The Thunderous Roar of Silence | Bro. Tony Frederick

Jesus. Name Amen.

Thank you, thank you, thank you again.

It is esteem honor today to have brother and sister Amen

Frederick with us. Amen.

This morning, Brother Frederick, I want you to know that I got up

early this morning to be with you and I had to convince my

wife to to really come and, and, and, and join me in that

endeavor. So I don't know what that says,

but nonetheless, we are happy to have them.

Amen. They have been a friend to our

family for years, and they are a friend to this church.

And we appreciate their voice and their friendship.

Amen. We have laughs and we know

sometimes it looks like all we do is like give each other a

hard time and laugh and cut up and all that stuff.

But there are times we sit across tables and we have

serious conversations too, and able to bear, you know, one

individual's soul. And so we're grateful today,

Amen, For them and for each one of you.

Look at everybody that's here today.

Someone must have heard there was food or something.

I don't know what's going on, but nonetheless, we're glad to

have you. We want to share food with you.

Amen. Here today.

Will you make welcome, Amen. Brother Frederick, this morning

as he comes to minister the word of the Lord.

We're so honored to have him today.

Any good today to be in the House of the Lord?

Oh, come on. Any good today to be in the

House of the Lord? I'm I'm glad I'm here.

I'm glad the Lord is here because I know that in his

presence there is fullness of joy.

I'm honored today. You, you, you may be standing a

little premature because I got some business, not business

business to take care of eating dinner last night with a family

in this church. And I, I mean, I know I'm not

important, but I do know when I was pastoring, if there was a

desire that the special speaker or the evangelist had, I made

sure that it was taken care of. It didn't matter what it cost,

within reason. And I made it explicitly clear

that this morning in this service, Egypt was supposed to

be sung. And it wasn't sung.

Yeah. Now, is she in here?

OK. Can she hear me OK?

And I was looked in the eye and said and heard these words.

We already have our set made and Egypt is not in that set.

And I said yeah, but I want it. And she's looking at me altar

call. I'll be busy at altar call.

So I just want you to know, pastors, that my desires was not

met. Just just so you know, and I'm

going to, I have confidence that you'll take care of that.

Writing it down now. I share something with this

church that. I don't share with just

anywhere. I feel like this morning that

I'm among friends and I was not even inside the building yet

when I was verbally assaulted. All right, let me get my glasses

on. Make sure he's looking.

Oh, yeah, he's looking. He's looking.

I was halfway inside the door. And was assaulted yet again.

I just almost if it had, if it hadn't been for my wife, I'd

have just went home. I just, I'd have just went home.

But. I love this church and I'm

telling you with every assurance I check y'all out every week.

I not necessarily when you're live, but I watch a portion if

not all of your services every week.

Man, y'all got a preacher here. Did y'all know that?

Did y'all OK? And he I can listen to him like

at 2:00 in the morning. How do I know?

Because I've done it before. I am so glad to have my wife

with me. She is not always able to travel

with me when I'm on the go. Folks, she's already turned her

papers in August the 1st. It's over.

Now y'all clapped. But you don't know all the

story. This is the third date that

she's gave me that she's going to retire.

She feels like she's a nurse, and she feels like if she

retires on August the first, by August the 5th, that place will

have imploded and be nothing more than a pile of burnt ashes.

But. Here's the reason why I hope.

Here's the reason why she's retiring.

I went to her and I told her, baby, if you don't retire August

the 1st, I'm leaving you with or without you.

I'm going to the Badlands now. I really want you to go because

about an hour and a half further north than that, there's Mount

Rushmore. Tony Ray is going to the

Badlands either with you sitting beside me or you at home.

And she put her papers in. So I'm glad to have her here

today. She's had a rough couple of

weeks with some skin cancer issues possibly.

And all that came back fine. All that came back well.

But I'm glad she's here. She's going to greet you here

this morning. Amen.

Well, I give honor to this church.

I've known this guy since he was 14 years old.

Our relationship started quite uniquely.

It was after service at a Shoney's.

He had one of those hot fudge cakes and he got up and walked

over Yonder and I sat down and made myself at home.

Now what you don't understand is he didn't know who I was and I

didn't know he who he was. But we got introduced.

Appreciate this church, your pastor and his wife.

I don't know that I can hold anyone in any higher esteem than

what I do. Then I remember when he was, and

now he's got a son that I'm looking up to.

That, folks, is ridiculous. Bishop and Sister McGee back

there, we have stories that we could tell for an hour and a

half. And here's what I know.

Sometime before I leave today, we'll tell those stories to each

other. I know we will because that's

just part of our history. I got other friends here today

that I could tell some ugly stories on.

I'm not going to tell them from the pulpit, but we've got a

picnic today. I'll be glad to share every one

of them with you. I'd like to have you stand this

morning for the reading of the Word.

And I'm well aware, I'm a firm believer that the longer my

scripture text is, the more of a chance there is that I'll lose

you in that reading. Not only that, I'm reading

scriptures this morning that everyone of you have heard 1000

times. I love to preach. 45 years

celebrated 45 years hoping to make it to 50.

I I love to preach, but I can share with you this morning that

I am as nervous today as I ever have been.

I don't know if I should say this or not in in in a public

setting, but sometimes we as preachers, we have a favorite

sermon, we have a favorite topic.

And if if. The Lord doesn't specifically

give you a, a direction you pull from that favorite.

That's not what I'm going to do this morning because when pastor

called me and asked me to come, immediately my mind started

rolling, you know, and I've got three or 45 or 610 or 15, I

don't know. I've got favorite subjects and I

began to ponder, but the Lord gave me this for y'all.

And that's scary to me now I'm, I'm setting y'all up to the

point that everybody's quiet and somber.

You're going to have to help me this morning, but I'm going to

not. I don't normally do this, but

I'm going to stick really close to my notes this morning because

I feel like everything that I put down here, I'm not saying

it's for everybody, but I do believe it's for somebody.

And even if it's not for. You.

It's still really good advice. So in Genesis the third chapter,

starting to read in the first verse, Genesis three and one.

Now the serpent was more subtle, sly, slick, sneaky, then any

beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

And he said unto the woman, Yeah, hath God said, ye shall

not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit

of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which

is in the midst of the garden, God has said, Ye shall not eat

of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

Anybody heard this before? Serpent said unto the woman, You

shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day you

eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall

be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Just real quick right there. Have you noticed that Eve gave

up all the promises that God had made her for a serpent who had

no credentials, had done nothing, But the serpent said,

Are you ready? The serpent said what Eve wanted

to hear. When the woman saw that the tree

was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a

tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit

thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her,

and he did eat. Now the Lord will help me.

I realize I'm I'm the only thing standing between church picnic.

I didn't eat any breakfast this morning.

I'm already hungry, but I think I'm more hungry for the word.

And if you'll just give me a few, if you'll just give me a

few minutes, I'm going to rush through this to a certain point,

but then at a certain point, I'm also going to take my time.

I'd like to preach to you on this thought or this title.

The thunderous roar of silence. The thunderous roar of silence

Pastor, would you pray ask the Lord to help us

a man shake hands with your neighbor and tell them you.

Sure are looking good this morning.

That's going to be hard for some of y'all to say, but just say it

in faith today. You can be seated today.

God bless you. What about my jacket?

I want us to. I want to.

Take you back to the beginning, back in those moments of the

origin of man and our world. In the beginning, the Bible says

that God created the earth. The earth was without form and

it was void. And the Bible talks about how

water covered everything and darkness covered the water.

It was chaos, total and deep darkness.

There's been a couple of times in my life.

That I knew where I was and I knew of my surroundings, but

when certain things would happen, all the lights would go

out and you literally could not see.

I could not see my hand in front of my face.

Anybody that has ever been to Mammoth Cave, If you go to

Mammoth Cave, you're going alone.

I'm not going with you. Been there once, got the T-shirt

and I'm not going back again. They turned.

They said you might want to touch the person, lay your hand

on the person beside you. We're going to click the lights

out and show you what darkness is all about.

I did not know, I did not have a clue who that young lady was

standing beside me. But when they click the lights

out, she and I met real quick. As a matter of fact, we held

hands for a minute or two. Gross darkness.

I knew where I was. I knew I was safe.

But there was something that hit my mind.

We're down here in this cave. What if the lights doesn't come

back on? Darkness.

I also know this from my days of pastoring in Arkansas.

We pastored in a building that was literally falling in.

It was, and we we spent so much money on getting that building

back into a a a reasonable, acceptable sanctuary.

And if you. Turn one light on you turn them

all on. And that was not smart.

So in a couple of places we put a just a night light and in that

great. It was a big sanctuary.

In that big sanctuary, it was amazing.

That little 4 Watt bulb would light up that entire building or

that entire sanctuary to the point.

That you could easily walk through there a little bit of

light. Can get rid of a whole lot of

darkness. God spoke to that darkness, and

He spoke into that chaos in order to create.

He brought beauty and life out of all of that confusion.

Darkness, according to Strong's Concordance, represents

confusion. The Bible speaks of several

different kinds of darkness, and most of them were figurative

rather than literal. And Christians, I'm glad today

have been called out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Aren't you glad for that today? Darkness in the beginning was

different. It was, it was a a frenzy.

It was random chaos, but God confronted the darkness that was

covering unformed waters. There was no design, there was

no order, there was no beauty, there was no life.

Just darkness and chaos. The Spirit of God hovers over

the darkness. For the first time.

God speaks with power. He spoke with power that was

stronger than any darkness. He spoke with power that was

greater than any chaos. And God moves into the bedlam

and creates with his spoken. Word.

How many is glad for the spoken word today?

God spoke to the darkness. God spoke to the chaos, God

spoke to the disorder. God spoke to the confusion.

Chaos and darkness had to concede to the thunderous voice

of God. And and and you need to

understand today and and I don't know.

Who? You know what?

I'm talking to all of us. That, that, that that's a

foolish statement. I'm talking to all of us.

We all have experienced darkness.

And if some of us would be honest today, and honesty is

hard to come by sometimes, but if we were all, if we would all

be honest, we've got a little bit of darkness in our life

right now. Because see, here's what I'm

doing this morning. I'm up here this morning and I'm

smiling and I'm going to be positive and I'm going to do my

best to be anointed. I'm going to do my best to say

something that's going to be inspiring to you.

But on the backside of the sermon, there is darkness that

is constantly and ever presently lurking.

I've got to be honest with you today, and I don't want to, I

don't want to end up looking bad in your presence.

I, I don't want it to be that, that you, you, you, you take me

as someone that doesn't know what he's talking about.

But here's what I'm going to tell you.

There are days in Tony Ray's life.

There's days in my wife's life, that life that the darkness is

stronger than our ability to speak to that chaos and

overcome. There are days.

That I have my you know what boy, my knee is feeling pretty

good right now. I just had I just had open knee

replacement. Y'all almost died.

Well, I didn't almost die, but I thought it felt like I was

almost going to die and my wife was hoping that I would die.

Feeling pretty good right now. There are days that I've got my

darkness, I've got my hand around its throat, and there's

days that I'm slinging that darkness around, and there's

days that I've got my hands in the air and I'm speaking in that

heavenly language and all is well.

Those are the days that I like. But could I be honest with you

for a second? There are also days that my

darkness has got me by the throat and my darkness has got

his hands over my eyes and I'm worried.

Am I ever going to see the light of day again?

I'm not proud of that, but I'm just being honest with you.

There are days that I want to sing that song.

Nobody knows the trouble I've seen until I realize I'm not the

only one. I'm just the only one that's

standing up here admitting to it today.

Yeah. I, I, I, I see you.

Looking at me, Well, that doesn't ever happen to me.

I'm always on top of the mountain.

This is not Austria, you hear me?

Julie Andrews is not whirling around singing.

The hills are alive with the Sound of Music.

If you're not careful, your darkness will grab you by the

throat and will suffocate you. Amen.

You've got to understand that the very same God that spoke to

chaos, and the very same God that spoke to the darkness of

this world, that's the God that I'm serving here this morning.

And if he did it in the earth, He'll still do it for me.

Why? Because it is the Word of God

and the promises of God. I've got promises today of

divine an intervention in my darkness when I can't make it on

my own. I'm telling you, there's a God

that's saying this. This is deep.

Y'all, you're not from Kentucky, you're not going to understand

this, but I've got a God that's looking at me saying this.

You know what that means? Get a little.

Closer to me. Now I also know what it means to

have a mom and daddy saying. If you want this whooping,

you're going to have to earn it. You're going to have to chase me

down. And then I got two whoopings.

I got a whooping for whatever I did that.

They said this and then I got a whooping for running.

Y'all don't even know what a whooping is.

Y'all know what a whipping is, but you don't know what a

whooping. Is I've got a God this morning

that will gladly speak to my chaos and to my disorder and to

my difficulties if I'll just come here.

So God began to create. He began the six day process of

creation. Grass, trees, sun, moon,

planets, fish, animals. Finally, on the 6th day, he

created man. Man was different because God

created man in his own image. And what's this?

Maybe this is not. Going to mean anything to

anybody, but it lit my tree the. First responsibility that God

gave Adam was to name the animals.

Remember. In other words, Adam, use your

voice to name each animal and from that moment on, that's what

it's going to be. God gave his power of speech to

mankind to name, to speak the name of the animals man.

Adam was called to speak to the confusion, to the chaos.

Well, what is that? I don't know, some kind of big

animal, let's call it an elephant.

Wonder where those words came from?

God gave Adam the ability to speak the Word, and that's the

way it was. It was settled.

Adam moved into the mystery of speaking life into the adversity

that he was facing. So let's look at what happened.

God gave Adam paradise and charged him to eat of any and

everything that was in the tree. But he also gave Eve to Adam as

a help meet. Now, possibly today you will

fall into the tradition of thought of casting blame on Eve

for partaking of the fruit. Well, OK, but did you know that

casting blame on Eve isn't? Really where the blame ought to

be. I'm stinking women.

They caused all this grief, hey. Try living without them.

I don't want to. I, I, I, I have no desire.

Most people assume that while the serpent is talking to Eve

that Adam is way over Yonder. Maybe he's over there busy

naming the animals. But most, if not all theologians

will disagree with that. Most theologians will say that

while the serpent was talking to Eve that Adam was right there.

Does it not say that she took her the fruit, ate and then gave

to her? Husband, I can't do this without

these on. Here's the problem.

First of all, they were in a place that they never should

have been. You've got all of this, but yet

you are in the area of that only.

Don't. Don't do it.

So I remember all those years ago.

I had AI, had a dirt bike and we had a place in behind our house.

I rode a I've been riding a dirt bike ever since I was, I don't

know, 8 years old, had a motorcycle of some kind all my

life. I asked my wife.

I said, Hey, why don't we get married, you and I?

She said, I'll marry you on one condition.

What's that? You got to get rid of that

motorcycle. So I'll let her know real quick

that I'd get rid of that motorcycle.

I had a motorcycle. And out, I don't know, about a

mile and a half from our house, we had a old train track that

maybe maybe once a month there was a train that would come down

that would deliver stuff to a business, to a company.

And my dad told me, he said, look, I don't ever want to have

to worry that you're riding on that train track because you may

be riding and not paying attention and a train come.

Yeah. But Dad, there's only no, here's

the rule. You can ride everywhere in these

fields, but you stay away from that train track.

And if I catch you riding on that train track?

The motorcycle is gone, so I've got.

All of this probably 100 acres that I can ride.

Where do you think I wanted to ride?

I'd make sure I'd make real sure that my dad was gone and what

I'm saying gone. I'm talking about out of town or

at work and then. You know, while I knew he was

gone, I got on that motorcycle and I got on that train track.

I'd ride up and down it. Listen.

If you go fast enough on a dirt bike, every time you hit those

cross ties it makes a really neat sound, and if you'll hit it

just right, you can bring that front tire up off the ground.

OK, So what I forgot was that there was a trestle.

Everybody know what a trestle is about 15 feet off the ground

because there was a Creek. One day I lost control of the

motorcycle and the motor. I had to leave the motorcycle or

go down and the motorcycle went and I didn't.

Now how am I going to explain to a dad how my motorcycle is in

the Creek? I'm going to stop with that

story right there because I don't want you has has, does

anybody has. You have to be older.

You, you have to be older. If you're not older, you've

never heard this. I knew what was coming.

I knew that I wasn't going to be able to sit down for a week.

You know what I'm talking about. There, OK.

My dad let that motorcycle lay in that Creek.

You know what he did with that motorcycle?

It was gone. And and and it.

Seems like you would think that out of 100 acres that I could

ride that the last thing that I would want to do is get on that

railroad track. But there's something about not

if there's something out being around something that you're not

supposed to be around something about being on that fence

because you know right here is safety.

All you got to do is just lean back, fall off the fence and you

know safety is there. But you just got to you just

seems like you have to look at what's on the other side and let

me tell you what's on the other side.

A motorcycle that's in that's covered up in the Creek losing a

motors. You know what?

It is you and I have got to understand that God provided

that all of this for us. Why is it that we've got to be

enticed by the world? Why is it we've got to be

enticed by the darkness? What is it that we've got to be

enticed by? The chaos.

Can I take my coat off so I'm not even close to my?

Sermon yet, y'all. So all of you that's watching

the clock, you might ought to check your e-mail and your text

and see what's on Facebook. Because I'm I'm still real

close. I'm still not even close.

Adam was made in God's image, and Adam had the power of God's

spoken word placed in him by God, yet when he was tempted by

his wife. And here's the crust of my

sermon. When he was tempted by his wife,

when Eve started hearing the subtle suggestions of the

serpent, what Adam should have done was grabbed his wife by the

arm, by the hair of the head. I'm not being, I'm I'm just.

Whatever Adam had to do, he should have grabbed her and

said, hey, we got to get out of. Here.

We can't listen to this because it's going to have a negative

effect on us. But instead of doing that.

He stood there in silence. Let me tell you something, my

dad is 91 years old and if my dad.

Told me to bend over and grab my ankles.

I'm 66 years old. If he told me to bend over and

grab my ankles, you know what I'd do?

I'd bend over and grab my ankles.

He's 91. I can.

I started to say I can outrun him, maybe I can't.

I don't know. I can outmaneuver him, I know.

But I remember what it was for my dad to.

Come and tell me, boy, don't you ever do that again.

I, I, I want you to get to this understanding that all of this

chaos could have been stopped if it hadn't been for Adam's

silence. He, she partakes of the tree,

she partakes of the fruit, she eats of it.

It's good. Everything is great.

The serpent has said you're going to become as a God

yourself. And he looks at he looks, she

looks at Adam and says, here, take and eat.

You know what he did in his silence?

He took that fruit and he ate. I'm going to, I'm just going to

let you know that God spoke into the chaos.

God spoken to the darkness and the disorder, and it became calm

and orderly and beautiful. But when Adam remained silent,

what had been calm, what had been beautiful, returned to a

world of chaos, a World of Darkness, a world of disorder

all over. Again.

The condition of this world, of our world, the condition of all

of our culture, of our families. It's not just the result of

Eve's partaking of the forbidden fruit, but it's more largely due

to Adam's silence of ending all this nonsense.

All he had to say is wife, come on, we're leaving the serpent.

All he had to say, even if the wife did partake, all he had to

say is, look, God said not to. Now you've you've already done

it. But me, Oh, no, no, no, I'm not

going to. I'm going to tell you right now.

And I believe this with all my heart.

If I backslide in the next 15 minutes, my wife is going to

tell me, I love you, but I'm not going with you.

I'm going to tell you this. And she's sitting here today I

probably. Yeah, I would tell her, look,

we've come too far now. You've turned your back on

everything. Listen, if my wife doesn't go to

heaven, I'm not even going to be judged.

They're going to come and Get Me Out of line and say no, you're

going straight. To the pit.

My grandkids, they'll they'll come running in the house.

Hey, tell them I'm asleep. I ain't telling them you're

asleep. You're not asleep.

I'm not going to lie for you. I'm not.

I'm not going to tell them you're going to lay there and

act like you're asleep all you want to, but I'm not going to

tell them you're asleep. Well.

What's the problem? What's the big deal?

I'll tell you what the big deal is.

I tell those grandkids that you're asleep and then the Lord

comes and I've done told a lie and all liars will have their,

she said. I'll tell you what it is.

I tell them grandkids that you're asleep and three seconds

later I have a heart attack and die.

I'm not going to hell over some little old foolish lie that you

want me to tell. Now you've got to.

Admit y'all are nodding your head.

Y'all are supporting her. Stop it.

Y'all are acting like well. I'd do the same thing.

Well, I don't. I cause my grandkids all the

grief I can and I cause my kids listen.

Right before they go home I load them down with sugar.

I'm going to create as much grief in my kids life as my mom

and dad created in my life. Take that, dad, because he said

he was going to watch. All Adam had to do was speak.

Come on woman. No, I will not partake.

But instead now Adam has changed the course of mankind and he has

changed. Don't think that you don't have

the power. Man has changed the intent of

God's will. It didn't stop with Adam.

We find that two millenniums later, there's Abraham and Sarah

that's been promised a child through the spoken word of God.

And when it didn't happen, Sarah had a plan of her own silence.

Abraham should have said, woman, what is wrong with you?

God himself told me that my offspring was going to be as the

stars in heaven. God said that my offspring was

going to be as the sand of the earth.

We don't need to get our hands involved.

If God said it, it's going to take place.

Am I tired of waiting? Yes.

You ever been tired of waiting on God's promise?

I'm a little tired right now. Because I want God to do it.

So look what happened. The Arabian nations are born and

there is not an Arabian nation. There's not a Nation of Islam

that doesn't despise. Israel and want them forever

destroyed. All Abraham had to do was say

we're going to do it God's way. Not your way, not Hagar's way,

but because he stood there in silence.

OK, I have. I have 7 pages of notes and I'm

on Page Six. So you know what that means?

Nothing. That's what it means.

It means nothing, but I have finally got to where I've been

trying to go. We may be damaged.

If if if I would take the time I could show you.

Scars all over my hands for. I, I I.

Have a carpentry skill, you can't mess with saws and at some

point in time not get cut. I shot AI had a nail gun.

I had a 16 pin nail gun and I don't know how I did it but but

I shot a nail through my hand and and and my boss said pull it

out. Are you kidding?

Pull it out, look it look in my hand, pull it out.

I couldn't do it. And my boss said, OK, Fruit

Loop, just stand there and look at it.

And here in a minute, the feelings going to come back in

that hand. And when the feeling comes back

in that hand, if that nail isn't out of that hand, you're going

to scream and holler you. So you know what I did hardest

thing I ever did? I reached up there, grabbed it,

pulled it out. I didn't feel a thing.

I, I felt nothing. My hand got all swollen up and

ended up having to put some ice on it and all that kind of

stuff. I've got this, I've got these

scars. I mean, I'm looking at them.

I've got these, I've got these scars on my hands, but I want

you to know something today. And again, I don't want, I don't

want you to be upset with me. I really don't because I'm

saying something that I shouldn't say.

But I'm going to tell you this. I've got some scars on my soul.

I've got some scars on my spirit.

There's been people that I think didn't treat me right.

There's been some things happen. I've even got a few scars on my

spirit. Because.

I felt like God didn't answer when he ought to us, and I know

that I've got some scars because God didn't answer the way I

wanted him to. We've all got some darkness and

we've all got some damage. It meant maybe you've got

secrets that no one else in this room knows about, but it's time

for you and I to speak to our chaos.

It meant God wants you to get back to His image.

I'm still not there, but I'm getting really, really close.

What kind of God is he? He's a warrior, he's mighty,

he's a rock. The.

Superlatives could go on and on and on and on, but it's time for

you and I to break the silence. Not because of who we are, but

because of who he is. I meant when I was a child

growing up, if we were sitting around the dinner table and I

made some kind of statement of I'm going to go do this after I

get done eating or, or, or I'm going to go participate in this.

If my dad remained silent, that was kind of sort of an agreement

that it's OK. But if I told my dad, as soon as

I get done eating, I'm going to get a ladder and I'm going to

climb up on top of the house and I'm going to jump off.

That's going to produce a response from my dad that is

going to let me know, hey, I'm not even going to go out in the

garage and get the ladder, much less jump off the house.

Now here's here's this is my whole sermon right here, my

entire sermon. I apologize for it taking me so

long to get here, but I want to ask you a question.

Is it possible that when we come to the House of God and the only

thing that would have made this this, this service better is if

they'd have sung Egypt and I I, I, I, I hope that that one

person that said we're not going to sing it.

I hope her toe hurts all day long.

I don't know which one, just one of them.

We today this morning were and we still are in the presence of

God. I like to I love being here.

It it's it's just a good thing that I don't live 10 or 15 miles

or 30 miles from here. I'd be here every service

causing grief. But is it possible that with our

darkness and with our chaos and with our disorder, when we come

into the presence of God and we fail to worship, we fail to

magnify God? Is it possible that our silence

is agreeing that everything's OK now?

I don't know who you are. I haven't been here enough to

pick you out, but I do know this every church in the.

World. Has more than one that one

person that has never worshipped that one person listen.

What when? When we pastored in Arkansas, I

got up here every morning at 4:00.

I drove 60 miles one way to go to work.

I worked 10 hours every day and lots of days, 12 hours and then

drove 60 miles home. There was a few times that I

went to church and I thought to myself.

Hey, you ought to just pat me on the back for just being here

times you get up 830. What'd you do?

Eat breakfast? I've.

Been at it since four O clock. I got I'm in church.

I haven't even had dinner yet. You ought to be hugging my neck

and kissing my cheek just for me being here.

Forget about worship, forget about all of that.

You ought to just be happy that I didn't stay home, eat dinner

and go to bed because I got to do it all over again in the

morning. I have felt that way.

I have, I have dealt with those feelings.

Amen. But I have also come to church

at times and, and, and, and this wasn't so long ago.

I, I'm ashamed to say it wasn't so long ago that I was bent over

a, a altar and the only thing that I could get out of my mouth

was Lord, just a little bit of help, just God, just I couldn't

ask for anything else. Lord, just a little bit of help,

just a little bit of help. God, I don't know what to do.

Listen, there are things in your life that are out of your

control, but sometimes they're out of your control because of

your silence. You made the choice to get

involved. You made the choice to be where

you wasn't supposed to be. You kept your silence and said,

Oh no, not me. I'm not going to.

I'm not. I'm not going to say no.

You got to understand that sometimes you deserve everything

you're getting. I'm not ever going to get

invited to preach here again. I'm not preaching to y'all.

I'm preaching to me because I've been there.

I've been in that position when I would say in my mind, oh God,

why did I do that? Why did I get involved in that?

Why didn't I run from it? Why didn't?

What in the world was I thinking?

I deserved everything that was coming my way.

But I want you to know that if you will not be silent, I've got

a God in heaven that will split the skies wide open and will

send you help. Send you help.

Now listen, some of these things you can't change and you're

going to have to deal with them. You don't have a choice.

Maybe it's because if your your decision, maybe that person over

there brought it down on you and you, you can't do anything about

it. I've been there.

But let me tell you this, even though you have to deal with the

chaos in the midst of the storm, God can give you Peace of Mind.

But when we come to the House of God and we refuse to worship my

91 year old dad, I'm going to say 3 weeks ago now, look, my

dad walks with a cane. He stumbles, he gets on my last

nerve because he won't let me do it for him.

Dad, it's going to take you an hour and a half and I can have

it done in 15 minutes. Yeah, well if you go home you

won't know how long it takes me to do it, will you?

Hey Dad. The other night in service, we,

we recently, I don't know, January or February, we went

back to our home church in Henderson Haven and my 91 year

old dad looked at me and he said I feel like marching OK.

And I just kept on singing. Boy, did you hear me?

I feel like marching well, pop because that's what I call him.

I don't, I don't know what I'm doing calling him dad.

He'll think I'm mad at him if he's watching pop.

If you feel like marching, have at it, he said.

Well, nobody else is marching. I said that doesn't matter in a

Apostolic Church. It doesn't matter in Pentecostal

church. So he got out in the aisle.

He started it shuffle. Pop, where's your cane?

I'm marching for God. I ain't going to use the cane.

So I come in behind him and I stuck my fingers up inside his

belt and I grabbed a hold to him or grabbed a hold of his belt,

not him. He'd have hit me in the mouth

right in church if I'd have done that.

He's 91. But anyway, he, he started

marching around that church. Well, you know what?

He shuffles, he shuffles. It took him an hour and a half.

Well, took him a while to get around the church.

So I know what that means. One lap.

Let's, let's, let's go back to her seat.

He said. Boy, I'm not done yet.

I said, So what does that mean? He said.

I'm I'm going for another one. My dad took, I don't know, three

or. 4. Laps around that church and I'm

right there with him. I got him.

I mean, I'm not saying that he's not going to fall, but if he

does, he's going to fall real easy.

I'm going to, I'm, I'm taking care of him.

It's you know what, it made him feel good, but you wouldn't

believe the effect that 91 year old man had on the church.

There was folks that hadn't moved in years that said if that

91 year old man isn't going to be silent, what kind of excuse

do I have? And when I tell you that that

service erupted and blew up, I'm telling you all because one

person said I'm not going to be silent.

I'm not going to let my physical issues hinder me.

I'm going to worship him. I'm going to magnify him.

We've got to stop being silent. Is it possible that our silence

is a, is a admonition to God that I'm happy where I'm at?

I'm not happy where I'm at. Well, wait a minute.

You're the preacher. I know I'm not happy where I'm

at at all. I don't know that I'm ever going

to be happy. And right now, you know, right

now, I got this little deal with my knee.

But let me tell you this, I'm 100 times better now than I was

2 1/2 months ago. I might not always be able to

jump in and holler and carry on, but I tell you what I can do.

Holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

I can give him worship whether my knee is good or whether my

knee is bad. We've got to stop being silent

in the presence of God. Your your silence because you

see you, you sit down. I'm almost done.

But I'm not quite, but I'm almost done.

Listen to me. I was raised in a denominal

church. When we got fired up in the

church I was raised in, we broke into blessed assurance.

Jesus is mine. Man, if we ever broke into oh

what a foretaste of glory, divine man we were, we were

huckabuckin. Y'all don't know what that is?

Y'all don't know what that word is.

We were tearing up. If there was somebody, it never

happened. But if there was somebody in the

church that would have said Amen, pastor, that's what we had

ushers for. Ushers would have come and

physically grabbed them and pulled them out of service and

there's a chance that they would have been told, hey, if you're

going to act like that, don't come here.

I was raised for 19 years in that kind of a setting.

For 19 years, I was raised in a denominal church.

I walked into Haven Pentecostal Church.

I had the tightest. Shirt on.

If those buttons would have popped, it would have killed

somebody I wanted. It was different then.

I wanted everything to show because I was, I was going to

court, all right. That's what I was there for.

I don't have any. I could care less about God

because all I had to do was go to church on a Sunday and say

I'm sorry. And I was well, everything was

good. But I, we, we, we don't sing

this song anymore. We sung it.

We sung some words of it this morning.

But I walked into that church. I got there late.

I got there late because I wonder if I see me walk in.

I walked in. She was on the organ doing the

organ thing. She ignored me.

I walked in. And here's a song they were

singing. We don't sing it anymore.

For some reason we don't sing it anymore.

But it was a song of I don't know what you come to do, but I

come to praise the Lord. And then they went nuts.

It was like I come to sing and shout.

I come to dance about. I come to lift my hands.

I mean, just over and over and over and over and over.

And when when you was born in the first Church of the

refrigerator and you walk into an Apostolic Church that's

getting with it. I didn't do this.

I laughed out loud. They had, they had a track meet

going. I don't know.

It was like they were trying out for the Olympics.

They didn't have they, they had hurdles because they was

jumping. You laugh if you want to, but

you stop and think of what I was raised in and what I walked

into. Sister Juanita Gray, I hope you

know her sister Juanita Gray was on the bar side of the church

and she comes spinning out of that Pew and she ran, she ran

across the front and she started running towards the back.

And where do you think that? Woman stopped.

If my knee wasn't messed up, I could do better.

And this thing on the back of her head, it came down.

And it was 16 feet long and she got to do.

And the next thing you knew that.

Hair turned into a boogie whip. That thing's going to kill

somebody. And then she started talking in

German, French, Italian, whatever, and she was looking at

me. Ma'am, I'm, I'm sorry, I don't

know what you're saying. She finally calmed down, and

finally. Order was restored to that

service and the preacher I have no.

Idea Brother Clement have no idea what he preached.

I don't remember, but I do know this.

The very first Apostolic service that I was ever in in my life.

I went to the altar. And I remember my prayer.

I remember it well. God, I don't have a clue what

I've walked into. This is the weirdest church I've

ever been in in my life. But God, they've got something I

don't have. They've got a joy that I don't

have. I don't know how to say this.

I don't know how to talk to you about this, but what they've got

I want, even though I don't understand it all.

I want what they've got in in in over a little three months.

I remember, I remember, I remember I went to a guy in the

church and I said, hey, how do y'all do that?

Teach me, teach me. I want to, I want to, I want to.

He said well it's not something that can be taught.

Well, how am I going to learn? He said, oh, I've got the

answer, but I but I can't teach you.

I said, OK, what's the answer? He said you pick your left foot

up and you put it down. You pick your right foot up and

you put it down. You pick your left foot up and

you put it down. You pick your right foot up and

you put it down and it'll come to you.

You know what? I didn't know how to do it, but

I got pretty good at it. Now for the last, we've been

married 46 years. We dated for a year.

So there's 47 years that she has tolerated a difficult life.

And you can giggle if you want to, but I'm telling the truth.

I'm difficult to live with. 47 years I have lived with.

I don't know what you come to do.

I come to sing and shout. I come to dance about.

I come to lift my hands. I come to, I don't know.

It seemed like there was 140 of those verses.

I think sometimes they made them up while they were singing.

I really do. I think they just made them up.

I don't think it was a song. If you could have went to the

Internet and find that song on the Internet, I don't think all

that stuff is in is going to be there.

But but I found that that joy wasn't always there that pick my

left foot up and put it down, pick my right foot up and put it

down. I didn't always feel like doing

that. There was times that I didn't.

I shouldn't say it. There's times that I didn't even

feel like being there and I was there physically, but mentally,

here's what I have. Found with God.

It's so neat. Is that you may not be at your

best, but God will accept your best at that moment.

And at that moment it may just be that's the best you've got.

That may be the best there is. But I'm here to tell you that

God will accept that just like He'll take the other.

We've got to stop allowing our chaos to bring silence in our

walk with God. I don't always feel like

shouting, but I always feel like worshipping.

I may not always feel like I'm on top of the world, but I want

God to know that I'm going to give Him my very best at that

moment. Silence will never.

Rule my life, stand with me please.

Refusing to grant the Lord the one thing He longs for the most

is your praise. I am well aware that some

churches can get it mixed up. Some churches all they are is

worship and praise and no word and some there's no praise and

it's all word. But you know what?

When it all blends together it that's what will get you.

But you can never, ever obtain victory through silence.

I've seen people walk in the church that literally was

holding on to the pews just trying to get to the just trying

to get to the next Pew. They didn't set sit down, they

flopped. Down they started singing the

songs of Zion. And they was just sitting there.

You could tell they were hurting, whether it was mentally

or physically. But then they'd break into that

one song that they really liked. And before you know it, that

person would start patting their foot, patting their hand.

They'd grab the back of that Pew and pull themselves up.

And they came in one condition, but they left in a much better

condition. I'm not here to lambast anyone.

I'm not here today to stripe anybody's hide.

It's not my job. But I am here to let you know

that sometimes your silence keeps you in the place that

you're at. I know this.

I know enough about your pastor. I know enough about your pastor

to know that in the middle of any type of service, if you need

prayer, it's always appropriate. If you're in and don't, don't

give me that look like of like, well, we never have those here.

If you're in the middle of a twice dead and plucked up by the

root service, it might be you that explodes that service into

something spectacular. Don't allow your feelings.

To stop you from doing what you know is right for your soul.

Don't let your silence rule the day.

You know what you need to do. I'm going to make a noise.

I'm going to worship God. I'm going to magnify him because

I don't want God to think that my silence is my acceptance of

my chaos, of my darkness. Oh hey, God, I may not run as

fast as I used to, and I may not be able to kick as high as I

used to, but God, I want you to know that I love you.

You're the King of kings and the Lord of Lords.

Speak peace into my heart. Speak peace into my chaos come

this morning. If you will choose.

Come this morning, come this morning, come this morning, and

let's give the Lord. Some worship and some.

Praise I love you today, Lord Jesus.

I love you today, Lord Jesus. Oh God, hear my voice today.

Hear my voice today, God speak to my chaos.

The. Thank you, Lord, if you want

real victory today, break your silence.

Break your silence. Praise Him.

Magnify Him the.

Find me in the valley, standing with my hands held by the valley

Will never change my eyes. Or find me in the desert holding

onto you for life. The desert will never turn my

soul. Oh no, the desert will never

turn my soul. We praise.

You I need, I need to say something.

I need to say something. I've got a.

Master's degree in counseling. My specialty is PTSD, not

military. My specialty is PTSD.

I'm a crisis and trauma therapist.

I deal in incision or crisis incident stress management.

People come in, sit on this side of the desk.

I sit on this side and they pour their little hearts out to me

about their trauma, their crisis, their PTSD.

As a as as a counselor, all I can do is make suggestions.

And then they go home. And the next two weeks, they try

to institute what we have discussed.

Sometimes I've got the answer and sometimes I don't.

But let me tell you, what can I use?

Can I use the word hack? Yeah.

Let me tell you what hacks me off.

Let me tell you what makes me mad.

It's for two stinking weeks to pass.

And that thug or thug head comes in and sits down in that very

same desk. And I said.

Hey, how did this go? I don't know.

Well, how come you don't know? Well, I didn't do it.

Why? Too hard?

Well, what about this? I didn't try that either.

Now see, here's here's here's the benefit for working for

myself. OK, then get up out of that seat

and go home because if you're not going to listen to me and

help me find out what works and what doesn't work, you're

wasting your time and I'm wasting mine.

So until you decide to try what I'm doing, don't come back or

what I told you to do, don't, don't, don't come back.

Well, that's a little blunt. It's no more blunt than.

US setting out a course of action and you telling me that

it's too hard you see, in counseling you don't always know

what works what works for him might not work for this one and

what. Works for her.

Might not work. For her.

But this morning, forgive me, I got the answers.

And it's not very often that I get to say I'm right.

I'm here to let you know that your darkness, your chaos, your

disorder, all of that is but nothing to God.

I don't know how God does it. I don't know if he waves his

hand. I don't know if he snaps his

finger. I don't know if he says

something. I don't know.

I don't. Know how God does it, but God is

able today to take care. Of all your darkness, if you

just won't remain silent. Silence can be a sign of

acceptance. Not me.

So all I'm saying. Today, in fear of making pastor

mad, all I'm saying today is try.

I don't feel like it. You can't possibly tell me that

you feel like going to the dentist.

If you do, I can't use that word.

No, I will. If you love the dentist, you're

a dipstick, but you still go. You can't tell me that there's

not mornings that you get up out of bed and you do not want to go

to work, but you still go. Did you ever stop and think that

maybe if you just won't be silent, it might not be all of

that, but if you just won't be silent, that God may come in on

the scene and say. Watch what I can do for you.