Be Quiet | Bro. Alex Mason

Welcome to the. First Apostolic Church podcast.

Our church mission is to love as God loves, showing compassion

every soul, thus winning those souls and equipping them to be

sent out to plant and to harvest.

Thank you for joining us today and we hope that you're blessed

by today's podcast. Thank you Jesus.

Thank you Jesus. Love you Jesus.

Amen. Amen.

Praise the Lord. Well, the words hopefully is

going to be strong because my voice is not grateful to be here

today. It is.

You know, I I was thinking to myself as I was praying before

service, I said. You know, maybe maybe I just

took on what pastor didn't during the week.

So I was just, I just took it. Took it for him to bear the

burden. Yeah, and that's all right.

He needs, he needs his voice much more.

But going to try to minister today if you wouldn't mind

turning to Ecclesiastes 3 and 1. Hey man, it's a nice day today.

It's a good day and you know 5th Sundays we only have one

opportunity to be here and blessed for it to be nice out.

We just had rain and thank you Jesus for a little bit of a cool

off. As it was it was stifling this

week. Hey man, if you're there we'll

go ahead and read. So Ecclesiastes 3 and one.

It says to everything. There is a season and a time.

To every purpose under the heaven.

A time to be born and a time to die, A time to plant and a time

to pluck up that witch is planted.

A time to kill and a time to heal.

A time to break down and a time to build.

Up. A time to weep and a time to

laugh. A time to mourn and a time to

dance. A time to cast away stones and a

time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time to

refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to

lose. A time to keep and a time to

cast away. A time to rend and a time to

sow. A time to keep silence and a

time to speak. A time to love and a time to

hate. A time of war and a time of

peace. And I'm going to read verse 7 in

particular from the NLT. They don't have it up there, but

if you follow along, it says a time to tear and a time to mend,

A time to be quiet and a time to speak.

I'd like to turn our attention this verse today, and

specifically a time to be quiet and a time to speak.

Pastor, would you mind praying? In the lovely name of Jesus

Christ that we pray, Amen and Amen may be seated this morning.

I have a short little fun video to show if we wouldn't mind

putting that up. I've always preferred the cream

part of an Oreo. That's crazy.

The cookies. The best part?

Cream cookie. Cream.

Cookie Queen. Great, Great.

Great cooking. I'm calling the cops with the

cops. Choose your side on Instagram at

Oreo. Fun little videos.

It's my wife's favorite Super Bowl commercial, and she doesn't

watch the Super Bowl. But.

It's interesting. There are certain places in life

to be quiet. And so I want to talk a little

bit about being quiet and and you, you have libraries, so to

speak. You have instances during church

services where maybe it's appropriate to be to be quiet

when there's tongues brought forth.

There's certain areas and aspects in which that you know

in an educational sense. It's good to be quiet.

Being quiet is sometimes difficult, but being quiet

sometimes is important. How many of you were just

uncomfortable? That was on purpose, I promise.

You just encountered 15 seconds of silence and it is

uncomfortable and unnerving sometimes the power that silence

has on on us because we're surrounded so much by noise.

The power of silence is very uncomfortable to many people,

man by the name of Michael Caruso, he stated in a Ted talk.

He's talking about the power of silence.

And and his subtitle was Why Shutting Up is Good for You,

which that's funny. He said that Winston Churchill,

when he he he was going to speak, he would walk up slowly

to the podium before giving his speech.

He would put his papers down on the podium shuffle around all

all while people you know maybe shout and scream and whatever.

And and he he pull on his lapels of his jacket and he'd wait for

the audience to grow quiet. Then he would look for his

glasses wherever they may be, and as the audience continued to

grow quiet, he knew that everyone was settling in.

And then, just as everyone thought he was about to speak

then. He would clear his throat and

then begin to speak. He made the most of silence.

The power of silence caused the quiet and the hush of the crowd

it caused. It caused there to be attention.

Silence is powerful in the sense of grabbing attention.

And so that's what he was doing. He's he he, as many people know

in history, he was a powerful speaker and that was one of it

was kind of just a tool in his toolkit that he used is just

just trying to gear up to speaking.

It was even powerful in that sense.

And so most people really don't like silence.

And that's why we fill it. We fill it with background

music, talk radio, podcasts. Funny videos, movies, TV shows,

playlists. I am guilty.

I am. I am the ultimate multitasker.

I get that from my father. I'm the ultimate multitasker.

If I'm working, if I'm doing anything, if I have the

opportunity to throw in a podcast, put on TV show or

whatever, I'm gonna do it because I like a little

background noise and that's just the way I am.

And so our lives are filled with noises and distractions, so

using. What is called a decibel chart

for sound waves In this the volume ranging from zero to 140

decibels. I'm going to go through some

some everyday things that we encounter that create a noise

space that we encounter daily and so 0 decibels.

First off is is the softest sound one could hear.

It's very, very rare to obtain that.

But zero decibels is very, very soft. 10 decibels is the level

of normal breathing and then 20 decibels is is leaves rustling

or or a ticking watch. You ever hear ticking watching

and that just gets really annoying after a while if you

pay attention to it. 30 decibels is a whisper. 40 decibels is is

comparable to the hum of a refrigerator.

And all of these things are very soft level noises and they don't

over over time. It would take a long time of

exposure in order for you to lose any hearing.

It would take a long time. 50 decibels is a moderate rainfall.

60 is a normal conversation or a dishwasher. 70 is a vacuum

cleaners or car traffic. 70 is a police siren or a noisy

restaurant. All of those are are very

moderate noise levels and and it was still would take a little

while of exposure before you would start to lose any hearing.

90 decibels are hair dryers, blenders, power tools. 100

decibels is is motorcycles and hand dryers. 110 decibels are

are most sporting events. You got the crowd cheering and

and cheering on the teams. A lot of noise going on and all

of these are loud to very loud and it can be dangerous.

Over 30 minutes of exposure consistently and then there's a.

120 decibels. That's where we get Thunder and

concerts and jet planes. The 130 decibels are jackhambers

and ambulances, and 140 are comparable to fireworks and

gunshots. These are painful.

These are dangerous noise levels.

And it doesn't take long of exposure to lose hearing.

And so there are many things there that we may encounter on a

daily basis, may not, but our lives are.

Filled with noise, even. Like I said, the simplicity of.

The hum of a refrigerator. You don't think about it unless

you pay attention to it. But there are all these things,

you know, air conditionings, air conditioning units, your HVAC

unit, all of these things right now.

There's an HVAC unit going right now and that's that's creating

some type of decibel reading. So we come.

Here in Ecclesiastes 3 and seven and and I read it in the NLT and

and it was a time to be quiet and a time to speak.

King Solomon in this writing of verses one through 8.

Is affirming that God is sovereignly in control and at

work in our lives. God has a time and a purpose and

a season for everything that happens.

And with that statement, a time to be quiet and a time to speak,

Solomon is focusing our. Attention specifically to human

speech here, and it's not something that is foreign to the

scripture, for there are other areas that talk about

appropriate times to be silent and times to.

In proverbs there is the considered.

Fool, if you will, who is portrayed?

As one who talks too much. And is always at the wrong time.

You know the people, the people that talk too much and they talk

at the wrong time. Like man, just think sometimes

before you speak. Proverbs 18-6 and seven.

I'm reading in the ESV. It says a fool's lips walk.

Into a fight and his mouth invites a beating.

A fool's mouth is his ruin and his lips are a snare to his

soul. It's pretty straightforward.

Proverbs 10/19 and 2019 specifically.

Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth

shut. Wow.

It's pretty pretty, to the point, very, very clear and

precise. And so there are times in which,

especially considering. The fact that if we certain.

Times and again, there's a time in season for everything.

Certain times not. Keeping our mouth shut could

hurt our witness if there's certain times in areas where we

need to take a step back and evaluate the situation and

think. And the silence is what's going

to be our powerhouse there. Silence is often overlooked in a

world filled with noise and distractions.

It offers several benefits. Sometimes that can positively

impact our physical health, our mental health and our emotional

wellbeing. One thing is is stress reduction

silence? Can be very overstimulating and

it and it. Provides silence.

Provides an an. Opportunity to break away from

the sensory overload of of everything that's going around

and and that can. Create less stress hormones like

cortisol. And and it leads to a calmer

state of mind. Another one is improved memory

and focus. Noise and constant stimuli can

impair cognitive function. And it can make it difficult.

To concentrate. Silence, on the other hand,

allows our. Brains and our bodies to rest

and recover and enhancing memory consolidation to approve.

Our ability to focus on tasks #3 is enhanced creativity.

Silence has been linked to increased creativity.

And problem solving abilities. And when our minds are not

constantly occupied with all of this sound and noise, we have a

space to better. Explore our thoughts and ideas

more deeply and foster creative thinking.

You ever had a moment where you're trying to solve a problem

or something and you're just like, I need a minute?

Like. Give me a moment, I'm going to

go think about this. I need time to process.

There's another, you know, 4. Is is better sleep quality?

I don't. I'm not the biggest proponent of

this because I always have to have noise when I sleep, but for

some I'm sure the exposure to excessive.

Noise especially during night time it can help disrupt and it

will. The noise will disrupt sleep

patterns for some and sleep lead to sleep disturbances and

embracing the silence. In the evening can help improve

your sleep quality. And lead to more Restful nights.

There's another instance in which reduced.

Blood pressure and heart health comes in the fact a prolonged

exposure to noise has been associated with elevated blood

pressure and increased risk of heart disease.

Regularly experiencing silence can counteract.

These effects and promote better cardiovascular health.

And then there's improved communication.

If you're talking all the time, you're not.

Going to be able to listen. And so with that taking.

Moments of silence during conversation can enhance

communication and it allows individuals to process.

Information and respond thoughtfully and avoid impulsive

reactions. And #7 it says that the

psychological restoration there is that that silence provides.

An opportunity for mental restoration, helping us cope

with information overload and rejuvenate our mental faculties.

A lot of good things there that we we may not think.

About, but when you come to think of it, maybe.

It's something natural to you that you you need some silence

every once in a while in your day.

You take a little moment, maybe a little meantime, and you're

just doing, doing your thing and you're you're silent, maybe not

even saying a word. You're just saying things within

yourself. And those things can be very

beneficial. In a very real sense.

Another real sense here is when I was going through.

College I had the opportunity to take a few classes to get a

certificate in Sales. I promise I have a point here is

that is there were a few. Profound lessons that were

important to success. One was that you shouldn't be

afraid of the word. No, That's one thing that any

salesman is is taught and it is important because if it's

approached correctly. And you are persistent kindly

then. Yes, could be around the corner

as long as you approach it the right way.

But the second lesson that was important was important to be

silent. At the right time.

Obviously, if you've dealt with a salesman you know most of.

Them do not know when to shut up.

You know, whether it's at the car lot or anything like that.

You have dealt with those salesman that they just talk,

talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk.

You can't get a word in edgewise and so just like the 15 seconds

of silence before. Is people want to fill the empty

space. With something they want they an

excited salesman they they will get ahead of.

Themselves and they'll they'll harm the sale and and when

asking for that sale, obviously the salesman does want to know

the answer, the yes or no. Answer, but it is important not

to rush to speaking before, before or after the ask.

It is important not to rush, but after you ask.

Because the prospect, the customer is taking time to

think. About the pros and the cons and

thinking. About a solid answer and more

than likely they were just given a lot of information to dissect

and if you interrupt. It you are disrupting that

thought. Process and which causes the

customer to be unconsciously uncomfortable and probably.

Is going to lead to a? No.

Another point is that silence. You don't have to say anything

to be perceived. It gives the perception that you

are. As confident, but it can be in

your action that you speak. And that everyone's probably

heard the saying have the actions speak.

Louder than words. There is a time and a season to

be quiet in our actions and in our our vocal.

But. I believe that the time has come

for the church to speak. Up and to act out.

The verse we talked about from Proverbs was talking about

silence. And an obedience when we when

when there are times in the Bible, there are many times in

the Bible. Where there's silence brought

forth, there is silence. That is supposed to be brought

and there is a theme. There, which is obedience, being

consistently silent in our speech, and silent in our action

while we are sitting in the House of.

God is not obedience. If we can't exercise our praise

and walk with God inside the church, then what are we doing

outside of the church? And I know there's a time and

season for everything, but I would that somebody would decide

to not be. Quiet in my speech, and I will

not be quiet in my actions unless.

It is out of obedience. Jesus want to take us to acts

for here in in verse 16 we're we're coming upon and.

Arrested Peter and John. They were arrested for

unreauthorized preaching and teaching to the people, and they

were. Going to be put in front of the

san hedron council for trials and in.

Verse 16 it says saying What shall we do to these men?

For that, indeed, a notable miracle half been done by them.

Is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem.

And we cannot deny it but. That it spread no further among

the people, let us straightly threaten them that they may.

Speak henceforth to no man in this name.

And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at

all, nor. Teach the name of Jesus, but

Peter and John answered. And said unto them, Whether it

be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you more than unto

God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the

things that. Which we have seen and heard.

The Sanhedrin did admit that the apostles had done a notable

miracle. Yet rather than repent.

They believe they and believe they focused on damage control

among the people. They were wanting to stop the

spread of Christianity and at any cost, and so they told Peter

and John not to speak or to teach about the name of Jesus.

And they both boldly proclaim that you can decide.

You can decide whether God thinks it's more important to

listen to you or listen to Him, but we can't but speak.

What we have seen and heard, we have got to get to the place in

the church where we can't help it.

I've got to. Talk about how good he's been

and. Boldly proclaim Jesus to people

Jesus. There are moments in the Bible

that are recorded that we see someone.

Say or do little to nothing and yet their action.

Speaks Everything Mark 520 five and it says.

A certain woman which had an issue of blood, 12 years, and

had suffered many things, of many physicians, and had spent

all that she had and was nothing better, but rather grew.

And when she had heard of Jesus, came in in the press behind, and

touched his garment. For she said, If I make but

touch his clothes, I shall be whole.

This woman said nothing except for what she had said and within

herself. Yet her boldness spoke loudly.

Instead of waiting around for God to come around and find her,

Jesus walking around and find her, which he could have done,

instead he she sought him. And there was faith in the

speaking up and the acting out. And there was boldness in her

proclamation to herself that if I could just touch him, I.

Now be made whole. There was faith in speaking up

and acting out during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar of

Babylon. He constructed a massive golden

image and commanded all the people to bow down and worship

whenever they heard the sound of various musical instruments.

And those who refused to worship the image were threatened with

being thrown in a blazing fiery furnace.

And at that time there were three Jewish young men who named

Shadrach, Meshak and Abindigo who were servants of the Bible

Babylon court, and they remain steadfast in their faith to the

one true God. They refused to bow down to the

golden image and as it went against their beliefs of

worshipping the one true God. And so King Nebuchadnezzar was

informed and he was enraged, and he decided to bring them and

give them one last opportunity to.

Bow. But instead these three young

men decided we will not bow even in the face of certain death.

They decided we know that our God is able to, but even if he

don't, we still will not bow. And what happened?

They go in there, they are bound and King Nebuchadnezzar sees

1/4. Amongst them in the fire and he

called them out of the furnace and they were they were fine.

These three guys not only acted out, they are not only acted

out, but then when it came to being right in front of the

king, they spoke out in the face of death.

They decided that even if he doesn't deliver us, we are going

to do it because that is what's right in the side of God.

And what happened? What happened when they walked

by faith. Well, First off, they were

saved. But then they were promoted.

They were elevated because God decided to change the King's

heart a little bit and decide there's something about him and

the King of Shatruck, Me Shack and a Bendigo.

If you say anything against them, you'll be throwing into

the furnace. And it at the end of the day,

unfortunately I believe where most people fall short in faith

is we, we become. With the peer pressure culture

of today, we become more like Peter when he denied Christ than

anything else. And and if you think that the

Church has been persecuted a whole lot, then you haven't seen

nothing yet. We don't need to be the ones to

bow and be silent. We need to be the ones to speak

up and to act out. It's not time to be quiet

anymore, Isaiah. One and 17 I'm reading from the

NIV. It says learn to do right, seek

justice, defend the oppressed, take up the cause of the

fatherless, plead the case of the widow.

Doing justices was a basic requirement in that time that

any quote UN quote God would have for any people.

These were considered the responsibilities of any

civilized society would have, and establishing justice and

defending the vulnerable are the hallmarks of a successful king.

But Israelites believe. That justice was built into the

very character of God, and that it was an not just, it was an

attribute and not just stewardship, but people that

would serve idle gods. They would decide that they

would practice rituals to please their gods, but.

Do it in a way to quote UN quote, not rock the boat and.

Let me tell you that we've got to stop worrying about being

outcasts in this world and we are worried that we're going to

rock the boat. Outcasts are popular now, so why

don't we just go ahead and embrace it and let's rock the

boat a little bit and get justice for this generation?

When they were marching around the walls of Jericho, all they

were doing was. Obeying, they're marching didn't

do anything to those walls. It didn't make them come down.

I mean if it if if it was all just them.

I don't. I don't want them to come around

because, my goodness, just going to tear.

Down all the buildings, but in Joshua 616 it says, and it came

to pass at the 7th time when the priest blew the trumpets.

Joshua said unto the. People shout for the Lord hath

given you the city. They were quiet until the 7th.

Time, but once. The 7th time it was victory

time. When verse 20 came, so the

people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets, and it came

to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet and the

people shouted with the great shout.

That wall fell down flat so that the people went up into the

city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

The victory wasn't going to come to a quiet people.

It wasn't going to come to people that had lost their

identity. It wasn't going to come to

irrelevant people. It was going to come to the ones

who spoke up and acted out in obedience.

Their walk, their March, did nothing.

But they did what was told by the man of God to act out.

And speak up and worship. There's another instance of

victory in Second Chronicles 20 and verse one it says, and it

came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab and

the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites

came against Johosafat to battle.

And then there came. Some that told Johosafat, saying

there cometh a great multitude against thee.

From beyond the Sea on this side of Syria and behold.

They be in Hazas on Tamar, which is indeeded and.

Johosafat feared and set himself to seek the Lord and proclaim

the fast. Throughout all, Judah and Judah

gathered themselves together to help.

Ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of

Judah, they came to seek the Lord.

King Johost of Fat. He had faced an overwhelming

enemy alliance here and in. He proclaimed the fast and

sought Lord's guidance and then God.

Then God had the prophet Johazel prophesied.

Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the vast army, for

the battle is not yours, but it's God's.

And God fought their battle for them.

And they didn't have to fight. But what?

Let's look at what's happening in.

Verses 20 through 22 And it says, And they rose early in the

morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa.

And as they went forth, Jehosa Fat stood and said, Hear me, oh

Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, believe in the Lord

your God, so shall ye be established.

Believe His prophets. So that shall ye prosper.

And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers

unto the Lord, And and that should praise the beauty of

holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say,

praise the Lord for his mercy and dearth forever.

And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord, said

Ambushman's, against the children of Aminon, Moab and

Mount Sierra, and which were come against Judah.

And they were smitten. God was fighting their battle

for them, and God told them to stand there and watch victory.

But King Jehoshaphat said that's not enough.

We can't just be quiet. We can't just stand by and watch

this happen. So what did Judah do?

Judah praised. Judah praised, and they didn't

sit down and let it happen. They saying look at what God is

doing, glory unto his name. If the church is quiet when

there is victory, shame on us. People are so uncomfortable with

quiet. Yet when we come into a church

building, we have no issue for being with being quiet for two

hours or so. And then whenever church is

done, we'll fellowship a little bit.

We know how to fellowship, but we don't know how to fellowship

with God Jesus. So we've talked about some

positives of silence early. I want to talk about some

potential downsides of silence. One is social isolation.

Too much silence or prolonged periods of isolation can lead to

social withdrawal and a lack of meaningful interaction.

Another one is communication barriers.

We talked about how it can improve communication, but then

there's prolonged periods of silence that can hinder

effective communication. It may create discomfort and

misunderstandings, as communication is not just about

verbal language, but it also involves nonverbal cues and

expressions. Three is reduced emotional

expression. Silence can sometimes be used as

a defense mechanism to suppress emotions and for there and

there's ignoring problems, choosing silence instead of

addressing conflicts or problems that can lead to avoidance

tendencies and behavior, and allowing issues to persist and

potentially worsen over time. And then there's lack of

feedback. Silence can limit the exchange

of feedback, which is crucial to a person and in in their

personal and professional growth.

And constructive criticism and open discussion can be vital.

Improved for improvement and silence might impede those

opportunities. And there's also feeling of

disconnection. In a noisy world, complete

silence can be very unsettling and leading.

Leading to a sense of disconnection from your

environment or feeling cut off from the world.

Silence isn't always all that it's cracked up to be.

We're so used to all these different things.

Sometimes it's the. Prolongness of it.

It's good, but sometimes the church, sometimes I think it's

been quiet too long. And that's where we come into

quiet, out of obedience and. There's there's the difference

there because there's quiet out of obedience, and then there's

quiet because out of disobedience and the

continuation of quiet, there's another instance of action that

I want to come to, and that is Jesus's trial.

Before Pilot, he was silent. He didn't respond to the

accusations that were brought against him.

And this fulfilled the prophecy, and Isaiah is Isaiah 53 and six.

And it said all we, like sheep, have gone.

We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord half laid

on him the. Iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and he. Was afflicted, yet he opened not

his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the

slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is done, So he opened

not openeth. Not his mouth.

He was being accused, he was being beaten and he didn't say

anything to defend. But three days later, when

Victory was taking place, there was.

A great earthquake. The Angel, the Lord descended

and rolled back the stone. And and I as I was thinking

through this and looking at it through this lens and and you

know I've never seen it this way and Pastor can correct me if I'm

wrong later. I just look at this and think

when Jesus rose he wasn't confined to that, borrowed to he

wasn't confined to that. But the Savior decided I'm going

to put some action to this victory so people can see the

victory and technically. It could have been a quiet

happening there. Could.

There's they. They could have not.

There could have not been any earthquake.

The Rolling Stone could have not been rolled away.

He could have just revealed himself to the disciples later.

But he decided that making this quiet removed some purpose from

the victory. It removed some purpose.

From the spread of the gospel, it removes some purpose.

Because if he just revealed himself to the disciples, then

the disciples have to well, we really saw him.

We really did well, like, well, the stone's still there, the

stone's still there. He decided, I'm not going to

remove any purpose from this resurrection.

I'm going to show someone some victory.

I'm going to show someone. So I'm going to put some action

to this. I didn't say anything before,

but look at what happened. If you would, please stand.

We can. Music can come in.

Preparation for this message I was reading and listening to

things, and I listened to another Ted talk by.

Conductor Neil Gittleman and and he was talking also about the

power of silence. It was older than the one I was

listening to before. It was a.

And and and he was going through his talk and and he came upon

something very profound to me he he stayed that he took a fiveday

retreat at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gassinemini near Bardstown KY

and and this is a Cesyrian monastery founded in 1848 and

and and he obviously if you know anything about monks silence is

very important and. And Gittleman stated that they

use silence as a tool to focus their.

Attention in Word to prayer and outward to work.

But something that I found interesting that I I didn't

know, and maybe it was. Maybe it was out of pure

ignorance or or maybe but the But the monks aren't completely

silent. Seven times a day they get

together in the church and they sing songs.

Kidtleman stated that every two weeks they sing their way

through all 150 songs and then they.

Started over again and this this realization is crazy to me.

The monks are silent all the time unless unless they are

directed otherwise. Except for worship, we get it

backwards so many times unless. We get us backwards, that we

worship all these other things in our lives and we forsake

relationship outside the four walls of this church building.

That when we get here, when the first person comes to the

microphone, when the first key is struck on the keyboard, we

neglect action of vocal praise and worship and action of praise

and worship. There is a time and a season for

everything and I believe. That the people of God have been

quiet long enough. It is not time to be quiet.

When the church is quiet too long, we lose our identity.

When the church is quiet too long, we isolate ourselves from

God. When the church is quiet too

long, We neglect to worship God. When the church is quiet too

long, we aren't able to express God's love to people.

When the church is quiet too long, we let down the next

generation. When the church is quiet too

long, we don't. Address problems to be relevant

at the cost of souls. When the Church is quiet too

long, we don't accept correction from God.

When the Church is quiet too long, Satan rejoices.

I wonder if someone could come to these altars today and decide

that the season is right to speak up and to act out.

I don't want to be quiet for so long that I lose my identity.

I don't want to be quiet for so long that I neglect to worship

and then I neglect to witness and then I neglect to stand up.

Oh Jesus. Thank you for listening.

If you would like more information about our services

and activities, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and

Twitter with the username FACMC. Again, that's FACMC.

Thank you and have a blessed day.