

And Cecil said, what do you mean. They said, sometimes

you had to just go by a fifty pounds sack

of potatoes, and you have to go in that back

room and you have to spread them out so that

not one spoils, because every one of those potatoes is

gonna matter. And he said, one day him and Gloria

went to the market and they invested in a fifty

pounds sack of potatoes, and he said, we went in

one of the extra rooms, that spare room, and we

spread all them potatoes out, put about three inches between

each one. He said, everywhere you looked, there were potatoes

in the window sill, there were potatoes on the floor,

there were potatoes. On the table, there was potatoes, he said.

Up on the cabinet there were potatoes. Up on a sheft,

there were potatoes.

He said.

We had potatoes every where. You could have potatoes, hash

brown with no cheese, potatoes, fried potatoes, mashed potatoes, saltato potatoes.

He said, we had potatoes. And he said the counsel

of that old person sustained us, and we lived on

potatoes until God gave me a significant pay rais and

we were able to buy some ground beef for those potatoes.

He said, I.

Remember when I went and bought five pounds of ground

beef besides a fifty pound psycho potatoes.

But Cecil, I'll tell you right now.

If he was here today, and I believe he's still alive, Cecil,

I'd tell you he'd start breaking down and he'd cry.

He was so tender hearted. When I worked with him.

I miss him. When I came here, I lost contact

with him. But he was one of my greatest friends,

my mentor in the structural still fabrication business. And I

could see him now as he would remove the glasses

and he'd say, but my God always supplied to need

according to his riches in glory. He said, Men, Gloria.

We never went hungry. He said, we never went without.

He said, sometimes we had little, but we never went out.

We never were out of something. It was never depleted.

The pantry always had something in it. And so he

would tell you it's been a great journey. I've heard

him talk about some bitter days when he was young.

I've heard him talk about some bad days when he

was middle age. I've heard him talk about some bad

times as an age person. But he would tell you

it's the journey that matters, and finishing the journey, and

finishing the race, and finishing the journey well and finishing strong.

I have heard elders in this church say, you know,

after we sung the song, heaven will be worth the journey.

And we've made our declaration that the destination is worth it.

The celestial city is where we.

Want to be.

And after a while it'll all be over, and after

a while the sun's going to shine. But there's elders

in this building today that will say the journey has

been great. It's been long, it's been burdensome at times,

it's been wearisome, but it's been a great journey, and

that God has given them joy for the journey. These

senior saints would tell you, brother Jesse, that God is

faithful through it all, through it all, through the valley

of the shadow of Death. There's some right now literally

operating within the shadow of death. Death shadow, the shadow

of the grim reaper is cast upon them. Some are

living on borrowed time. According to the Word of God,

we are allotted seventy years by reason of good health

and strength, which that strength is one of the things

that can be depleted, the energy can be low.

Are y'all with me.

I'm striking a chord there that you're relating to. I'm

pressing some chords and hitting a key that that some

of you are familiar with, and I'm singing your song.

I'm singing your song. Strength is leaving their bodies. Some

of the things they used to love to do, they're

no longer able to do it. And I could spend

thirty minutes giving examples of things that I've seen in

my life people become no longer able to do. I've

seen women that love to crochet no longer able to

pick up that crochet needle in that thread and weave

a masterpiece. I've seen men that love to pick up

a guitar and take nimble fingers and put them on

the chords and strike a chord and sing beautifully. Heaven

to be worth the journey. Say, I just can't do it,

Uncle Arthur. They call it Arthur, writis Uncle Arthur is

coming to residence here. He's in my hand. I can't

move my fingers the way I used to. I can't

play a c cord anymore. I can't play enough cord anymore.

I can't play a g chord anymore. But I can

still sing. I can still lift up those authoritic hans.

I can still praise my Lord. You do know when

they do that, they're being faithful to him that's been

faithful to them. And sometimes you see the little hand.

You know it's now losing its shape and its natural form.

As it draws up, you can see them move. That's

because those fingers ache with arthoritis, and the ache because

they're cold to the touch, and the ache. But they

raise that hand and they lift it up anyway, Amen,

just lifting it up to the glory of God. Lifting

up them feeble holy hens of the Bible, said those

knees would get feeble, those arms would lose their strength,

but they would wait upon the Lord as an eagle does,

to be renewed in their strength. They patiently wait on

the Lord because they know that God is faithful. They

know there are some things that are being depleted. As

I said earlier, there's some teeth being lost, and now

it's going beyond that. There's some denters being misplaced, receding hairlines,

hairs breaking, all the fragileness of life, the frauilty of life,

the brevity of life, all the things that are depleted.

There.

There's grass growing that they used to would have manicured.

Laws that would have been manicured are now unkept because

nobody cares to come help them keep it the way

they would keep. And they sit there patiently in rocking

chairs on the front porch, thinking, if I could, I would, Oh,

if I was young again, There'd be daisies over there,

There'd be bushes and shrubs, and I'd be smelling the roses.

I'd work the roses so there'd be something to smell. Oh,

to be young again. I feel the anointing of God

in this place. And they sit on the porch where

they're eating glasses on the tip of their nose, and

they rock and sing under the breath blessed assurance. Then

they read their Bible and they just wait on the

Lord because he's faithful. They know their strength will be renewed.

Not only will they walk again, they'll run again. Their

strength will be renewed because the Lord is faithful. It's

true that each person in this building is ever aging,

but the Lord is ever faithful. It's like the evergreen

trees of South Florida. It's like the land of the Everglades.

Everything's green. My daughter Hannah posted a picture recently and said,

look at this. Everything is so green. And that's how

it is with the Saints of God. No matter how

much they're aging. Although they're ever aging, everything about them

is just full of life.

They're flourishing.

If you look at that text, it said they shall

be fat and flourishing. It literally means they're not going

to be dried up. They'll be full of sap. You

know why they're full of sap because they abide in

Him and He abides in them. He himself, who is life,

puts life in them. Even though their members are shriveling

up and drawing up, and even though the aging process

is taking place, still they're ever green in their spirit.

They're flourishing, and they're full of sap. I've heard it

said for years. Just because you grow old doesn't mean

you're supposed to grow cold. Just because you grow old

doesn't mean you're supposed to be dry of spirit.

No, you're to be full of life.

They shall be fat and flourishing because He is faithful.

He is faithful.

In the Old Testament, we see the faithfulness of God.

I want to run away with us and just preach it,

but I want to talk to you in honor the

saints of God, the senior saints, to celebrate them. So

we'll stick with the occasion. But in the Old Testament

we see the faithfulness of God. In the lives of Abraham, Moses, Caleb, Joshua, Sarah,

and Naomi, we see the faithfulness of God, and we

see how God helped them to prosper. We see how

God blessed them. At the age of seventy five, Abraham

stepped out in total obedience to God concerning the will

of God for his life. At the age of seventy five,

he dared to do such a thing. At the age

of eighty Moses stepped up and spoke face to face

with the Egyptian Pharaoh concerning the release of the Hebrew slaves.

That sounds to me like that's somebody that's fat and

flourishing because of the faithfulness of their God. That sounds

to me like somebody that's fruitful should be dried up

and washed out. But inherits a congregation of a million

plus people and is their faithful leader through thick and thin,

times of testing, tribulation, times of turbulence, the trying of

their faith. Everything you could imagine happening too that congregation.

And in eighty years Moses begins a forty year journey

leading and directing the children of Israel. Between the age

of eighty five and one hundred and ten, Joshua assumed

the leadership over the children of Israel, led them right

into the promised land that Pastor Moses had promised the

people of God to have, and up until the age

of one hundred and ten old Pastor Joshua, he helped

them inhabit of land that was not theirs, helped them

learn to settle and to dwell in the land of promise,

told them to get new recipe books, which included having

an abundance of honey.

Amen.

All of that happened between the ages of eighty five

and one hundred and ten. And they want us to

believe because they've got older. Not the folks here, but

people in christed them a lot of elder saints that

are attending churches throughout American worldwide. They want us to

believe that they're just supposed to come into church, sett

pew and do nothing. Well, the Bible say concerning Moses,

because he was willing to work for the people of

God and be sent to do what God had commissioned

him to do, said, his natural force was not abated.

Praise the Lord. If if you want God to help

you in your health and help you overcome disability, be

needed by God for the task at hand. Sometimes it's

just beneficial to volunteer to do something knowing that God

is able to enable you to do that that He's

put it in your heart to do. I tell you, sister,

wouldn't advise you. I'd keep making bread and bailing soup

until your last day on earth, because it could be

that that very thing that you're doing for outreach ministry

concerning the homeless specifically, is what's keeping you shouting down

the aisles at the Bethel hole in his church. That's

keeping you fat and flourishing. It could be your faithfulness

to an ever faithful God that's causing you to be fruitful,

brother Jacob. It could be the fact that you go

out there and get that plastic gas can with two

and a half gallons of fuel in it, pour it

in a mower that you bought yourself to use at

the church and check the old levels and the tire

air pressure, and to just mount that seat and to

mow this church yard and manicure and landscape. It, I mean,

just looks. It could be that that's causing you to

be fat and flourishing. It could be that that's causing

you to excel on your job at Walmart, that great

work ethic where the people in the public workforce are

just praising you, giving you high praises, praise the Lord.

And we're not doing this because he got those high

praises at Walmart. We're doing this because God told us

to give our elders praise and glory and honor.

They're worthy of double honor.

But it could be these things, brother Nathaniel, that's keeping

them fat and flourishing. Things like this laboring among the

people of God. Have you seen those elders that jump

from church to church, to church to church, and then

they wonder why they lose their little tadpoles, why they

lose their children, why their children are full of rebellion,

why their children have confidence in nobody? Then they lose

their grandchildren. They hot from church to church to church.

All that they would just be faithful, then their children

could have faithful and the leadership. Have faith in the leadership,

have faith in the leadership's God, have faith in the

God of their parent, have faith in the God of

their grandparents, have faith in the church, have faith in

the mission statement of the church, have faith in so

many other things that involve the church. If they just

had an example of somebody being faithful, well, I'm glad

that we have elders right here that are worthy of

honor because of their faithfulness.

Amen.

Brother Philip shared with us a little while ago, in

nearly twenty years, we've seen sister Ham and his sister

wooton't be faithful. I tell you what I'm gonna do

at Sister Hammond's funeral. I'm gonna make sure every person

in this building has a tambourine, and Son, we're gonna

beat the tambourines.

Amen.

And I'm gonna throw all them tambourines in the hole

weather so that she could play the tambourine. My lord, Amen,

that's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna throw a baker's

mint and Sister Wooton's.

Grave.

I have privilege to do that because as the pastor,

usually with the funeral director, I'm one of the last

ones standing there as they cover them up. I'm gonna

throw some stuff in them holes. I'm telling you what

I'm wanna do.

Some things. I'm gonna change something about the way I do. Think.

Well, if they start digging our Bethel hole in his church,

family's graves up four hundred years from now, trying to

figure out what barrel sight is this? Who were these people?

They're gonna see some things. They're gonna see some things.

They're gonna find a bullhorn in Thomas Sterot's grave, Brother

Aaron Woodson, let them find a wagon, Brother Dwyane, you

were married to a woman of faithfulness, brother, She was

faithful to her God in health and in sickness. When

money was flowing and she could buy anything the church

wanted to buy. After you and her were in agreement,

y'all bought it. When you two were young, y'all could

do anything y'all wanted to do for the church. It

didn't matter. We had it if we needed it. But

I saw that help.

Deplete. I saw that strength.

There was a time that I could see Brother Duaane

and Sister Cheryl flip every table over in that fellowship

Paul stack every chair without any problem, and beg for

more work opportunities. But I've seen their strengths. Wayne. Now

I wanting to preach. You can tell I'm having a

step back up here and grab this podium here, sister

woot And I've seen you from coming this from coming

into this building on your tippy toes.

That's the way you walk. So of these people didn't

know that.

As fifty year old, just kind of come in, kind

of praise the Lord, Amen, ready for church to now,

Sister Simmons, I remember seeing you just walk around Brother

William Strickler's fellowship, Paul in church like it was nothing

to walk around. But now brother Caleb, I see her

holding on to your arm. Strength is depleted. When I

turned fifty, just like when I turned thirty. You guys

remember this. I remember when when I turned thirty, I

told somebody, I said I have felt now. I wasn't

a week in her wimp, but I said, I have

felt a change in my body. I said, I have

felt strength leave. Not a lot, but I felt strength leave,

I'm telling you. And within a week of me turning fifty,

not when I was forty. When I turned fifty, I

felt it again. And I said, Lord, it used to

be nothing to run two hours preaching hard. Now running

an hour preaching hards about all I can do. And

I said, well, if we keep this up when I'm seventy,

without the power of the Holy Ghost continuing to help,

it'll be all I can do to preach forty five minutes.

You know, I don't know.

I see these saints of God get in and shout

with you all for twenty to thirty minutes, and I

see them have to go sit down in their pew

for five minutes, take a break, take a breather, and

then they're right back up on their feet. I have

witnessed your pastor's wife having to do that since she

turned fifty. I thought that day would never come. But

it's here. But I've never seen them stop worshiping God here.

I've never seen them grow weary and well doing here.

And for that they're worthy of honor, and for that

they're worthy of praise. And I know what they do

with that honor and that glory and they praise. They

just turn it right up toward Heaven and give it

right back to God, of whom is worthy of it all.

But they believe that no matter their age, they can

still bring forth fruit. If you look at our golden texts,

they shall bring forth fruit in old age. They shall

bear fruit in old age. This lets me know they

can still bring forth the manifold blessings of God in

old age. Because of the Lord's faithfulness, their fruitfulness does

not cease in.

Their latter years. Hallelujah.

Because of their Lord's faithfulness, their fruitfulness does not cease

in latter years.

Praise the Lord.

He's ever faithful, and as a result, they will be

ever fruitful. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age.

They were young, and they brought forth much fruit. And

these rascals are old and they're still bringing forth much fruit.

There's a lot of preaching right now there.

It's true that some of these elders brought forth in

their youth, but the Psalmist lets us know that we

can expect there to be a fruitful time in their

old age. Fruit bearing should always be, it should continue

to be. The latter part of our verse is that

they shall be fat and flourishing. Their supply of oil

is never depleted. Their supply of oil is never depleted.

They're sappy, saffy saints. That's where I'm going. That's exactly right,

sappy saints.

I could preach this, you know, sappy saints.

I will never believe that it's the will of God

that somebody get old, look old, get decrepit and just

sit there in that pew. Will never believe if somebody

gets old they become unfaithful in church, hop and go

from one church to another, always finding fault with somebody

and never seeing the fault lies within themselves. And that

no matter their age, they need to be taught and

instructed in the House of God, that no matter their age,

they need to grow in grace and in the knowledge

of the Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ, that no matter

the age, they need instructors in Christ, no matter the age,

they need a pastor, no matter the age, they need

a teacher. If they want to remain fat flourishing, they'll

have a pastor, and they'll have a teacher. And they'll

have the same pastor five years later, and the same

pastor ten years later, and the same teacher fifteen, twenty

years later.

Should God see fit.

And for the most part, concerning people that have been

blessed with a rock solid holiness church and church family

and rock solid spiritual leadership, if they're not sticking and staying,

there's a problem within them, whether they're young or old,

if they're drying up while other saints of God are

fat and flourishing, if they're soured saints while others are

sappy saints, if they're sad saints while others are seasoned saints,

the problems on them. They've been foolish and they've been

unfaithful to their God.

But their God remains faithful.

And you know what, if their supply of oil is depleted,

it is because they have lost their faith, their.

Hope, and their love in their God.

In spite of whatever they say as they gossip and

talk about whatever they talk about. In First Corinthians, chapter

number thirteen and verse number thirteen, it said, and now

abideth faith, hope, charity. These three, these senior saints, right

here in this building this morning, may have experienced seasons

and times of loss. But some things are ever with them.

And it's true there's some things that will remain unto

them until they draw their last breath. And those three

things are faith, hope, and love. They're fat and flourishing

spiritually because they believe in Jesus. The night they gave

their heart to Jesus, they started trusting him unconditionally. And

they will trust in the Lord and lean not into

their own understanding all the days of their life, whether

they die young or old, they will have an unwavering faith.

Since the time of their conversion, when they became a

child of God, hope was arisen in their heart, and

they looked for a city. They hope for a city.

They wished for a city. They looked for a city

that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. They

have seen things that they have not yet laid their

natural eyes on. And with hope and through patience, they

wait for them. Brother Johnny Platte's greatest hope was free

from every imperfection, youthful and happy, I shall be because

that man loved to work more than he loved to

do anything besides.

Praise the Lord.

I remember one time just feeling like he needed to

praise the Lord a little better. And after I earned

his respect, he told me, you do to me whatever

you need to do.

If you need to rebuke me, you rebuke me.

If you see anything in my life it's sorely displeasing

to God, you tell me, whether privately or publicly.

I have to make it to Heaven.

Well, one particular service, the spirit of God was moving.

He was always quick, brother to wanne to raise the hand.

He was always quick to praise the Lord, always quick

to get yeah. But I think he was letting the

pain of old age get the best of him, which

was not the way he was. I'm talking about just

for one service. I could tell he was just suffering

so bad, and he was there on the front pew

and I was exhorting about praise ye the Lord, Praise

ye the Lord while you're young, Praise ye the Lord

while you're old. Hey, let everything that hath breath, Praise

the Lord, whether old man, young man, old woman, young woman,

praise the Lord. If you're young, you can have perfect

praise according to the will of God. And if you're

an old saint of God, by now perfect praise should

be even more perfect than pure. And I said, Papa Plantier,

your body language is speaking that God hadn't been good

to you. That's the only time I ever had to

tell him that. He was always Amen, that's right, Preacher,

my favorite pastor. Preach, pastor, Amen, that's right, always, always,

always getting in and pushing. But that particular service, I

could tell he was just under it, I mean under it.

Probably the only time I remember him just being under it,

I think is probably when his gall bleadder was literally

rotten in his body, hurting so bad, poor and sweat.

I said, hey, brother plat, I said, raise them hands

to the glory of God. And he lifted that hand

up about this high. I ran over here and I said, hey,

I said, praise God. I grabbed his wrists, snatched his

hand up, jerked his hand up over his head. I said,

I said praise the Lord, and did that for a

couple of minutes. I said, worship and praise the Lord.

Brother Plat, God's been good to you at the church.

He said, I'm glad you did that. I said, you are,

He said, yeah, because that's that bad arm that I

injured years ago. That's the one I couldn't raise above

this height, he said, But tonight, God help me.

Look, I can raise my hand.

You know what, Brother Steed, if I'd have been honored

honoring the flesh and operating in the flesh, the last

thing I'd have done is grabbed that arm. I might

have even remembered that that was the one he can't

raise very high. But I got a hold of it

in the spirit, and old brother Platt lifted up the

hand and began to praise and worship the Lord. And

the power of God enveloped him, and he offered perfect

praise to his Lord and got a healing to boot.

I saw that brother at the round the age of eight.

He crawled from one side of this building to the

other and said, I've been thirty years behind obeying God.

God told me to.

Do that thirty years ago, at eighty years of age.

It took a long time to get down on his

knees and his palms, and he knew it would take

a long time to get off of his knees and

his palms.

But I tell you, when that old.

Man obeyed the Lord, the power of God broke out

in here, and we had one of the greatest services

in our history. Yes, his strength was depleted, but his

supply of all never depleted.

He was a sappy saint.

These elders in this church to this morning, they're sappy saints.

And I want to touch on this last thing that

will abide with them forever.

Love.

After all of these years, their love for him is

still the same. After all of these years, their love

for him, their Savior, is still the same. Now, Abideth,

these three things still. Teeth are gone, hairs are gone,

friends are gone, family members are gone. Resources are depleted.

Very few things in their life remain. But still I

have faith, it remains. Still I have left hope it Abideth,

and my love.

For the lover of my soul and brother stare at.

When I see folks grow old and they attend the

House of God, and I see them grow cold in

their love toward him, I realize he is no longer

their savior. For old people can backslide as easily as

young people can backslide.

And brother Plaid always told.

Me, he said, son, it doesn't get any easier, it

gets harder. I said, you mean to tell me to

battle gets more fierce as you get older. He laughed,

and he chuckled. He said time will reveal that unto you.

And he said, I'd rather not get into it. And

brothers stare at. I've seen them grow old and grow cold.

I've seen them grow old and compromise. A trend amongst

preachers is when they get old, they stop standing for

truth like they once did. They stopped fighting for truth

like they once did. Their wives stopped living for truth

like they once did. And the standard begins to slip

because the standard bearer fainteth. And you know what, the

standard bearer should not have fainted, because their God, who

was faithful when they were young, He's still the same

today and will be tomorrow as he was in yesteryear.

He's the same yesterday, today and forever. His word is unchanging.

His promises are yea and amen. His promises are yea

and amen. And you know what, if Moses grows old

and he fades and he vanishes, Joshua.

At eighty five.

He can say, you know what, we're gonna get it.

It's ours. We're gonna inhabit it, we're gonna possess it.

And I want to tell our elders in this building today,

believe in the mission up until your dying moment. Hold

on to the promise, up until your last breath. And

I want to tell our Moses is something when you

release your hand from mine, I want to tell you,

as Joshua would tell Moses, I've got this.

Because he.

Was faithful to you, and he will be faithful to us.

And I want to tell our little chilling something as

he's been faithful to us, He'll be faithful to you

because he's have been young and now old. You are

now young and one day will be old. Whether young

or old, I want you to thank him for his faithfulness,

and whether young or old, I want you to be fruitful,

and I want you to be ever green and ever growing.

Amen.

I feel the Holy Ghost in this place right now.

I've seen you young church hoppers. I've seen old church

hoppers that some people I've seen who are young come

through a church knowing that be gone in three years.

I've seen some come through a church that we're old

know one be gone in six months. But as Brother

Philip said today concerning some around here, it's literally going

on twenty years now some wherever you're getting it. Those

are the people that endear themselves to us. Those are

the people that convince us God is faithful. And I

want to tell our elder saint something. Be faithful to

him from that age of fifty until he takes you home.

Let your children see that you have your faith in someone,

in Jesus and in some others, your church family. No

matter how they fuss and fight and kick against it.

Let them know that your heart is fully trusting in

Him and in your church family. That is your only

hope in their salvation. One of the things I always

emphasized in order to keep the Howill family functioning and

fully intact, was I believe in our church family, and

back then it was in six elders, brother and sister Platte,

brother and sister Heimn, and brother and sister Whooting. I

pointed children from the ages of four to ten at

six elder saints. Not only to myself. I believed in

the church when there was seven, and now that they're

seventy five. And if we lose one or two to death,

or we lose one or two to compromise, or we

lose one or two to vomit, or we lose one

or two tomire, or we lose one or two to

this world, or or we lose one or two to

the spirit of this world.

Or.

There's nothing whatsoever I can do about that other than pray.

But I will never be able to truthfully respect or

honor unfaithfulness. I will never be able to truthfully or

honestly honor unfaithfulness.

But today I can honor.

These salty, sappy saints that have been faithful. Brother Jacob,

come every body my word in heaven. Brother LaRue, you

turned sixty five this month. I remember, so we honor

you today too. Brother LaRue, I remember when we celebrate

a Brother LaRue's fiftieth birthday. Do you remember that, Brother Tyler,

this man is faithful every weekend and midweek to take

care of our facility. Do you realize, just a that

simple action.

How easy it will be to preach his funeral?

Do you realize the example that is set forth to

this people in him working for the church. Brother Plait

became brother platte for doing that very same thing, Pastor.

I know you did the preaching, but I noticed there's

a light bulb out in the men's bathroom, and when

you show up Wednesday after that two hour drive, that

light won't be out. And when Sister Platt was sixty,

when we first got here, we walked into a lady

running a dust broom up in the apex of the

ceiling on a telescopic booming pole. I'd watch her adjusted

her go around and sweep down the cobwebs every service.

But what made Sister Plat special was one day when

a little small Hennah decided I'd like to do that.

Brother than Sister Plat barking and saying, no, that's my job.

I've been doing this for twenty years. Sister Platt saw

the opportunity to grow the next generation and she said,

here you go, Hannah. But what was special about Sister

Platt was she knew Hannah was shorter than she was.

She adjusted the telescoping pole to be suitable for Hannah.

After brother in Platt and Sister Platt saw that we

were going to be faithful as pastors here. After eighteen

months of realizing the burden, after realizing we had a

vision for this people, after realizing what is theirs will

become ours, after realizing what is ours is theirs and

what is theirs is ours, After the unification of the spirit,

after the unity in their brother and sisterhood, after we

had proven ourself, Brother Platte come to him and he said, Hey,

I feel like you need to copy the keys of

this church. I remember the first time I turned the

law being trusted with the keys of this building. Now

it is I who entrust people with the keys to

this building. Now the Lord, can he trust you to

be faithful in stewardship? Can he trust you in servitude

to be faithful? For mothers of Israel to a certain people,

they are just that they are a mother of those people,

through the thick and the thin, through the good times

of the bad times. One week they're not the mother

of Israel, and the next week the mothers of the Philistines,

mothers of Israel are mothers of Israel. These mothers of

this people have been faithful mothers of this people, and

I believe because of the faithfulness of their God. They've

been sappy saying they've been fruitful, but as brother Nathaniel

said a little while ago, they have played with our babies.

It began with sister Platt. They brought candied our babies.

They made our babies their babies. And the Howl children

and the Howl grandchildren and the Howell family are better

off to this day because of us joining up with

six elders. I shudder at the thought of having let

my children cut their teeth on a church with nothing

but foolish youth. Now I feel the Holy Ghost right

there in the mighty way. If I had to build

a church right now in Miami, Florida, and we're not

going to do that, but I am praying that one

day there'll be a Holiness church down there, thirty to

fifty years from now. But if I had to establish

a Holiness church in Miami, Florida right now, and God

gave me all the resources I needed in order to

help get it going, I would take Richard Jacob with me,

Iris Wootin, gil Hammond, Vicky Smith, Thomas, Starrett wander stare it.

And to the glory of God, did I say Richard Jacob, Yes,

I said him first, to the glory of God, we

would build a Holiness church and I'd like to say

I take six or seven of these young ands around here,

but I'm just not so sure we'd build a holiness church.

But Brother Philip, them old saints can tell you whether

the sun is shining or not, whether this storman or not.

God is faithful.

Somebody said recently, they said, everybody's acting like it's a

big deal that the ancients knew how to be mariners.

In less than five.

Seconds, I said, what do you mean, said they all

think it's amazing that they were shipbuilders and that they

navigated the treacherous waters of the sea four thousand years ago.

I said, they're amazed at that. I said, they're not

students of the Bible, because it's taken me five seconds

to tell you that Father Noah was the master mariner,

built the unsinkable ship that stayed afloat during a cataclysmic

worldwide flood. And his children and his grandchildren, and his

great grandchildren and his great great grandchildren. Everybody knew Papa

Noah was the master shipbuilder. I said, every grandchild, every descendant,

and Noah wanted to build a boat. I said, the

world started over with Papa Noah the boat builder. I said,

about them kids, what five or six years old, paddling

around somewhere on a little boat. Are you all listening

to Pastor? And that's what I'm telling you, young people

listening to me. Our elders have weathered some storms. They've

been on this old ship design a long time now,

and they'll tell you it is a good old Gospel

ship and it is the unsinkable ship.

And you know what.

People can come and go and do whatever they want

to do. But one thing I will remain to be

by God's helping, by God's grace, from my wife, children

and grandchildren. Say, and for this Bethel Honess Church family say,

is I will be faithful whether we're running seventy or eighty,

I will be faithful, Brother Philip, And by God's help,

may all of.

Our elders remain sappy. If I'm not mistaken.

A little while ago, when they were singing that song,

I feel like running my last mile home. I believe

I saw an elder saint in above seventy running up

towards just pull pit. If I'm not sad they're mistaken.

I don't believe I'm mistaken. Where's that sap coming from?

Where's that life coming from. Where's that old supply coming from?

Huh? I feel it just a how.

Brother Jesse, you've seen a dried up old tree that

wouldn't bear fruit. I've seen many of them. But them

all of trees, some of them are ancient. Do you

know some some of those olive trees date back to

the time of Christ. Oh, maybe I should have just

preached us today. I love seeing a little old seasonal

bush and flower every now and then, and some being

there's yard, change them out with a season, you know.

I like that, perennials and all that stuff.

I like that.

But Brother Philip, when I drive by some of these

South Florida crackers yard, mister Larry Lucky's from one, and

I see them oh live oaks. And between here and

Mulberry there's an oak tree that stands. There's a bunch

of them done in this area as well. There's an

oak tree that stands and I can't even wrap halfway

around it with my arms. When I see that old

tree over there by Goodwill that fascinated of my kids

when they were little, now there's a sign on it,

probably because the how boys are Tyler and Jean and

everybody else running up in that tree. That big oak

tree goes out like this across from our good will.

Y'all seen it. Then it goes skyward. There's just something

about that old tree. From what I can tell, it's

fat and flourishing. And while sister how And I was

out of town recently, and let me put this in.

If you're a mother of VISs, you're on a father

visue and you're a salty seasoned saint when the pastor

goes on vacation, you don't backslide.

But I want to say this.

While we were gone for a couple of days tending

to the sister Cindy Neely's situation, I came back and

I said, what happened to our pavilion over here at

the park at the Barren Park? Looks like a fourth

of the roof has tore out. Somebody said, well, did

you look closely? I said, no, I was driving. It's

kind of dark. I said, what happened? There's a gaping

hole in the ceiling and the roof system of that building.

The one we had to bake sail in, the one

we had to barbecue pork dinner sell in, the one

that we had the yard sailed in. They said, yeah, yeah, said,

just one limb from that mighty oak tree that's just

south of it broke off and come crashing down. I

now look at that, it's just a little match box.

Because I know what it'd take a team of men

from the Bethalhonness Church to rip a hole that size

in that roof. And I'm gonna tell you something, when

these elders die, when their limbs fall, because of their

faithfulness and because of their strength, and because of their

size in God, it's gonna tear a hole in the

ceiling like you can't imagine. That's what happened when Stephen died,

and them devout men carried him to the grave, and they,

with great lamentations mourned his loss. That's what happened when

Moses died, when Joseph died, when Naomi died, when Sarah died.

When Sarah died, Abraham bought that plot of ground, and

he referenced this a timer in the Old Testament record,

it's written, and there I buried Sarah, and there I

buried Leah, and there I buried Rebecca, and there I

buried It goes on and on and on, and there.

The tree lies, Brother Jesse.

When I go to these churches and I see these

elder people that's been to this church for five years

and this one for two, and this one for six

months and this one for three, we call them church hoppers.

I lose all confidence in those kind of people. But

when I do like I'm doing this morning, Brother Philip,

and I look out and I hear people in this

congregation that mean something to this people. They may not

mean something to everybody else in the world, but they

mean something to me and to you all. And they say,

I didn't look for a place to sing. I didn't

look for a place to play my instrument. And until

somebody wouldn't let me play, I felt like my ministry's

over there, and I left and just hopping and hopping

and hopping. And it's always somebody's fault. Somebody's never sensitive

to their ministry. Yet they never get on a street

corner and sing and preach and go out and reach

the least of lost and the lonely.

Listen.

You can pick a mandolin and play a guitar and

a bass. You can do all of that stuff on

a street corner. That's what we did before we became

a pastor. I don't need a platform to play and

sing on. I don't need a platform to preach on

every Saturday. And that's how it's been for a decade. Now.

Every Saturday there's at least twelve people from the Bethel

Horness Church reaching out every Saturday. It's been that way

for a decade. It's probably been that way for nearly

twenty years. To be honest with you, But when I

look out, well and now I see somebody who stuck

it out with us, say, I've.

Been young, but now I'm old.

I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor seed begging bread.

Then I feel like doing what we're doing today. And

what I want to ask you to do right now

is just elders stay seated. Sixty five and older stay seated.

I want to ask you right now to stand if

you would, elder stay seated. I want to ask you

brothers to go to that brother and lay your hand

on him and pray for him that God would give

him strength, Thank God for his faithfulness. Sister, go to

that sister. Find you a sister that's in that age

group age range, and pray for them.

We love you all.

We appreciate your faithfulness to God, to your family, your

church family, to our children, our grandchildren, your children, your grandchildren.

We treasure this moment.

We celebrate you, We thank God for you, We honor you,

we respect you. It's our privilege to do so. Heavenly Father,

we love and we praise you. We thank you God

for these senior saints.