Ezra the encourager (baby dedication) - Bro Jeremy Howell 4-21-2024

Before us. That is very special. Another special occasion a baby dedication ceremony.

They have the robes that we're gonna wear when we get to heaven,

and robes of white. We shall worship the Lord continually, forevermore in spirit

and in truth. I believe Mom and Dad have done what they needed to

do to prepare for this time. It's a very serious time, but also

a very special time. I'm thankful for God feared parents bringing their babies to

Church of Lady. This is the third Sunday morning in a row when we

will be dedicating. The last minute we realized we butter cram leaves dedications in

before they as of every color. It loves each one of the different gender

that they're of. He loves them. I'm so thankful he does. I've

been praying and seeking the Lord about what to bring forth to us this morning.

I feel like the Lord has laid this Gordon text and being aware of

what is before us again a very special that yet a serious time of aaby

dedication. It is a precious time. There's smiles. Timothy, chapter number

two, verse number fifteen. Would you read that, brother, study to

show thyself approved unto God, workman that needed not to be ashamed rightly divide

God. And they were not finished with it. They continued helping the people

of God. They were diligent in their business. Their spiritual assignments were not

neglected. They were diligent in their business. And again we're going to slow

down and move at a slower case this morning because of the situation. We

are dedicated the baby. Tonight we will resume our normal Pentecostal pace. All

right, Say the Bible did say the spirit is subject until the he is

directing me in this manner. So let's stand for the reading of our text.

Had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do

it and to teach in Israel's statues and judgments. May we pray heavenly for

dedicate baby Ezral this morning to give him back to you. I thank you

for brothers You're and Mind's sister Leah, and for Ezra's sister Ain't. I

pray that you would help them this born in a special way, touch them

with your head as Ezrael was touched the biblical character. Jo Israel, pray

that you would anoint this thy servant set of guard at my mouth and help

me to say the things you would have to say nothing more or less an

the ears of this thin people, that they might hear what the spirits say

at under the churches. Through this French word, may we have understanding?

May we do more than here? May we we give him? The phrase

honoring the glory in Jesus name in the church says there that make him.

May we depart this place joyfully and non sorrowfully. Our text is found in

an Old Testament book in the Holy Bible, the Book of Ezra. The

title of this book bears the name of the author. Brother Jeremiah's sister Lidah

named their baby boy after the prophet Ezra, and the prophet. Ezra's name

meant help. It can also mean God hath helped. Another meaning of his

name is I have been helped by God. Another meaning of his name is

I'm willing to help others. What a wonderful definition of a name. The

Bible said a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and

love and favor, rather than silver and gold. There is no doubt this

name to this generation is very unique. I'm sure that the people of this

generation, upon hearing the name of this baby would say, Ezra, where

did y'all get that name? And the parents would reply with this The response

would be from out of the Bible, of course. And I want to

tell our parents in this building this morning, the Bible is not the only

place where you can find great names in, but it is the best place

to find names for your children, especially names that will have significant meaning.

I appreciate the Bible, don't y'all appreciate the Bible. I appreciate the biblical

characters of the Bible. And I want to caution you, just because a

name is in the Bible, it does not I mean that you should use

it. Since to how and I fully intended to name our firstborn child a

certain name, and upon studying the beginning of the life of that biblical character,

we were very satisfied with the name. But after studying the course of

his life and the actions that he took, and the backslidings involved in his

life, and considering his demise his destruction at his in s as to how

And I backed up and reconsidered that this was the beginning of us deciding to

pray it through concerning the names of our children. In fact, concerning the

name of our firstborn son, brother Jeremiah. We were in the hospital for

a couple of days before we decided exactly what we would name him. I

forget how many hours or how many days you have legally to name your child,

but we used just about the entire time that we were there at the

hospital and indecision as to what to name our son. We felt it was

very important that we name him what God had given us. That name was

Jeremiah Ezekiel Howell. I can remember sitting on the bed that was next to

my wife's bed, and I remember us reaching that decision and conclusion that we

would go with that name. I don't know what moment in time. I

don't know if it was when sister Leah was expecting to deliver. I don't

know if it was as she was carrying the child, or as brother Jeremiah

was delivering him in the parking lot of the handy store. I don't know

if it was at the hospital when they made the decision to name the baby

Ezra. I do know that they had made up their mind many many me

any months prior to conception and sister Leah carrying the baby that when they did

have a baby boy. They would give him the middle name of Wayne because

that was the name of sister Leah's grandfather that everyone loved. Everyone that met

the man just loved him. I remember it, brother Jeremiah's sister Leah's wedding.

Wayne. He came up to me, brother Wayne, and he said,

brother Howell, would you pray for me? Because his body was so

riddled and stricken with sickness. The man was so sincere, so sweet,

so humble. I had such a wonderful spirit. And there we were at

the front of the church, just praying, and he was pouring his heart

out to God, just begging for the goodness and the grace of God to

show up because he felt so bad at his granddaughter's wedding. He wanted to

be healed. He was reaching after God, feeling after God even in his

granddaughter's wedding. Isn't that something? He was such a special man. And

so Ezra bears the name of his grandfather, his great grandfather. Now let's

look at this first name, Ezra. It means help God, hath helped.

It can also mean I have been willing to be used to help my

brothers. This man Ezra, the Biblical character Ezra, who was before us

this morning, spent his life helping the Jewish people. He was a minister,

and the ministers that are in this building this morning, and those who

were listening to this baby dedication service, you know that you have spent your

life ever since you answered that call. You have not been able to hang

it up. You have to be obedient to the heavenly calling, in the

good times, in the bad times, in poor health, in great health.

You have to minister sometimes when you have a need to be ministered to

yourself. Sometimes when you have the need for somebody to pour in gratitude and

thankfulness and joy and jubilation yourself, you find they're not willing to do that.

They're unwilling to minister. When every person that comes inside of the sanctuary

as a child who God comes into that house of God to minister. Even

in the Old Testament times when the people would enter the temple, they would

come into his sanctuary with thanksgiving. He would come into his courts with phrase.

The very word service lets us know that every person, the occupant of

that building, is to be there in service to the King. And it

is true that there are different stages of service. Or different levels of service.

You may feel like you're on the lower level of service this morning,

and literally you are. But those people still were responsible to display affection and

adoration for their Lord, regardless of their condition, regardless of their circumstances.

You see this man Ezra had to minister to broken hearted people that were in

Babylon. Now, you think about that. Ministering while in Babylon would be

difficult in itself, but ministering to broken hearted people in Babylon would be even

more difficult. It would take somebody that really knew how to encourage others.

And I'm preaching this message of this. One's self could have gave up on

his master, but instead he said, bring me that Lennoni Fod. He

put it upon himself and he encouraged himself in the Lord. Now, what

I'm going to remind each one of this morning is this fact. David was

not a priest, nor was David a prophet. It was into the office

of King that David had been called. Also as hymnus or songwriter. David

had been called into that office and also into the office of encourage here.

But we know that Samuel had encouraged David many times as prophet, so David

if he would spiritually speak, and he was amongst the laity, he was

amongst the common people when it came to being inside of the House of God.

But he brought a song with him, and he brought a praise.

And even after he became king, there's no doubt, Brother Samuel, that

he encouraged everybody that was nearby. We find that when the Ark of God

was restored to the people of Israel, after Saul had let it be removed

and in the wrong hands for twenty something years, when the Ark of God

was restored, we find David encouraging his contemporaries, which is to say,

his peers, after nearly twenty years of ministry. Last night, sister Howison,

I've heard you a lot of times talk about this man's contemporary as you're

given your opening statement and to the sermon and to the message, and she

says, what does that mean? What does that mean? The contemporary?

Okay, during the days of Ezra, the contemporary or the peers, or

the equals or the parallels to Ezra would have been Neemiah. You could say

Hagi or hatey i serubable. All of these wonderful men of God would have

been his contemporaries. Now, Ezra it was not a contemporary of David,

but David was certainly one that would encourage others. Now, anytime we'd come

into the House of the Lord and we're down and out, or if we're

in and out concerning coming to the House of the Lord, if we're up

and down, if we're like a roller coaster spiritually, if we're moody,

if we're grumpy and grouchy, and we don't have the joy of the Lord

as our straight there is no way we are being an encouragement to others.

Again, your joy in your Lord should never be conditional or situational. David

encouraged himself in the Lord, whether he was bringing the Ark of God into

the camp of Israel or the city. Again, David encouraged himself when he

was in the Ashpow so Azra was preaching to people that had no doubt been

discouraged. But why were they discouraged. They were discouraged because they had been

disobedient. There's a lot of you come into the House of God discouraged because

of your own actions. Your disobedience brings while you have breath. You should

be committed and devoted to praising the Lord. So Azra finds himself encouraging a

discouraged people in the land of Babylon. Why are they in the land of

Babylon anyway, because of their refusal to heed the words of the prophet Jeremiah.

Do y'all remember this past Wednesday Nights message. Cultivate before it's too late.

God had allowed a young preacher to be born with no other purpose than

to be a prophet and to preach to the people and say that hardships are

coming. But you can prevent those hardships from coming. You can prevent those

situations and circumstances that will be so overbearing and so overwhelming if you want to,

if you'll do what I've told you to do, what God has instructed

you to do, and if you'll keep His commandments and obey the teachings of

the Word of God, you won't have to go over there into that foreign

land named Babylon. But if you do not hear and heed and do and

put into action what God's told you to do, You're going to end up

over there. In excell Well, that's exactly what happened because they refuse to

hear, heed and do exactly as God had told him to do. They

end up over there in exile. Well, now they're discouraged. There are

you God, And God can say, well, I tried to help you.

I ordained a man named Jeremiah. I told him to preach. Ezekiels,

the contemporary of Jeremiah's. He came in there after a while. He

preached soul. These guys were preaching in Jerusalem, they were preaching throughout Israel,

throughout Judah. They were preaching whenever the people got carried away to Babylon.

They were preaching to the multitudes that have been carried away and that are

living in exile in Babylon. They're preaching to the remnant that's still home.

I mean, God's got a man, right, God's got somebody every single

service, despite whatever you're going through, to stand on an upper level of

service and to try to encourage you, and we encourage others through the scripture.

So Ezra seemingly he realized, the only way I'm going to have true

joy in this life that is greater than temporal happiness is through the word of

God. Truly, as I've been studying this Book of Asra, and looking

through it, reading through it, I have found him to be a man

of the book. If in this life only I have hope, I am

of all men most miserable. Apostle Paul believed in the afterlife. He believed

in eternal life. These people, these great men of God, that were

encouragers. They believe the true joy comes through the word of God. And

whenever people need encouraging, they need an encouraging word, right, they need

somebody to speak a word of encouragement into them. How many times have we

seen people come to the House of God so blue and so dismal, and

it suddenly something speaks to them through a lyric and a song, maybe just

through a handful of words they're in the testimony, maybe through a sermon.

Somehow they're encouraged because of what said. Well, you know that word of

God, that is the word of God, that is God. Well do

realize that? Right? And so why are we looking for memes online?

And why are we looking for somebody's daily devotion or in somebody's daily blog to

follow and to read to be able to feel better about ourself. Why are

we expecting some mean to appear in a group thread and a text thread and

a group message to encourage us and frighten our day. When we've got the

light itself, the Word of God, that's encouragement enough. It speaks encouragement

and hope in the midst of this dismal society of doom and glue. I'm

telling you, if you monitor the media and listen to the news media and

even thump through the cell phone app and look at the headlines, that will

make you dis will it'll make you so blue. But as you read through

the Word of God, your heart is filled with hope, it's enraptured by

the words of God. Your heart is just lifted up. But so many

people won't read the Word of God until they get into a sticky situation.

And that's what happened with the children of Israel. They ended up over there

in Babylon. And Brother Jessee, if we know the stories, we've heard

the sermons preaching about them living in Babylon, how did they live in Babylon

successfully? Because they had certain men of God that realized the only way we're

going to survive living in Babylon is if we continue to honor the word of

God. This tells me that the word of God should be the same.

It should be interpreted the same by people of every culture, and it should

be the same within every culture. I don't understand why missionaries can brow beat

good, righteous, living, sanctifide, holy living, pure blue, pure

vanilla grade a blue ribbon holdiness people on a weekly basis, but raped them

over the head with the word of God, beat them black and blue with

a word of God, encourage him to live holy and righteous life, and

then go over there to the third world country and act as though the word

of God does not speak the same to the people of that country as the

people of this country. There's so much more merciful to the people in the

third world country than they are the people that they preach to on a weekly's

basis. I call that hypocrisy at its finest, paganism at its worst,

hypocrisy at its best. Because the God I serve lets me know that the

word of God is true, no matter what part of the globe you're standing

on, the Word of God is true. And when we realize that the

word of God is absolute truth, we have hope in the life. We

have a textbook that can encourage us that there is an afterlife, and that

we can't if we keep His commandments. We can't live in the afterlife in

an eternal heaven, an eternal blissful situation, worshiping the Lord. I mean,

in the midst of this dismal situation, Brother Jeremiah, the people starting

looking for something. They're looking for somebody that will encourage them. They're looking

for a messenger, somebody that has heard from God. And we find that

this man Ezra is just that he's somebody that has heard from God, not

only through revelation, but through the written word. This man has put a

high value on the first five books of the Bible, known as What Dependent

of what else are they known as? Was the law of Moses known as

the Torah? And so whatever. Ezra and these people of God had been

carried away into the land of Babylon. How long did they spend in Babylon?

Seventy years? They lived in next hour and captivity for eventy long years.

Hate sounds to me like we should just close the church down, right.

What's the sense of having church in Babylon. That's the mindset and the

mentality of so many people today. We can't have our certain structure. We

can't have our certain format, we can't have our air conditioned, we can't

have our padded pews we calls. I mean, it's circumstantial, you know.

As long as we've got everything the way we need to have it back

in Israel, then we're gonna just be encouraged. As long as the bills

are paid, As long as we've got our wonderful church building to enter,

as long as we've got our wonderful pastor and assistant pastor and teachers, we

can have church. But now, because we've been carried into a foreign land,

I can't have church. I'd like for you to tell Cory and Bensi

tim boom Pad they had church behind the closed doors of a concentration camp.

They got in the spirit despite the fleas, them, the lies, and

the maggots that surrounded the rotten flesh of their wounds. So how do you

feel this morning? Do you feel happy about yourself coming in here grumpy and

grouchy and dragon? Do you feel personal responsibility to encourage the elder and the

pastor yourself? Do you feel personal responsibility to be your brother's keeper, to

realize individually we are to be encouragers, and the church as a corporate body

is to be an agency of encouragement. It is never to be an agency

of discouragement. And there is no child of God ever to be an agent

of discouragement. That should never be a time, despite your circumstances and your

situation, that a child, or the pastor a young woman or the elder

woman in the church should be courage because of the vile language your body is

speaking. And I'm not talking about promiscuous attire or seductive behavior. I'm talking

about those deliberate actions that I'm gonna mope and be a dope in the house

of God, grumpy and brounchy, I too had feigned lest I had believed

to see the goodness of God in the land of the living, whether that's

in the land of Israel or in the land of Babylon, whether that's in

a zeus, the street building, or here it's about the all of the

church building, or in the upper room or sitting in the ashpileog Zick Black,

I will be an encourager on Jdad's ho Many of you know that your

child is looking to you to be their encourager. So Ezra the prophet was

encouraging the Jewish people in Judaism, while in Babylon they were having church.

Well, the COVID crisis is here, we should close down the church.

No, they were having church if you would in a crisis. They were

encouraging one another in a crisis. At one point they chose to put their

hearts on the willows, and they chose not to encourage themselves. They chose

not to sing the songs of Zion in a strange land. But the New

Testament tells us singing songs and hymns and spiritual song, singing and making melody

in your heart unto the Lord. Why because in doing so you encourage yourself

spiritual songs like we've been hearing song around here of late. So Azra would

have been someone encouraging the people. And when you're encouraging somebody, you are

helping them. This man was not only a prophet of God, he was

a priest. And he found that he was not above others, and he

also felt as though he was not above helping others. Have you ever seen

somebody that was high in themself and haughty and spirit and when they passed by

somebody that was seemingly lesser than them. They just looked down their nose at

that person with disdain, and they just passed them by, because they were

above helping others. Our New Testament reference for that is that man that had

been taken by thieves and had been beaten and robbed and left for dead.

And there goes the priests and the religious people that claimed that Jehovah was their

god, and they looked down their noses upon him and passed him by.

But then came a good Samaritan, somebody out of the goodness of his heart,

even though it was not conducive for him to bear his brother's burden,

even though it was not profitable for him, it would cost him something to

bear his brother's burdens. He poured into him, into his wounds, oil

and wine. And then after he had bound up the wounds, he puts

it on the beast of bird, his very own beast that has carried his

very own burdens. He adds into his very own burdens. He commissions it

to be taken to a place where this man could be restored. And this

man's spirit, no doubt encouraged that man that had fallen among thieves. He's

known as the Good Samaritan. Why is he known as the Good Samaritan because

he helps somebody that was in need. Now, you never know when you

come to the House of God who is in need. There's some people in

this fielding this morning who are in great need. Maybe not financially, perhaps

maybe a little bit mentally, perhaps greatly spiritually, but there are people in

need. We are needy people. Man that is born of woman is a

few days and full of trouble. These people right now looking at me with

smiles on your faces, and you are in need. You're in great need.

And that's why you're in the House of God because you know where you

can find help in that time of need, in the House of God.

And they are in Babylon, and Asra's ministering to them, he's doing everything

he can to teach them the word of God. Brother Jeremiah, He's going

to give support. He's going to help them and encourage them. He's going

to offer support. He's going to give them support whether they want it or

not. He's going to give support and advice to them people so that they

will be able to continue doing what they're supposed to do. In other words,

he's going to help them, He's going to stimulate them, he's going

to encourage them. That's why you're here this morning. That's why true Christians

attend religious worship services because they know that if they go to where that encourageer

is. I'm preaching all as for the encouragure, if I go to where

the encouragure is, I will be stimulated, I will be help and I

will be encouraged, and I will be more determined because of his diligence to

minister to me, I will be more determined to finish my race. There's

the people in this building. If we were to go down to the racetrack,

there is one right here in town. If we were to line up

upon the line and say, all right, somebody fired the gun and hopefully

there's blinks in it when that trigger was pulling that sound admitted, there'd be

some that was just dark. There's others that would start slowly. There's others

that would start at a break that pace, Brother Jesse. There's others that

would even consider not running because of disabilities. But the commander was you better

run it, and you better do your best. You better do your very

best, and there's some that will be motivated only because they're being encouraged to

do better. I don't understand this about professional and organized sports. Why do

you have to have people on the sidelines encouraging them to do better. Why

do you have to have cheerleaders. Why do you have to have encouragers and

standing on the sidelines encouraging us to do better. I want you to know,

this race is not to the swift. This race is not to the

swift. This race is for every child of God. We've got to run

it. We've got to finish our course in spite of your disabilities. You've

got to finish this race. If you do not finish this race, you

will not win the prize. Whether there's an encourager in your life or not,

you have to either encourage yourself or just keep on going on. But

this man Ashby was no doubt an encouragere and thank God for the encouragers.

But the encouragers should never be for granted. I'm living in Babylon. How

about that God's raised up some preachers to preach while I'm going through my heart

time. But what about when the preachers going through his hard time? What

about when the first lady's going through her heart time. What about when the

elders are going through their hard time. You never thought about the difficulties of

authoritis. You never thought about the heartships of fixed income. You never thought

about it. Middle agers, young people, you never thought about it.

Why you should stand up and testify. Sometimes there's something about that young plessh

There's something about that new fresh blood. There's something about that, and that

will encourage the spirit of Naomi Ruth if you'll get about being ruth. And

the Bible did say we reap what we sow, and if we can start

sowing some words of encouragement, how many of you know in the New Testament

we find that there are gifts. There are gifts of the spirit. One

of those gifts is having the knowledge of the scripture. And another place the

church has been gifted with people that are helpers. And so I found these

two gifts operating in the life of the priest and the prophet Ezra. Not

only was he able to help his people, brother Jeremiah through the scriptures,

this man, brother Jesse, he had the power of God and an understanding

that nobody else possessed. Do you know how he obtained such wonderful knowledge or

a gift of the spirit of understanding the word of God to get the knowledge.

Do you know why? Because he was a man of the book.

I told preachers before, I said, it's not gonna come out of you

if you ain't put it in you. And I've seen him before, think

that, well, surely God's gonna put it in me and God's gonna bring

it out. It doesn't work that way. The Bible teaches us in the

New Testament, it is stated, then the holy ghosts will bring it back

to your membrance. It does not say that the hold it ghost will recreate

it, or that it will reboth it in your soul. That's why Daved

said, thy word, have I hid it in my heart that I might

not sin against you? So why was David an encourager? Why was Ezra

an encourager? Because of the common denominator of cultivating their heart In our text,

we found the word prepare. That's what I preached on this past Wednesday

night. I feel the preacher. Now you can tell pree pair, cultivate,

Brother Jeremiah, cultivate the hearts of those in your household. Sister Leah

cultivate the hearts of those children in that household. Parents, train your children

up in the way that they should go, bring them up in the nurture

and the admonition of the Lord bond barred their minds with the word of God,

with preaching, with teaching, with singing, deliberately distract them with words

of encouragement. The music of today in secular society is filled with words of

discouragement. Says to how and I was sitting in a restaurant recently and heard

I both would neither one of us listen to the words of any of these

secular songs. But she said, Jeremy, do you hear that. I

said, yeah, I've heard it. I said, it's very disturbing,

not mentally in our souls. We were disturbed. And she said, that

song right there is speaking absolutely positively no hope to those that are listening.

It seems like the conclusion of the theme of that song is this. So

the theme is no hope, and the conclusion is you might as well do

yourself in. In other words, you might as well just give up and

convince suicide. That is the undertone. The underlying theme of that song is

you might as well, be grumpy and groutchy and live the rest of your

life discourage until you self destruct. Now, your children are gonna be influenced

by this world, or they're gonna be influenced by you, brothers, yourma.

They're gonna either be encouraged by you or discouraged by you. They'll be

happy about going to church if they hear you talk in a positive way about

going to church and your experiences at church. If you do not speak about

your pastor your preachers, your teachers, and your owners in a positive way,

then they're going to be discouraged with church itself. That's why a lot

of parents have made their mistake in speaking so negatively about the church house,

and it has put their children in an adverse situation. Their children have no

desire whatsoever to go to the house of God. Now here's Ezra over there

in Babylon. He's talking about God. What's he talking about? The five

the first five books of the Bible, The five books of Moses, the

Law Moses. Now what can you glean and get out of the five law

books of Moses. Well, for starters, you can realize you're a separated

people. For starters, you can realize, even though you found yourself in

a situation that is not conducive for spiritual growth, you better keep your nose

in the book and realize that no matter where you're at, God still mandates

come out from among them and be said to Lord. Because if you'll keep

yourself engrossed in the Gospel and in the words of God, you'll find a

spirit of revival beginning in your life. You'll find yourself being encouraged, and

you'll realize there is a way out of this spiritual imprisonment only through reading the

Word of God, only by the spirit of God. That's why the Bible

said and the New Testament has said, there would be a famine not for

preaching, not a lack of preaching. So what's there going to be a

lack of huh hearing? So wait a minute. We can have services for

twenty minutes, sermonets and services, entire services for thirty or twenty minutes with

five minute devotionals, or we can have our long lectures and services and preachings

and yet still being a spiritual famine, has still being spiritually destitute, and

still be so lacking that we have been there all that time and never heard

the word of God. Faith, faith right, faith cometh by hearing the

word of God. So how are they're going to have faith that they can

be released from their spiritual imprisonment and bondage through hearing the word of God.

In Babylon, there's a voice heard, Hey, Ezra's preaching over there.

Ezra's reminding us about the goodness and the grace of God. So this man

spent many days serving his people during their exile in Babylon. He served his

people as they made their journey back to Jerusalem. Know with the sixth verse

of the seventh chapter of this book, this Ezra went up from Babylon,

and he was a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord

God had given, and the King granted him all his request. It does

not say he was studying the practices of the pagan religion within Babylon. It

was not saying that while in Babylon, I'm doing what Babylon is doing.

It is not saying I'm trying to mesh in and mingle with the people of

Babylon. He's already scribe of the Word of God. And the Bible goes

on to say, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him.

I pray that the hand of the Lord God is upon this baby Ezra.

I pray that the hand of God is upon every parent and every preacher

that's listening to this dedication service. Did you notice one thing particular about this

Holy Man of God while we read that verse of scripture. The hand of

the Lord his God was upon him. And that's a wonderful thing. The

hand of His God, who was Jehovah, was upon him. And it

was evident for everybody that beheld it, the hand of God is on this

man. While was the hand of God upon on this man? Why was

it? Because he was a keeper of the law of God. But did

you notice something else? He was already scribe and the God inspired law of

Moses. Now look at our golden texts Ezra, chapter number seven, verse

number ten. For Israel had prepared his heart to seek the law of the

Lord and to do it, not to hear, only, not to go

to church seeking the truth, but to do the truth. He had prepared

his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it, not

only to do it himself, but to teach others. Do y'all see that?

And to teach in Israel, statutes and judgment. So when he left

Babylad, all the way back to Jerusalem and law in Jerusalem, this man

continued to seek the Lord through his word, to do what God's word said,

and he taught it. He taught it parents. You have to be

enforcers. I reminded law enforcement officers recently of that title. A lot of

you like to call them officers. A lot of you like the call sheriff

deputies. Here in town police officers. I like to call them deputy sheriffs,

because that is truly what they are. But some of them do not

want to enforce the law. So I fist bumped too, of what's supposed

to be lawkeepers there supposed to keep it themselves, and also law enforcers.

They're supposed to enforce that other people keeping. So I fist bumped them after

a wonderful conversation as they turned to walk away and seemingly what was battlegear.

Although they seemingly appear to never really want to defend anything, or fight for

the truth, or fight for this country anymore, I know, speaking of

our finest here in town, they seem to be wonderful men, and they

seemed to be willing to do whatever they need to do. But I was

speaking to two of those men, and after a wonderful conversation and them acknowledging

me as a pastor and as a preacher, and then thanking me for the

opportunity to finally meet me, and I speak as a fool. As they

turned to walk away, I said, I appreciate you two guys very much,

and I fist bumped them, and then I brought in what Jeremy Howell

was known for, the hatemaker in the last sentence, and I said,

I regard you guys so highly. I think so highly of y'all law enforcement,

law enforcement. And they turned on their heels and looked at me and

stared at me, and they smiled the most toothy ends because they knew what

I was saying. You have been commissioned by the public, and you are

being paid by the public to do what we've asked you to do, and

that has uphold the land of this county or this city, or this state

or this country. You are to enforce the law now, so ezra,

if he's teaching it, heaven of y'all believe he's enforcing it. And whenever

you're teaching and you're helping somebody, you're encouraging somebody. And when you enforce

it, you can still be an encourager. When you're an enforcer, they

don't believe that brother Nathaniel, all that man, he believes that word of

God. Literally, you can tell he practiced what he preaches. He encourages

me until he becomes the enforcer. Ezra the enforcer. I don't want him

to be one of them hard just constantly dum and glue style preachers, breathing

out fiery condemnation every service, preaching en us for no more gospel, giving

nobody hope, and encouraging nobody, and making the church dwindle down to nothing

because a terrible lack of judgment and wisdom. But it is a good thing

to be able to say Ezra the enforcer and Ezra the encourager, and you

can be and should be encouraged when you have an enforcer. Well, amen,

should I hide behind the full pit right here? So Ezra had prepared

his heart to seek the Lord? Well, I don't feel like seeking the

Lord. You would if you read that Bible enough. That's a living organism.

That Bible is a living organism. It's more alive than that virus that's

got sister Howe is sick. Right now. It's more live than that virus

that has sister Crystal sick. Right now. It's more live than this little

baby is. This Word of God is more alive than baby Ezra is.

Right now. You see, baby Ezra has already began to die. He

has already began to perish. In fact, the Bible said we should rejoice

at the time of that wonderful saying of God's death more so than at the

time of it is a child's birth. The very moment that child is born,

it begins to die. It doesn't begin to live, it begins to

perish. Now, those aren't words of encouragement, Pastor. They are I'm

smiling because we have hope in this line. We have hope because of the

Word of God. And at some point Ezra realized, Hey, I'm not

gonna be here always. There's an appointed time for me with death. I've

got a a point that I cannot postpone or cancel. So Ezra begins to

prepare his heart to seek the law of the Lord. What's in here?

What's in here? What can I find in here. Well on one of

the scriptures says search the scripture for in them. Thank you have eternal life.

This holy Man of God devoted himself to the study of the law of

the Lord. Now, parents, how you're going to properly direct your children

in the pathway of God if you're not studying the whole counsel of God yourself.

Now, y'all think about this now, thank you. Your worst situation

ever? When was it when your father was ed up with cancer and he

was in intensive care in the hospital and you were down there in the chapel.

How did you feel then? Did you feel like searching the scripture?

Did you feel like seeking the Lord? Okay, so you get abducted tomorrow

by some terrorist group and they take you over there to Shanghai, and they

take you over there to Pakistan to take you to Afghanistan and put you in

the cave somewhere. You gonna encourage yourself then, oh, I mean,

you don't do it. Sometimes in the house of God, I'm not talking

to everybody. I'm talking to those of God. Put on my heart this

morning on behalf of babyy Ezra. You're gonna have somebody I believe that will

encourage himself and encourage others. As long as here's my disclaimer, as long

as mom and Dad and he does right in the side of the Lord and

they don't backslide, he doesn't backslide, and he does what God has commissioned

him to do, as long as he's obedient to the heavenly calling. This

only man of God had devoted himself to the study of the Law of the

Lord. Do y'all think there was anything in the Law of Moses that would

cause a man to shout? I hear a very few preachers preaching out of

the Law of Moses, the first wild book the Torah. Was there anything

in there that calls them to shout? Apparently there was something that brought great

victory in their lives, great spiritual renewal, rejuvenation, and revival. And

say it tim At the chapter number two, verse number fifteen, Postle Paul

speaking of the young Bishop Timothy, while Apostle Paul is about to make his

departure from this life into that eternal abode, into that celestial city. His

last words too, when some of his last words to the Bishop Timothy was

studying to show thyself a prood under God, a workman that needeth not to

be a shamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now, y'all imagine

with me if you saw Ezra in Babylon, what would he have been carrying

a fishing pole? Y'all think he was going fishing over there at the Euphrate

Teas. Have y'all heard of the famous hanging gardens of Nebaka Desar? Have

y'all heard of the big city walls? Do y'all think he was saying,

well, while over here, I might as well tour the country. I've

heard of all these wonderful things. Yet, like a ticket to the hanging

gardens, I'd like a ticket for a cruise on the Euphrate, Tim,

Please, I'm not to take it for this. No, you wouldn't see

with a fishing pole. He's seeing with the Law of Moses, the Torah

under his arm. Now, not the Bible like we have sixty six books.

He had the Law of Moses. And people say, well, I

don't preach out of the Old Testament anymore. Wait a minute, didn't the

Bible say it's our schoolmaster? Didn't apostle Paul build the entire theme and messages

of the New Testament upon the schoolmaster. He told others to be careful build

upon this foundation. Apostle Paul was very careful building upon the foundation of the

Law of Moses. He brought it on to fulfillment. Jesus brought it on

to fulfillment. They did not do away with it or discard it as you

would a piece of trash. Jesus fulfilled a lot of things that the Law

had taught him would be forthcoming right, the prophecies of the prophets, the

preaching of the scribes, the teaching of the teachers. Brother Nathaniel, Apostle

Paul says, study to show thyself a proven of God. What's he studying?

Law, medicine, other people's Facebook pages, social media posts. Some

of you like to study your brother and sister in church. You like to

study that bombs on the back of their head. You like to study all

of their deficiencies, insufficiencies. You like to study people. You talk about

it, You tell on yourself. You tell us about the things you've noticed

about them. Put your nose in the book this afternoon. Put your nose

in the book. Brother ray Astro, he told me over lunch a while

back. He said, I told Debbie said one thing about the preachers under

brother of Howell. He said, I'm telling you he calls on them at

random times, and he said, you can tell they are prepared to testify.

These preachers are not only prepared to testify at honest and exhort, they

are prepared every service to preach because they know how their pastor is. And

it would be very foolish for them to come in this building without a scripture

on their heart and something to say about it. And that's what Apostle Paul

was telling Timothy. You're not to show yourself to proved under your fellow man.

You're to show yourself approved under God. And in doing this, you're

gonna have to be a worker. I pray that Ezra's like his daddy,

that he works man a workman. Get the workman a workman. The need

is not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of truth, Parker Panna

Baker was such a hard worker. Every Friday he'd come in there and ask

me for his check. Everybody else knew nothing to do it. He said,

Bosh, Mandy, you have my check. And I thought if anybody

else did that, I would want to slap them ball headed. I'm telling

you it would aggravate me. But because Parker Panna Baker was such a hard

worker, he would come in there just as soon as he saw the secretary

bring you that stack of checks and want to get his check because he was

so studious, he wanted to look to make sure we had paid him for

every minute he had worked. And as he walked out of my office,

he'd say, I don't have to turn my back to get my check,

and he'd take them two fingers and pushed down on that mustache and laugh like

only Parker could. And I'd laugh and I said, get out of here,

man, you ain't right. And if we were a half an hour

off, er point two five off, from point one point three off,

he let us know about it. Hey, guys, you don't have to

reprint this check. I'll just add it to the time. She workman.

He was a workman. He was diligent, and he was a great helper.

Brother Jeremiah, Sister Leah. I really feel like if he's raised from

if it is a powerful two little word. If he has raised comforting,

and y'all set forth a good example and show him that it's done about doom

and gloom, grumpy and gravity. That this little man will be an encourager

to many people because he can and he should be, and it's conditional,

but he will be somebody that loves the book. I think you'll notice from

an early age he's interested in Sunday school class. He's interested in Sunday school

lessons. He's interested in doing Biblical character studies. At some point, he's

interested in knowing more about the Bible. Is what Timothy was told by Paul.

He said, I'm telling you, Timothy, there's going to be opportunities

to study a lot of other things, like Field and String magazine, like

the Jerusalem Post, like Hebrews Cafe. Right, yeah, right, gonna

be a lot of opportunities, Timothy, to be distracted, but studying to

show yourself and prove of the God. A workman that needeth. Not to

be ashamed of your studies and of your teachings and of your practices. Have

an answer to give people, have instruction to offer, have sermons to preach,

but rightly divide the Word of truth. Had to studying the biblical character

Ezra, and had to read them through this Book of the Bible. I

concluded that the priest Azra was a man devoted to rightly handling the word of

God. Brothers Heremiah, when he was little, he believed it black and

white. He still believes it black and white. He loves holiness, he

loves truth. He despises hypocrisy. Where does he get that? He's from,

Daddy, He's a chip off the old block. I feel like brother

Ezra's gonna be a chip off the old block. This is God's word.

Why should it be tainted, polluted, or deluded? This is the word

of God. This is not the words of Jeremy Howell are the words of

Justine road Cap or the words of Jeremiah Howel, Ezra, Daddy, this

is the word of God. We should handle this word of God diligently,

and we should divide it carefully. It's the word of truth. So in

this fifteenth verse of the second chapter of Sacred Timothy, brother Jesse the fossor

Paul, and modestly you Bishop Timothy, with this sober message. It was

a sober warning of rightly dividing the word of God. Rightly dividing the word

of God, How many of you like to have your biscuits on Sunday afternoon

or on Saturday evening. Anybody, how many of you like to have them

on Sunday morning? How about Saturday morning? Go down here to roosters here

in label and get you some country from Misteak and some biscuits and grits,

and come back tell me what you think about it. I know, I

know it's not nearly as good as the elder sisters of our churches. I

know that. But if it comes time to divide the bread, think of

that steamy, hot loaf of bread, and that butter is nearby, just

adjacent to that loaf. It's begging to be put on that bread. It's

begging for that marriage, that union the butter and the bread, like the

bride of Christ and Christ. That butter's begging to be united with that bread.

And you think about that. Now if everybody gets an equal portion,

so they think of that bread. But as they begin to take in that

bread, participate part take, they realize, wait a minute, I have

not and given a proper amount of this. That's what a lot of people

today are doing. Their neglecting portions of this scripture of the Sacred Book.

They're overlooking very important details. I don't believe this baby Ezra, after he

becomes a young man, will be one willing to overlook some pertinent and important

details. And that's why I thank God for righteous teachers and righteous preachers and

truth and righteousness. Go to church. I realized I need to move on.

But all through the Book of Ezra, the reader will find Ezra being

diligent in his study of the Word and teaching his people the sacred Scriptures.

Timothy was to be diligent as a student of the Word. If he could

remain diligent throughout the duration of his life and ministry concerning the study and the

teaching of the Scriptures, then he would earn the approval of the Lord,

and he could use what he had learned to help others by his knowledge and

understanding of the Word of God. Parents able up a children. If you

don't know what the Bible says, ignorance is not bliss. Ezranew this is

a special book talking about the law of Moses. It's a special book the

Torah. It's a holy book holy men, like Holy Moses. He in

these holy words and he realized these words will help me. And not only

will it help me, it will help my people get out of a mess.

Why do we not feel like coming to church and encouraging somebody else and

helping them get out of their mess? Right, Jeremiah the prophet got thrown

into a pit and he was in a mess. David found himself in a

mess. Lot of people find themselves in a mess. And then when they

come to church and they look at the sour inspressions on the faces, and

I know here at Bethel, it has been set by you people like the

worship God. One brother preached an entire message to this people about worshiping the

Lord and encouraging themselves and encouraging others, and at the end he made this

statement, Boo, I think I preached the wrong medssage. He admitted to

me at the service. He said, I've been to so many churches in

so many places where doom and gloom is such a thing that I just assumed

that it was going to be the case that Bethel. I didn't realize this

was a revival church. It will continue to be a revivalle church as long

as we are offering words of encouragement. So Timothy would eventually hold the writings

of the New Testament in his hand, and he would be able to help

others because of his understanding of it. The brothers Jeremiah. I don't know

if at any given point that Timothy had sixty six books of this Bible.

I don't know that it had been assembled, and it's an entirety at that

time. But they were definitely clinging to and holding to what they had.

You can't even hardly get anybody anymore to hold to what they have. I'm

telling you, you can't hardly get them to stick to their convictions. They

look for an opportunity to compromise their convictions, compromise their teachings. But Ezrah

Timothy understood the word of God could help them. It could help them navigate

safety through this life, and it would help them lead others to eternal life.

Are y'all catching this or y'all nappen? Ezra's thain means to help the

Word of God is our greatest help. It is our greatest source of help.

It is our greatest helper. Oh yes, it is. Just wait

until you need words of encouragement for somebody. You're not gonna find it it,

brother wrote Capsudi, still notes, you're gonna find the words of most

help those that are in great times of need. In the Blessed Book,

there's been times of ministers in their ministry of needed encouragement. And somebody said

one little verse of scripture that it calls that ministry to continue. Ezra neah

Mines, a rubbable brought groups of people back into the Holy City. Their

desire was to help others be restored, to bring revival. Ezra brought his

nation and people of revival through repentance and a reawakening of faith by the teachings

and the adherence. Adherence to the teachings of the Word of God. That's

the only way they were going to come out of Babylon. And after that

they had repented, after they've done what God told them to do, and

their hearts had been broken, and they repented. Guess what It was not

their idea that they get to come home. Guess who encouraged them to go

home. The pagant kings of their servitude. It was the king's idea.

You people, take your selves and go back to your native land and do

what you're supposed to do. Don't tell me God can't make the devil ussure

you out of the devil's presence and send you on your way to blessing and

promises. But you're never going to do it. Just sitting there and out

in despair and doom and gloom and grumpy and grouchy. We're commanded to encourage

somebody. So I encourage you to dig into the scripture. I encourage you

to keep and here the teaching of the book. I encourage you. And

then at some point there's going to be this revival and so real jesse.

A group after group of people begin to exit the land of captivity. Look

women Ezra, chapter number nine, verses number one and two. The Bible

said, now, when these things were done, the people of Israel,

and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the

Lens, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites,

the Parasites, the Gepicides, the Ammonites, the Mobotes, the Egyptians,

and the Amorites, where they have taken of their daughters for themselves and

for their sons, so that the Holy Scene have mingled themselves with the people

of the lands. Yeah, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been

cheap in their trespass. When Ezra heard this report, he tore his garments

and sat down. He rocked up on his knees eventually, and he prayed.

He begged God for forgiveness because of the trespasses or the sins of his

people at the time. He asked the people together in the city. Then

he directed the Jewish Men to separate from their sins. We don't have very

many bibles collars here. I don't think do y'all know what their sins were?

Are you all ready three seconds to tell me three two one? Oh?

Good? Their sins were. They had mixed and mingled with the Pagans,

that they had taken them pagan women for wives. And the end result

is a comper my situation. People that are double minded and divided. The

Bible said, a double minded man is unstable in all his ways. What

the prophet I'm going to preacher now, what the prophet Ezra is saying is

I'm a little bit hesitant to say this. He said, then, wife,

you got go home and send them back. I was gonna try to

skirt around that, but I can tell y'all were begging me to answer y'all.

I could just tell y'all just begging the pastor what was it? What

was this? Said Ezra said, Oh God, we've said because we mixed

and mingled these Jewish men. Y'all thinking about that, These Jewish men,

the descendants of Abraham, the men of God that has to holy Oracle,

the tour, they knew better than to mix and the mingle. And it

listed here how many people they have mixed with. You mix with one,

and it ain't too long you mix with them all. You compromise for one

sin, it's not too long before you compromise for them all. And brother,

I'm telling y'all almost got weary just now reading how many they had mixed

and mingled with and the practices that they had taken up. And Brother Gabriel,

how they're gonna have revival whenever these men are married to hid tides and

mobides and paradies or parasites. So as we're gotten down on his knee,

said man, I've heard about this. The Robivu got a group of people

over here, and y'all built the temple. And the reason why y'all can't

worship God and have the meeting that y'all wanting to have, and you can't

worship him in spirit and truth. And one of the reasons why y'all can't

have the revival, the explosive revival that you're wanting to have and be encouraged

in the Lord, it is because sin lies in the camp and he was

saying, you've got to separate from these unclean things. How many of you

know the Bible said give not that which is holy unto the dogs. How

many of you have heard of something called evangelism dating? Have y'all heard of

that brother jerebody that will never come in time? With your son Ezra will

have heard from God and say, Dad, I feel like God has commissioned

me to go find a Muslim woman and win her through missionary dating. There's

a lot of young people in our holiness of Pentecostal churches attempting missionary dating.

I will go out into sin, I will find my companion, and when

the time is right, I will bring them to the House of God.

It does not work that way. There are people that have backslid, went

out of the will of God, found their companion out there and they had

two have come together of like mindedness and spirit into the House of God,

says the how and I are an example of that, and God has blessed

us. But you can never develop a diabolical plot and the sinister scheme and

say, I'm gonna overlook all of these wonderful righteous daughters of the land,

and I've decided I'm no longer gonna teary for the perfect will of God.

I've decided I'm no longer gonna wait until I'm in the center of God's will.

And I'm just gonna go out there on one mission, and that is

to find my lifelong companion right here. The prophet is that it was telling

them, we got some things we better put out before we bring him back

in. You want the spirit of God to come in here to this temple,

we better put some things out. This generation doesn't want to hear it.

Thing about. That's a word of encouragement, it is. Hey,

it's an enforcement word. Oh yes, it is. It's enforcing the words

of God. Ozra how we're gonna have revival. He's enforcing this. He's

pushing this on and he's telling us to go by radical means. I tell

you, he's telling us interpret the scripture literature. He's telling us to do

this or do that, And the Bible said, we gathered them people together

and brother broke up. He said, you've got to separate from your sin.

And he helped them re establish their faith. He helped them He re

established the teachings and the practices that were found in the Law of Moses,

one of them being tithed. Somebody said, what is tithing got to do

with anything? I'd like to encourage you the tithe. I preach it on

Ezra, the encourage her. So here's this, not a prophet and priest.

He's telling the folks, Well, we're wanting to have revival. I

want you to remember or something. You are the people of God. You

enjoy the blessings of God. You've been liberated and been brought back to the

lad They're rubbable in them awesome builders, and these awesome men of God have

built you a temple. But if you're gonna have their spiritual revival that you're

anticipating, you better remember the tithe. Pop Abraham did that before there was

a law of them both. I mean, what kind of joy comes out

of that? As for they encourage her, what kind of encouragement comes out

of you? Owe God ten percent, Well to the child of God that

knows the benefits and the blessings have given him ten percent. Those are words

of encouragement to say, wait a minute, I get to tithe, I

get to give back. Y'all can tell I'm having a hold back from preaching.

I don't want as risk in people saying he's trying to preach treason.

All these uncles and then it's in here knows that might be listening. I

don't want to say Papa tried to preach through it. No, I'm trying

to stay on topic. But what Ezra the encourager was saying, give back

to God. That's what we're doing here this morning with this baby dedication.

We're giving this baby back to God. Dad and Mom were saying, Lord,

I thank you for this bouncing, beautiful baby boy, and I thank

you for the trials that Elena's been putting us through. Make sure y'all add

that in there, because that's character building. I see great character development taking

place. And Brother Jeremiah's sister Leah, they have learned how to say to

beat you with a smile that says I'm so glad to be here in the

house of God. Every true disciplinarian, that is, a Christian that frequents

the House of God, darkens the doors every time they're unlocked and opened.

They are a master of Venturelis because sister how would never mean this literally,

but I have seen her through pearly wives. It looked like she was praising

God, saying our kids, I'm going to kill you. Huh. So

Ezra is encouraging people that want to be encouraged with the word of God.

You can't make everybody happy with the word of God, but lovers of truth,

brothers there, and lovers of the book, and lovers of the Word

of God are encouraged when they hear it is how it goes. It can't

meet you finally, obey God and preach exactly what God told you to do.

Said, if I pursuit of the congregation hits the back door, hoping

to never see you again. But those people that really loved the truth,

here's what they always say. Them old timers say, I was so encouraged

by that. I'll be impressing that somebody would come by and say what needed

to be said, And I said, well, I'm glad you were encouraged

by it. Because four hundred us God. But Ezra did not care what

people thought about it. He preached without fair favor. He taught lessons that

nobody wanted to teach. So we're gonna give back to God. Another doctrine

that he taught was observing the Sabbath. They had forgot to do that.

How many people forgotten to go to church this morning? Isn't it sad that

there are people that were raised up in church, reared in God, fearing

the homes, and it has come to Sunday and this morning they have not

even realized it is Sunday. They are that far removed from going to church.

These people have been that far removed from the practices of tithing and observing

the Sabbath that Ezra, who was a man devoted to righteous living, had

to remind his old people that were the people of God, that we had

to be devoted to God's word and adhere to the teachings of God's word.

I hope I'm still aloud to hear Ezra teach if he obeys God, if

his parents teach you right, because it sounds to me like he's gonna be

one that keeps it between the lines. It sounds to me like he's gonna

be one that knows what the Bible says. When that young preacher that doesn't

have God's word hitting away in his heart against the same things that are untrue,

things that are not found in the scripture, against the preaching from both

to lie, it sounds like Brother Israel will be able to descern what's wrong.

This guy's just saying whatever he wants to say. He's an ear tickler.

Preach the sermonit of ear hair. Those of you that don't hear in

your have hair in your ears, don't know what I'm talking about. Sometimes

in my ears and get tickled and get the itching, and you find the

culprit. It ain't above, It's that all here and there, Brother Jeremiah.

I could hear them all particulars heap to themselves, teachers having ancient ears.

I need somebody to just tell them what I want to hear. So

we're gonna give this baby back to God. I want to share this with

you as we get ready to bring the parents forward, Brother Jesse and the

singers, would y'all come forward during a wonderful baby dedication such as we're having

today. It's joyous occasion. The saints gathered around this mother and father and

baby. And as they got ready to pray unto the Lord and to dedicate

that child, little toddler, talking about the age of Rebecca, came over

and was just observing the situation. What of these people fixing to do with

this little baby that's arrayed in white. She saw this child, saw the

preacher take the annoying all and put his fingers on the lid and dip it.

Then the preacher anointed the baby anointing to parents, and that little child

was observing and I'm looking taking it all in. And the pastor said,

I'm fixing the give this baby back to God. The parents are fixing to

give this baby back to God. God has been so good to us.

God has given us this baby. We can't wait to give it back to

God. So the preacher prayed, the church prayed. Mam and daddy prayed,

and they cried, and at some point, but little child bowed its

head and prayed to so move by the fact that this baby was being given

to God. After that took place, everybody opened their eyes and a little

child locked the tears from its face and looked at the pastor and looked at

the baby that's up what God gave it back. We're gonna give it back

to God, right the baby, little Ezra, give him back to God.

Not physically, we're not gonna hand him up. Some of your little

slow It's okay, let me guide you through. We're not gonna take this

baby and just push it up into the hands of God and God take it

up to heaven. But spiritually, we are going to dedicate this child to

the Lord. What we're going to say is, God, we depend totally

entirely on you to help this child all the days of his life. In

Hebrews six and ten, we find that there were some precious people that helped

the people of God, and then they continue to help people. Brother Jeremiah

believe his son, we're being encouraging measure. The encourager one to help others,

want to stimulate the actions of others. We've seen somebody before o make

God in a service and the end result is they encourage others to obey God

by their actions. Have you ever seen another preacher decide, well, I'm

going to preach what this says the word of God and preach the truth because

this brother is in the house, and I know he'll give my back,

and I've seen him do it before and so he's encouraged me. I wanted

to close on this note. The example of an Ezra is so tremendous.

And Brother Jeremiah, Sister Leah, y'all may go on to have many more

children, but I believe if y'all will become students of the Book of Ezra,

that y'all will be able to successfully guide your family all the days of

your life. At the end of our life as parents, if we're God

fearing parents, we want to know the we did our very best for our

children. Brothers Jeremiah, Sister Leah, what you throw baby Ezra around at

this time? They're gonna sing this song? I dedicate and Brothers Jeremiah,

I don't want you insisted Lida singing it together. That's a handsome, fine

young man. And I don't know that people fully understand what I was trying

to say this morning concerned this fine handsome young man. But he's gonna be

positive when it comes to the scriptures. If he's brought up correctly and he

chooses to do what God has assigned for him to do, then then will

it not be an unsel compromise in him. But I want this people to

dedicate ourselves back to God. If we have sinned, as Ezra told God's

people, you have sinned, and I want you to repent of it.

I want you to push things out of your life it should not be there,

and bring the glory of God back Yet, Brother Jeremiah, as they

finished singing, We're gonna pray over your precious baby born, Sister lin We're

gonna tray over that baby and give him back to God. And I'll pray

that God will hand his way in this place, and that a spirit and

encouragement and hell will come upon every individual in this building, no one excluded.

Let's gather around this father and mother and precious little baby and little sister,

Brother Jesse, and sister Hannah, Brother Nathaniel, sister. How we

don't just sing a song that Brother Jeremiah, sister live in doubt, Brother

Jeremiah. But y'all just thank the Lord for this gift that is come from

the Word, the gift that has come from above of his name. The

meeting that has made the encouragement, the helper to help to stimulate government,

has helped us indicate just bab you back to you okay self same time to

for this child. Oh, in June, for this baby I have made

in June in this wall, pray and I bout out to stay stay silk

you say, ba by building by you got your words had stay. Thank

you have branded such change with this restaurants with your power by you by on

the street and boil a bird, says I say, And that sis,

it's time the ball go to work into more. Baby Bay It's baby God,

Amen, praise the Lord. Brother Jeremiah's sister Leah believe in that Ezra

is a gift of God, and without a doubt he is, and that

he will hold you accountable for him. Do you now solemnly confess that it

is your purpose to dedicate this child to the Lord and his service, because

I feel like He's intended for that. I know the free will of man

has a lot to do with things. A certain preacher taught me that years

ago when we moved down here, that one man can cause a modern problems.

But I do believe that God's will for this child is that you be

used for the Lord's service. Will you pray for him? And will you

pray with him in light of what I preached on this morning. Will you

encourage to encourage her and teach him how to be such a person. There

is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the encourager would be placed in capable

hands, that you teach him to be such a person. Because I have

found you, brother dere might to be diligent in your business and sister lead

her to be a master or whatever she puts her hands to. And I

do know that, but this envind you too, will no doubt aggressively and

actively pursue to see two of that he becomes the man God's intensure him to

be. So you will need to pray with him and need to encourage him.

Will you instruct him faithfully in the doctrines of the Christian faith and teach

him to read the Word of God? Will you teach him to pray and

to lead a holy life? Will you take him faithfully to the house of

worship to attend his services? Will you do everything that is in your power

to bring him to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

And if I have ever commended a couple and said, I know that doubt

you will hold to that commitments. Dear min Now, I have no doubt

whatsoever that you take these mow seriously. Let's pray. Can we gather around?

Could the elders of the church help me pray? Also, Sister Howell,

we miss the grandparents. We know they would love to be here this

morning. The other grandparents. We miss brother and Sister Ellington and the Ellington

family, but we know their hearts and their prayers are good. Dead Mom

and baby Ezra, which I'll pray, says I. Can you expla s