SPEAKER_01: This podcast is a ministry of Grand Parkway Baptist Church, helping people know, enjoy, and glorify God.
SPEAKER_01: For more information about Grand Parkway, visit Grandparkway.org.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I thank you so much for your grace, for your goodness, and for your mercy.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Father, that you are our God.
SPEAKER_00: But you're not just our God.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says that you are a friend that sticks closer than even a brother.
SPEAKER_00: Now we would ask that you would encourage us this morning so that when we leave this place, we leave having experienced an encounter with the risen Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And that we would leave much, much differently than the way we entered.
SPEAKER_00: We thank you in advance for what you're going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Speak by your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: We ask this in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: As a young teenager, growing up in my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, my parents moved to a neighborhood where there was a ballpark.
SPEAKER_00: Not even a block away from our home.
SPEAKER_00: And it's where I love to spend time with my friends.
SPEAKER_00: At the park, we played baseball, basketball, football, and sometimes we just would sit around and tell stories and tell jokes.
SPEAKER_00: Now, one of the things that's important for you to know that when you're a teenager having fun with his friends, the last thing that you want to hear is something like this.
SPEAKER_00: And so oftentimes my sister Renee, that's seven years younger than me, she would come to the park and she would say, Willie, Mama said it's time to come home.
SPEAKER_00: To which I would reply, Well, I will when the game is over.
SPEAKER_00: And so I'd go on and play and have some more time with my friends, and about 15 minutes later, she would come back again.
SPEAKER_00: Willie, mama said, Come home.
SPEAKER_00: And I would say the game's almost over.
SPEAKER_00: Until one day, this lady with a very kind of high-pitched voice, with this Texas draw, came to the park personally.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I don't know if you know much about the South, but in the South, if your mother says your whole name, you're in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: So she said, Willie Joe Bowden, I said, Come home.
SPEAKER_00: It's time for dinner.
SPEAKER_00: To which I replied, Yes, ma'am.
SPEAKER_00: You don't play around with mama.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody know what I'm talking about?
SPEAKER_00: Daddy's alright, but you don't play around with mama.
SPEAKER_00: Why is it that I didn't respond to my sister in the same way that I responded to my mother?
SPEAKER_00: Because in my mind, she didn't have much authority.
SPEAKER_00: She was just the messenger.
SPEAKER_00: But what I was too young to understand, that even though you're the one that's carrying the message, you're carrying the message with authority from the ultimate messenger, which was my mother.
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing to have mama call, but it's quite another thing to have your heavenly father call.
SPEAKER_00: So what I want to do this morning, I want to encourage you with this thing this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Write it down somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to be talking about when God calls.
SPEAKER_00: When God calls.
SPEAKER_00: And the text we're going to use this morning is from the book of Galatians, chapter 1, beginning at verses 11 through verse 24.
SPEAKER_00: Galatians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you who know, have studied maybe this book in depth, you know that what Paul is doing, Paul is taking time to defend his message.
SPEAKER_00: And what you're going to see throughout the book of Galatians is this whole contrast between the law of Moses and grace.
SPEAKER_00: So what happened is that his accusers were accusing Paul of preaching an easy gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Preaching a gospel that was not attached to obeying, observing the laws of Moses.
SPEAKER_00: Which, if you were a good Jew, that's what you did.
SPEAKER_00: If you want to please God, obey the law.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's coming with this whole new message.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying that even though the law is important, the law was never really intended to save anyone.
SPEAKER_00: The law was intended to be a mirror to show us just how messed up we were.
SPEAKER_00: The law was intended to be, as Paul says in the book of Galatians, as a schoolmaster leading us to Christ, the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: And so in this text, we see something that's very, very critical from Paul.
SPEAKER_00: Let's begin our reading in verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel, please underscore that in your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: The word gospel is whereby we get our verb, our word, our word ewangelion in the Greek, which means to evangelize.
SPEAKER_00: So it's where we get our word evangelism from.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel or the good news.
SPEAKER_00: And oftentimes I'm asked at the seminary, what makes this good news?
SPEAKER_00: Well, the good news is that you and I were pretty messed up.
SPEAKER_00: We needed redemption.
SPEAKER_00: And the good news is that someone died in our place.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't that sound like good news to you?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's one thing for a friend to die for another friend, but it's another thing to have someone die for his enemies.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible says that we were God's enemies, Romans chapter 5, verse 8 and verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: So that's good news.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul said, for I would have you know, brothers, that you on Gellion, the good news that was preached by me is not man's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: That's what they were accusing him.
SPEAKER_00: Paul, you've created something that uh you must have talked to some people.
SPEAKER_00: Uh you guys got together and concocted this whole, this, this, this, this, this lie, this thing that's not right.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, No, no, no.
SPEAKER_00: My message didn't come from men.
SPEAKER_00: He says, verse 12, for I did not receive it from any man.
SPEAKER_00: Now was I taught it, again, lest we could add by any man, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For you heard of my former life in Judaism.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, you know, this what I'm preaching, it's not like me.
SPEAKER_00: You know about my past, how I persecuted the church of God violently, and I tried to destroy it.
SPEAKER_00: And I was doing such a good job, Paul says, I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people.
SPEAKER_00: So extremely zealous, Paul says in the model vernacular, I was so fired up to persecute these Christians.
SPEAKER_00: He says, why?
SPEAKER_00: Because of the traditions of our fathers.
SPEAKER_00: He says, but when, like when my mother came to the park, but when he who set me apart before I was born.
SPEAKER_00: And when you think of the whole idea of being set apart, I think of this special place that my mother would put these special dishes.
SPEAKER_00: She called it her china cabinet.
SPEAKER_00: You open it up and it had this beautiful smell.
SPEAKER_00: Anybody remember that?
SPEAKER_00: It just had this great smell, had these felt-looking things and glass.
SPEAKER_00: And she would put dishes that we could not use for everyday use.
SPEAKER_00: Christmas time, Thanksgiving, special occasions, she'd pull out these things and she'd have the silverware in these drawers that were lined with felt, and we had to take time to polish it.
SPEAKER_00: Anyone remember polishing the silver?
SPEAKER_00: But we were not allowed to use those on a regular basis.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: She had set them apart.
SPEAKER_00: They were special to be used for special occasions.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what, guys?
SPEAKER_00: God has set us apart.
SPEAKER_00: To be used only in his hands.
SPEAKER_00: That makes us special.
SPEAKER_00: If you're here today and you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are special.
SPEAKER_00: But it's interesting that Paul says this specialness took place in his life even prior to his own birth.
SPEAKER_00: When you go home today, I want you to look at the book of Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: You're going to read these words.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, we were called, we were chosen before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this, everyone.
SPEAKER_00: That means before there was a sun, the moon, and any stars, God had already sovereignly chose you to be used by Him.
SPEAKER_00: Can I give you a surprise?
SPEAKER_00: You didn't choose to come to church today.
SPEAKER_00: God chose you.
SPEAKER_00: God sovereignly decreed, He made it happen.
SPEAKER_00: You just thought you just woke up today and decided to come.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: God sovereignly chose that you would be at this place, at this moment, in this time, and this age, because God wants you to hear something that is extremely important for the rest of your life, and that is that He super, He supernaturally chose you.
SPEAKER_00: Think about this now.
SPEAKER_00: Out of all the millions and maybe billions of people on the planet, He chose you.
SPEAKER_00: He set you apart.
SPEAKER_00: And you say, Willie, I'm not that smart.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not that skilled.
SPEAKER_00: God likes to use people that are not that smart and are not that skilled.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: So that in the end he can get all the glory.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me, my brothers and sisters.
SPEAKER_00: He called me.
SPEAKER_00: And when he called me, I had graduated from high school and I couldn't read.
SPEAKER_00: Did you hear me?
SPEAKER_00: Young people, I couldn't read.
SPEAKER_00: How do you graduate from high school and you couldn't read?
SPEAKER_00: I could shoot a 20-foot jump shot.
SPEAKER_00: So the teachers kept me eligible so I could play on the team.
SPEAKER_00: But if you had put a book in front of me, Dick and Jane, I would have stumbled.
SPEAKER_00: It would have taken me forever to read.
SPEAKER_00: So how is he going to use someone?
SPEAKER_00: How is it that he's going to have me to preach his gospel, especially in the King James Version?
SPEAKER_00: The withers and the thithers and the hiters.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't read.
SPEAKER_00: Guess what he had to do?
SPEAKER_00: He had to do a sovereign, supernatural work in me.
SPEAKER_00: He took me from nothing to almost 300 words a minute.
SPEAKER_00: I never could have gone to college.
SPEAKER_00: How am I gonna pass the entrance exam?
SPEAKER_00: As one person said, he took me from the guttermost to the uttermost.
SPEAKER_00: Is our God a good God?
SPEAKER_00: Someone gave him a hand praise right now in this place.
SPEAKER_00: So listen, God called you.
SPEAKER_00: With all of your past, with all of your hangups, with all of your difficulties, with all of your challenges, he called you.
SPEAKER_00: And when he calls you, he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think.
SPEAKER_00: I am a living witness of what he can do with someone who will surrender his or her life in the hands of the Master.
SPEAKER_00: So several things I want to show you from this text.
SPEAKER_00: When God calls, do like I did with my mama.
SPEAKER_00: Say, yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00: What do you want me to do?
SPEAKER_00: Where do you want me to do it?
SPEAKER_00: How long do you want me to do it?
SPEAKER_00: Whatever it is, I will say yes.
SPEAKER_00: I encourage you if you haven't read this book.
SPEAKER_00: There's a book by a man, it's an older book now.
SPEAKER_00: His name is Henry Blackerby.
SPEAKER_00: And the name of the book is called Experiencing God.
SPEAKER_00: It's an older text.
SPEAKER_00: I started reading it in the 90s, and now there's a workbook that comes along with it.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things I love about Blackerby, he says, whenever God was about ready to do something, he had already made the decision to enter a space.
SPEAKER_00: Then what he does, Blackerby says, he invites people to join him in whatever it is that he's going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Let's go all the way back to Noah.
SPEAKER_00: God knew that he was going to destroy the world.
SPEAKER_00: Am I right?
SPEAKER_00: You've read the text.
SPEAKER_00: So what does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He chooses Noah and says, Noah, I want you to build this ark.
SPEAKER_00: He makes a decision.
SPEAKER_00: He invites Noah to join him.
SPEAKER_00: We come to Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: He knew what he was going to do.
SPEAKER_00: He was going to use Abraham to bless not only the nation of Israel, but all the world.
SPEAKER_00: Genesis chapter 12.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Abraham, I'm going to bless the world through you.
SPEAKER_00: He makes a decision.
SPEAKER_00: He chooses someone.
SPEAKER_00: We come to Moses.
SPEAKER_00: The children of Israel have been in bondage for 400 years.
SPEAKER_00: God hears their cry.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to come down and to deliver them.
SPEAKER_00: What does he do?
SPEAKER_00: He chooses Moses to join him in what he's going to do.
SPEAKER_00: Saul is not living the way that God wanted him to live.
SPEAKER_00: So he's going to bring someone up.
SPEAKER_00: He's going to exalt someone else to the throne.
SPEAKER_00: So while David is out dealing with the sheep, what does the Lord do?
SPEAKER_00: The Lord speaks to David and says, David, I'm going to place you at the head of the throne.
SPEAKER_00: So listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: What God has already done even before you were born, even before you knew it, God had already chosen you for such a time as this.
SPEAKER_00: But in order for him to use you, let me tell you what he's got to do.
SPEAKER_00: He's got to first change you.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to what Paul says.
SPEAKER_00: Back again to verse 11.
SPEAKER_00: If I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached to me is not of man's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: For you've heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church, how violently and I tried to destroy it.
SPEAKER_00: 14.
SPEAKER_00: And I was advancing in Judaism beyond my own age among my people.
SPEAKER_00: So extremely zealous was I for the traditions of the Father, verse 15.
SPEAKER_00: That when he who had set me apart before I was born and had called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: Paul said, I had my own agenda.
SPEAKER_00: And Paul says, I was busy doing what I knew was right.
SPEAKER_00: My brothers and my sisters, before the Lord spoke to me, supernaturally called me, I was doing my own agenda, doing my own thing.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm almost embarrassed to tell you the thing that I was doing was not anything that would have ever pleased God.
SPEAKER_00: I'd done my time in the military and the Air Force, and I was discharged and discharged in California.
SPEAKER_00: And so one of my high school buddies, one of those guys I used to spend time with in the park, I met him.
SPEAKER_00: He told me he had embraced this new group.
SPEAKER_00: He said it was a new religious group, but the truth was religion was kind of the underpinning, but the real truth was that this was a racist organization.
SPEAKER_00: This was an organization that said anyone that was white was the devil.
SPEAKER_00: All white people were devils.
SPEAKER_00: It was our obligation in life to do our best to deal with these devils.
SPEAKER_00: And if we had to rid the world of these devils, that's what we were supposed to do.
SPEAKER_00: And I wish I had time to tell you my story.
SPEAKER_00: The reason why I could easily embrace this kind of religion, because some things happened to me when I was a teenager.
SPEAKER_00: Some things happened to me even when I was in the military.
SPEAKER_00: And so I began to think, oh, yeah, well, this is right.
SPEAKER_00: And the day before I was about ready to kind of make the pledge to this group, this insurance man talked to me on the phone.
SPEAKER_00: He talked to me about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But the Jesus that I had been taught about when I was a kid, it wasn't really the Jesus of the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And so I had, for many, many years, once I left home, I had rejected that Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He showed me the Jesus of the Bible that I had never seen.
SPEAKER_00: And that night, September the 10th, 1973, at 9.20 p.m.
SPEAKER_00: on the phone with this prudential insurance man, I said, Jesus, I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_00: But my mother taught me back to mama again.
SPEAKER_00: Any religion that preaches hate, to hate a group of people just because of the color of their skin, any religion that preaches that would not be of God.
SPEAKER_00: And that night I rejected that religion.
SPEAKER_00: I trusted Jesus as my personal savior because God is good.
SPEAKER_00: Someone give him a hand praise right now.
SPEAKER_00: Because I would have never been here in front of you to preach the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: But God knew that I needed to change my own agenda.
SPEAKER_00: And now before I take my seat, I'm gonna give you three words, and all the words start with the letter P to help you to remember them.
SPEAKER_00: Why did the Lord call me?
SPEAKER_00: Why did the Lord call you?
SPEAKER_00: Why has the Lord been spending time changing you?
SPEAKER_00: Because He has a purpose, first P, has a purpose for you that only you can do.
SPEAKER_00: Has a purpose for your life that you are uniquely gifted.
SPEAKER_00: You have been uniquely talented.
SPEAKER_00: He's given you certain treasures that only you can do.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there are many other preachers in the world, but no one preaches like me.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm me.
SPEAKER_00: There's only one of me.
SPEAKER_00: And so God says, Willie Bolton, I'm gonna give you something that's not better than someone else, but I'm gonna give you something that's different.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna give you a different way of making the presentation because I want you to speak, I want you to address a certain segment of society.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, guys, the Lord has told me that my ministry is a ministry of bridge building, especially building our cultures.
SPEAKER_00: It's too often that we're separated.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, somebody.
SPEAKER_00: We work together, we play together, we live next to each other until Sunday.
SPEAKER_00: Go off to our separate camps, to our separate groups, and we have great worship, and then we come back and wave each other on Monday morning when we go back to work.
SPEAKER_00: Seems to me, everyone, since there's not gonna be a railroad track in heaven, you know what I mean by that.
SPEAKER_00: You know exactly what I mean.
SPEAKER_00: Where those people live.
SPEAKER_00: Since there's not gonna be a railroad track in heaven, we might as well start learning to sing together and live together and worship together and play together.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: But if we're not intentional about it, it will never happen.
SPEAKER_00: Because we have a tendency to gravitate to people what?
SPEAKER_00: That are like us.
SPEAKER_00: Listen, y'all, I don't love watermelon.
SPEAKER_00: You'll get that joke later when you get to the house.
SPEAKER_00: It's not one size fits all.
SPEAKER_00: And I can't eat fried chicken.
SPEAKER_00: Does something to my stomach.
SPEAKER_00: Not that I don't like it.
SPEAKER_00: But what's the purpose?
SPEAKER_00: That he called you to.
SPEAKER_00: Has he called you to minister to those young women who are involved in the sex trafficking trade?
SPEAKER_00: Has he called you to minister to those men and women that stand on those street corners and that are homeless sleeping under the bridge?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_00: When the flood came, I started asking myself the question: what did all those homeless people that sleep under the bridge, where did they go?
SPEAKER_00: Has he called you not to drive by and pass them one more Monday?
SPEAKER_00: But this time he's called you to pull over and minister to that man, that woman and her children?
SPEAKER_00: Has he called you to minister to teenagers, maybe even trouble teens?
SPEAKER_00: Has he called you to minister to those that are heavily involved in drugs because that's where you used to live?
SPEAKER_00: Has he called you to go to the prisons because either you were there or you know somebody that's there?
SPEAKER_00: Maybe someone even in your family.
SPEAKER_00: Is that what he's called you to?
SPEAKER_00: And have you just been sitting on the sidelines, sitting on your hands, applauding the rest of us and encouraging us?
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00: But it's time for you to get in the game and play.
SPEAKER_00: We love to applaud others.
SPEAKER_00: But guys, it's time for us to play the game ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't tell them this morning, but I'll tell you because I like you better.
SPEAKER_00: Billy Graham was telling a story, the great Billy Graham.
SPEAKER_00: And Billy Graham said that there was this there was this tightrope artist.
SPEAKER_00: And man, the guy was good.
SPEAKER_00: So he went out someplace uh near the Grand Canyon and and they and they shot some kind of a gun and and shot the tightrope to the other side, and someone was over there and they wrapped it around a rock, and and everyone was watching this great guy, and he turns to the crowd and says, How many of you that think that I can walk across this rope?
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what they were there for.
SPEAKER_00: This guy was famous.
SPEAKER_00: And so, man, this guy walked across that type rope with this little thing, and you know, and he spun around and walked on the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Man, the people just corrupted.
SPEAKER_00: They'd never seen anything like this, especially over the Grand Canyon with no safety net.
SPEAKER_00: So the person that was working with him had this wheelbarrow.
SPEAKER_00: A wheelbarrow, you know what a wheelbarrow is, and it has this little thing, the little wheel in the front, right?
SPEAKER_00: And so the guy gets on the typerope again.
SPEAKER_00: He's got this wheelbarrow, and he's doing the very same thing.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm telling you, the place just I mean, they almost just fell out with excitement.
SPEAKER_00: So he turns to the crowd and says, How many of you know you believe me?
SPEAKER_00: You try, you know I can do it again.
SPEAKER_00: And they erupt and say, Yes, yes, we know you can do it.
SPEAKER_00: So he turned to people in the crowd and says, Well, who will be the first person to sit in the wheelbarrow?
SPEAKER_00: And there was a hush, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: There was a hush.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: We love to applaud the faith of others, but we don't want to sit in the wheelbarrow.
SPEAKER_00: If God's gonna use you, guess what you got to do?
SPEAKER_00: Sit in the wheel.
SPEAKER_00: Stop just applauding what we do.
SPEAKER_00: It's time for you to get in the game.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: So when God calls, what do you do?
SPEAKER_00: Say yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00: When God calls, understand that he's going to change you.
SPEAKER_00: And when he begins this change process, it may hurt.
SPEAKER_00: He may have to remove some friends in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He may have to remove some habits in your life.
SPEAKER_00: We may have to discipline you, as Jesus says in John 15.
SPEAKER_00: He may have to cut away, he may have to prune some things in your life that may hurt.
SPEAKER_00: But I promise you, it's not because he doesn't love you, it's because he loves you and he wants you to bear much fruit.
SPEAKER_00: But watch this.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, it's not enough to know what your purpose is, but you've got to prepare yourself.
SPEAKER_00: Watch what he says again in verse 17, verse 16.
SPEAKER_00: He says, I was pleased, rather, he was pleased to reveal his son to me in order that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_00: I did not immediately consult with anyone, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me.
SPEAKER_00: But I went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this, everyone, verse 18.
SPEAKER_00: Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him 15 days.
SPEAKER_00: I'll make a note somewhere.
SPEAKER_00: He spends three years one-on-one with Jesus himself.
SPEAKER_00: Three years of preparation.
SPEAKER_00: Most of the young men and women at the seminary where I teach Dallas Seminary here in Houston, they spend three years on their masters.
SPEAKER_00: Some spend six or seven years working on what they call their THM in Greek, in Hebrew, preparing themselves for ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: When I think about the why do they need to prepare themselves, I think of something that I really enjoy doing.
SPEAKER_00: How many of you enjoy barbecue?
SPEAKER_00: You consider yourself a great barbecue person.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you guys, look, there's a difference between grilling and barbecue.
SPEAKER_00: Grilling.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, brother.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Grilling is high heat and it's fast.
SPEAKER_00: Barbecue and it's slow and steady.
SPEAKER_00: It's not unusual.
SPEAKER_00: Guys will tell you, ladies will tell you, that sometimes a piece of meat, it may take 10 or 12 hours to cook.
SPEAKER_00: 200 degrees, 250.
SPEAKER_00: So I have this big, beautiful piece of brisket.
SPEAKER_00: I dressed it properly and I put it in there, and it's been on there, and it's been on the grill about maybe 10 hours, and I know it's time.
SPEAKER_00: I stick my fork in it.
SPEAKER_00: I've got my little thermometer in there, and I know it's time for it to come off.
SPEAKER_00: I take it off the grill, I bring it in the house, I put it on my cutting board, and you guys know you have to give it a little time to rest.
SPEAKER_00: And I went and grab my knife and I'm beginning to cut on this brisket, and I'm having all kinds of difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm wondering what I know I didn't get it off too soon.
SPEAKER_00: I know it's spent 10 to 12 hours, so it should be tender.
SPEAKER_00: But you guys know what really happened.
SPEAKER_00: There really was nothing wrong with the meat.
SPEAKER_00: It was my knife.
SPEAKER_00: So I went to the cupboard, got my sharpener, and I spent time sharpening that knife.
SPEAKER_00: And y'all, after I sharpened that knife and cleaned it off, man, I cut through that brisket like butter.
SPEAKER_00: Man, I begin just to slice that thing.
SPEAKER_00: I was able to slice it real thin.
SPEAKER_00: My wife likes it real thin.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm just slicing that thing and I'm just having a good time.
SPEAKER_00: Slicing, I'm just feeling so good because it's just sharp.
SPEAKER_00: Listen to me.
SPEAKER_00: When you and I trust Christ, we are dull.
SPEAKER_00: He can't use us when we're dull.
SPEAKER_00: He can only use us when we're sharp.
SPEAKER_00: And so, in order to sharpen ourselves, we must take time to prepare for service.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know what you've done, but one of the ways that you prepare, one of the ways you sharpen yourself is by coming to things like this.
SPEAKER_00: We call them worship services.
SPEAKER_00: Instruction time, where you can not only hear from the preacher, but there are other times when you can sit around with a group of women, with a group of men, and you can sit around and someone can teach you the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: But listen to me, just don't depend upon someone to feed you.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says we need to learn to feed ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: What we call quiet time, devotional time, time spent in the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: He's already set you apart, but he's called you.
SPEAKER_00: But before he can use you, he's got to begin to change you.
SPEAKER_00: He's got to begin to sharpen you.
SPEAKER_00: Then last.
SPEAKER_00: This is the part of the text that just really ministers to my soul.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 19.
SPEAKER_00: But I saw none of the other apostles, Paul says, except James, the Lord's brother, in whom I'm writing to you before God.
SPEAKER_00: I do not lie.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 21.
SPEAKER_00: Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown in person.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
SPEAKER_00: To the churches of Judea that are in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: They only were hearing it said.
SPEAKER_00: Paul says, they didn't know me, they hadn't never met me personally, but they were only hearing it said.
SPEAKER_00: Watch this.
SPEAKER_00: He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he tried to destroy.
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
SPEAKER_00: The very guy who was racist is now preaching against racism.
SPEAKER_00: The very person who said get them people is now one of the people he said to get.
SPEAKER_00: Some haven't met me.
SPEAKER_00: But some have heard of me.
SPEAKER_00: I had a church here in Houston that I'd never met.
SPEAKER_00: They went online to our website, the Dallas Seminary website, and they heard a sermon.
SPEAKER_00: Never met me.
SPEAKER_00: Invited me to their church.
SPEAKER_00: Very young, very fast-growing church.
SPEAKER_00: The pastor says, We've heard about you.
SPEAKER_00: So when I go there that first Sunday, they have three services like you guys, and people will come up to me.
SPEAKER_00: We heard about you, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Bolton.
SPEAKER_00: We heard about you.
SPEAKER_00: And we're so excited to hear you bring the word of God today.
SPEAKER_00: They'd never met me, but they heard.
SPEAKER_00: You're the guy we heard about that used to be this way.
SPEAKER_00: But now we've heard that you've changed.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm proud to say, yes, I have.
SPEAKER_00: Who's heard about you?
SPEAKER_00: One of the most difficult things for me to do was when I trusted Jesus Christ as my Savior, to go back to my hometown with my friends.
SPEAKER_00: I used to kick it with, especially to my friend who was a part of that racist organization.
SPEAKER_00: One of the most difficult things for me to do, but he was the very first I wanted to talk to you about this newfound relationship with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so I find him and I begin to talk to him about Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, he rejected Jesus, but here's one thing I know.
SPEAKER_00: If I close my eyes tonight and I never get a chance to see him, I haven't seen him in over 40 years.
SPEAKER_00: I know I told him the truth.
SPEAKER_00: If he rejected the truth or embraced the truth, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: It's not on me.
SPEAKER_00: Remember when Paul says for three years in Ephesus, he says, I preached the word night and day with tears.
SPEAKER_00: He says, So what?
SPEAKER_00: No man's blood is on my hands.
SPEAKER_00: Because I told them, my brothers and sisters, have you told the people at your job?
SPEAKER_00: Have you told your mother and father?
SPEAKER_00: Listen, every grandmama ain't saved.
SPEAKER_00: Have you told your neighbors?
SPEAKER_00: Have you told your friends who who your kids play soccer with their kids?
SPEAKER_00: They play football, basketball, volleyball?
SPEAKER_00: Have you told them?
SPEAKER_00: If you haven't told them the good news of Jesus Christ, guess what?
SPEAKER_00: It's on you.
SPEAKER_00: You know the truth.
SPEAKER_00: You know what sets people free, and you've kept it to yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: What kind of doctor who found the cure for cancer would keep it to himself?
SPEAKER_00: We have the cure for the greatest disease that ever perpetrated on mankind.
SPEAKER_00: It's called the disease of sin, and God's given us the cure.
SPEAKER_00: The cure is a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ, and we need to tell everybody.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody, we can.
SPEAKER_00: Some will listen, some will not.
SPEAKER_00: We've just been called to be faithful, to share the news.
SPEAKER_00: Before I finish, let me give you what the news is.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what the gospel is in a nutshell.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, mankind are sinners.
SPEAKER_00: And grandparents, I'm gonna hurt your heart, but because I'm a grandparent of twelve children, twelve grandchildren.
SPEAKER_00: Your grandbaby is a sinner.
SPEAKER_00: That cute little girl, that cute little boy.
SPEAKER_00: How do I know it?
SPEAKER_00: You don't believe me?
SPEAKER_00: Go home and read your Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Turn to Psalms chapter 58, verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what it says The wicked are estranged from the womb as soon as they are born speaking lies.
SPEAKER_00: That's the reason why, when you had your little grandbaby over the house and you told your grandbaby no cookies before dinner, and you came back in the kitchen and they had built this intricate ladder.
SPEAKER_00: They're only one, they're only one.
SPEAKER_00: They don't have an engineering degree, but they're only one.
SPEAKER_00: Sinners know how to do some stuff.
SPEAKER_00: And they built this ladder and they got on top of the kitchen counter and they got the cookies and they took the cookies, and the cookies crumbs around the mouth, and you say, Jessica, Johnny, didn't I tell you?
SPEAKER_00: Grandpa said, Papa Mama said, Don't touch the cookie.
SPEAKER_00: Did you take the cookies?
SPEAKER_00: Little one-year-old Johnny says, Mmm.
SPEAKER_00: Where did he learn a lie like that?
SPEAKER_00: The wicked are estranged from the womb.
SPEAKER_00: They go astray as soon as they are born speaking lies.
SPEAKER_00: You better start talking to your grandchildren.
SPEAKER_00: Because I've been searching for 40 years for some age of accountability when they're old enough to understand.
SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
SPEAKER_00: If they can learn at four years old, five years old, some of these rap songs, they can learn the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Talk to your children as quickly as possible.
SPEAKER_00: Men are sinners, but here's the good news.
SPEAKER_00: The good news is that Jesus Christ has atoned for their sins.
SPEAKER_00: He died in our place.
SPEAKER_00: And the final part of the gospel is you must trust in what Jesus has done in our behalf.
SPEAKER_00: So three components.
SPEAKER_00: Men are sinners.
SPEAKER_00: Because if no one feels that they're a sinner, why do they need to be found?
SPEAKER_00: If they're not lost, why do they need to be found?
SPEAKER_00: But the good news, Jesus Christ took our place.
SPEAKER_00: And all he's asking us to do is just trust.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you're like me.
SPEAKER_00: There was a time that I thought if I could just give enough tithes, he let me in.
SPEAKER_00: If I could just come to church on a consistent basis and not miss a Sunday, he let me in.
SPEAKER_00: Because I thought good works, being a good person, listen to me, there won't be any good people in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone will be there because of God's grace.
SPEAKER_00: You don't believe me?
SPEAKER_00: When you go home, look at Romans chapter 3, verse 10.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says, There is none good, no, not one.
SPEAKER_00: Good people won't be there.
SPEAKER_00: There'll be sinners that have saved, been saved by grace.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Last but not least.
SPEAKER_00: Why did he call you and me?
SPEAKER_00: Paul said it over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: He says, God called him that he might proclaim Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, I don't know about you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm troubled.
SPEAKER_00: I'm an American.
SPEAKER_00: I love America.
SPEAKER_00: Understand some of the protests that we've seen in the NFL and other places.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm a military man.
SPEAKER_00: When the flag is raised at the ball game, I stand.
SPEAKER_00: I even go as far as to take my cap off.
SPEAKER_00: I even go further to put it over my heart.
SPEAKER_00: Not because America is a perfect place.
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm an American.
SPEAKER_00: But I'm troubled with our country.
SPEAKER_00: Our country has lost its moral compass.
SPEAKER_00: From the head down to the bottom.
SPEAKER_00: We can't even spell morality.
SPEAKER_00: We can't even spell humility.
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like it's a curse word.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone wants to exalt arrogance and pride, and it's all about me.
SPEAKER_00: It's all about what I want.
SPEAKER_00: Let me show you who I am.
SPEAKER_00: And yet Christ said, take the towel from around your waist and get down and wash people's feet.
SPEAKER_00: One of the most difficult things I ever did was wash the feet of someone that I knew in the church hated me.
SPEAKER_00: And to wash their feet and to watch their reaction because they knew that I knew how they felt about me.
SPEAKER_00: Can I tell you my own strength?
SPEAKER_00: I never would have done it.
SPEAKER_00: I would have easy passed them up and gone to the next person.
SPEAKER_00: But see, when you know Jesus, you recognize it's a ministry of humility.
SPEAKER_00: Our country is in trouble.
SPEAKER_00: Our country is in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: Many of our families are in darkness.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what God's called us to be?
SPEAKER_00: Light.
SPEAKER_00: In this dark world.
SPEAKER_00: So he wants us to do what he called us, what he set us apart to do.
SPEAKER_00: Get off the sidelines and get in the game.
SPEAKER_00: I end with this story that I hope encourages you.
SPEAKER_00: There was this violinist, super good.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, this guy could play.
SPEAKER_00: So this promoter said, You're so good, I need to bring you to Carnegie Hall.
SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, that's for many musicians, that's the pinnacle.
SPEAKER_00: Carnegie Hall.
SPEAKER_00: So he brings him to Carnegie Hall, and this guy plays.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, he plays like unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00: For an hour straight.
SPEAKER_00: No breaks.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the concert, the people stand and they give him a standing ovation.
SPEAKER_00: And it just goes on and on and on.
SPEAKER_00: And many of you know when someone gives you standing ovation, what are you supposed to do?
SPEAKER_00: You're supposed to bow to say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: But the guy would never bow.
SPEAKER_00: And so it continued for another almost two minutes, five minutes of just constant applause.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, come on.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, five minutes is a long time for people to stand and clap.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, they noticed him look up in the balcony.
SPEAKER_00: Some guy who had been sitting on his seat stood up and began to applaud.
SPEAKER_00: And all of a sudden, the guy bowed.
SPEAKER_00: So after the concert, they went backstage.
SPEAKER_00: All the reporters were asking him, sir, we don't understand.
SPEAKER_00: We'd never heard anybody play like this ever.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, did you notice that standing ovation, that applause?
SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't you bow?
SPEAKER_00: But then we noticed at some point some guy stood up in the balcony and you bowed.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Well, the guy that bowed was my mentor.
SPEAKER_00: I mean rather the guy that stood up was my mentor.
SPEAKER_00: And the truth was, I was only playing for him.
SPEAKER_00: And when he stood up, I knew I had done a job well done.
SPEAKER_00: So I was able to bow and say thank you.
SPEAKER_00: My brothers and sisters, there's only one person you want to please.
SPEAKER_00: Not Pastor Neil, not Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Bolden, not Mom and Dad, family, professors, employer.
SPEAKER_00: Only one person you want to hear these famous words, and you guys, we've heard those words since we were in Sunday school.
SPEAKER_00: It goes something like this Well done.
SPEAKER_00: Thy good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_00: That's all I care about.
SPEAKER_00: In a few months I'll be sixty-eight years old.
SPEAKER_00: And I have no intentions of retiring.
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to be doing this and have a heart attack right on stage.
SPEAKER_00: Well, at least the last word he said was Jesus, then he just dropped dead.
SPEAKER_00: You know why?
SPEAKER_00: I was given a second chance.
SPEAKER_00: A guy whose life was messed up.
SPEAKER_00: One day I'll come back and maybe Neil will let you let me share my testimony.
SPEAKER_00: I was messed up.
SPEAKER_00: As my mom would say, I was toe up from the flow up.
SPEAKER_00: And God said, Willie Bolden, I'm gonna give you a second chance.
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to mess it up.
SPEAKER_00: So from one coast to the other, to the north and to the south, I've been preaching that Jesus has called us.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus gives us second chances.
SPEAKER_00: And when it's all said and done, there's only one person that you want to applaud.
SPEAKER_00: That's him.
SPEAKER_00: So here's my question today as we close.
SPEAKER_00: Are you still sitting on the sidelines applauding us for how hard we work?
SPEAKER_00: Perhaps the Lord told you, I've gifted you, I've equipped you, and I've called you.
SPEAKER_00: But you're still waiting.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe because of fear.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't think that you're worthy.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you don't think you know enough.
SPEAKER_00: I was two weeks old in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord used me to lead my first person to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Two weeks old.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know the difference between Job and Job.
SPEAKER_00: I was still pronouncing Habakkuk Habakkuk.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what I knew?
SPEAKER_00: My personal testimony that my life had been changed.
SPEAKER_00: And for weeks without even knowing any Bible verses, God used that to lead many people to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you today.
SPEAKER_00: If you know that God's called you, at the end of service today, you know how we do.
SPEAKER_00: We evoke a blessing over your life.
SPEAKER_00: Come forward.
SPEAKER_00: Make a public confession.
SPEAKER_00: That Willie, I know the Lord's called me.
SPEAKER_00: I've just been whatever.
SPEAKER_00: But I don't want to be on the sidelines anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to start playing the game.
SPEAKER_00: Father, thank you.
SPEAKER_00: For these, my brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, my mama called me, and I said yes because of her level of authority in my life.
SPEAKER_00: I should have said yes to even my little sister.
SPEAKER_00: But Lord, when you call, I can't say when the game is over or when I finish doing my thing.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, there is a man, there's a woman today that's in this room that needs to just say yes.
SPEAKER_00: Just say yes.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about what the future holds.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about if you think you're qualified.
SPEAKER_00: Don't worry about if they'll listen or not.
SPEAKER_00: That's not left up to you.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord just called you to be faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And just like Moses and David and Joshua, Paul, he'll do the rest.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, I thank you for my brothers and sisters today.
SPEAKER_00: And I would pray that someone would say, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Bolden, thank you for encouraging me.
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready.
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to get in the game.
SPEAKER_00: I'm ready to be true to my calling.
SPEAKER_00: In Jesus' name I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.