The Weight Of The Word Transcript

This service's focus is on weight of the word.

Now, that has got to bring you pause. Weight of the word. How does a word have weight? How does a message bring something to you that changes you? And I thought to myself, the first time someone used the word racism to me, I didn't know what they were talking about because I was not raised to be racist. And it had nothing to do with formal training. My parents loved show tunes and Broadway musicals. And I grew up listening to South Pacific. No. Now, how many of you can put together the Broadway musical South Pacific and me not growing up to be racist? What am I talking about?

Joe Cable tries to explain why he can't love the Polynesian girl. And he sings, You've got to be taught Before it's too late Before you are six or seven or eight To hate all the people your relatives hate You've got to be carefully taught You've got to be taught to be afraid Of people whose eyes are oddly made Or people whose skin is a different shade You've got to be carefully taught I grew up hearing that music. And it taught me from the age of seven or eight years old that, we're all the same. And you have to be taught to dislike someone just because of how they look.

And I went, that was a revelation to me. The fact that some people, now, you have to understand, my daddy was born in Birmingham, and I was raised down south. So I do know what racism looks like because I've seen it, but I never lived it. It was never applied, number one, to me, I kind of looked white. By the way, I am quarter Cherokee Indian, but it don't show.

But because of this song I heard when I was a child, it never crossed my mind that Dr. Brown and I should be on opposite sides of an aisle just because she's African American and I'm not. Or that my friend, whose name was John, should be treated differently because he was Chinese. It never crossed my mind.

Well, then I get this sermon topic, weight of the world, and I go, okay, what else has happened in my life that brings the weight of the message of God to me? Now, you've got to be taught, but, brought the message, racism to me, and how it should be avoided. But how does the word of God get wrapped up in all of this with the weight of the world? Excuse me, word, weight of the word. And I realize that it has to do with the fact that we hear it often, we live it seldom.

Okay? So I'm working on this for two weeks, and, I'm struggling. How do I bring a message that talks about the message of Jesus Christ has got to have gravitas. It has to have meaning to us. And this morning I wake up, and basically I've got one of those brains that Hoover showed up overnight, vacuumed out all the garbage that I'd been trying to hammer into a shape that I thought I wanted to do, and, the Holy Spirit gave me the message that you're about to hear.

How many of you like Neil Diamond, the singer? How many of you have heard the album Hot August Night? It is a classic. If you haven't heard it, get it. It will, you'll rock. Oh, I loved it. I used to, I was in the army, in Germany, and every time my wife would go shopping, I'd put Hot August Night on the turntable and crank it up. Hot August Night. Yes. Brother loves traveling salvation show. Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies and everyone knows, everyone goes to brother love shows. Loved it. And I'm laying there on the couch listening, and my life changed. Because for the first time, a song that I had heard, if not dozens, if not hundreds of times, at least dozens of times, finally hit my ears in a receptive way. The song is called Morningside. How many of you know it? I didn't expect to see any hands. So, I'm going to try to get through this.

Morningside, the old man died. And no one cried. They simply turned away. And when he died, he left a table made of nails and pride. And with his hands, he carved these words inside. For my children, morning light, morning bright. spent the night with dreams, that make you weep. Morning time, wash away the sadness from these eyes of mine. For I recall the words the old man signed for my children. Ah, and the legs, they were shaped with his hands. And the top was made of oak and wood. And the children sat around this great table, and they touched it with their laughter. And it was good. But Morningside, the old man died. And no one cried. He surely died alone. The truth is sad. Not a child would claim the gift he had. The words he carved became his epitaph. For my children, and I cried alone an apartment in Germany, surrounded by hundreds of families. I was living in a housing project, an army housing project. And I cried. I wept tears of loss, because the only thing he had to give was rejected by the children he left it to. And

Folks, that preaches. That's exactly the message Jesus is trying to give us today. You came because I fed your bellies. The children of Israel followed Moses because he gave them water when they were thirsty. And he got God to give them manna when they were hungry. And the quail flew low and could be taken when they needed meat. And they followed him. And the people ran from town to town and followed Jesus because he was the best performer that they'd ever seen. They were impressed by his magic. By his miracles. gave a message they liked listening to. But they weren't hearing it.

Like the song I had listened to dozens of times. I loved the music. And then one day my heart heard it.

One day the message of Jesus Christ came to me. And I heard it.

Oh, I'll share what the heck. I was in an army chapel at Fort Rucker, Alabama. It's no longer called Fort Rucker.

And I loved to sing in the choir so I used to go to church. Eh, I could take it or leave it. But I liked singing. And I was listening to it. I was listening to Reverend Dave McLean. I forget what he was preaching on. But one day, but literally it dawned on me the love of Jesus Christ that Jesus Christ was offering to me was a huge, tremendous thing. And I had no doubt that my wife loved me dearly. But her love was a pale reflection of the greater love that God was offering me. If I was just to accept His Son, Jesus Christ as Lord. And again, I cried. Sitting there in the choir loft, tears running down my face, Dave McLean preaching, he looked over and he saw me and he went,

He was right. I got got. Because it had finally dawned on me the message of Jesus Christ. I am your salvation. Believe in me. It was no longer just fancy words that I've heard. I mean, I'm going to get personal. How old are you? How old are you? 88. That's old enough. How many times do you think she has heard someone like me stand in front of an altar and preach the message of the gospel?

Over 80. She's 88. How many times? Do you think I'm going to bring anything new to her that she's never heard before? It's possible. It ain't likely. But one day in her life, hopefully, someone was speaking and the Holy Spirit working on her spirit opened her up to a message that she'd heard a thousand times before, but finally brought her salvation.

How many times can a hammer hit a rock and then all of a sudden, wham, the rock shatters? It wasn't done by one rock, I mean, by one swing of the hammer. It came by multiple blows. The message of salvation doesn't come through one preacher. Folks, I'm nobody. I'm just a guy that wandered in and the Holy Spirit says, yeah, I can use even that flawed vessel. And I opened myself up to being used. My favorite term for myself is I'm a useful tool in the hands of a loving God.

But object is don't bring you my message. My message is easy. I do my best to open myself up to the Holy Spirit to bring you the message of God. That Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ offered Himself up for our salvation. And that if we accept Him as Lord and Savior, our eternal life is guaranteed. It's not just promised. It's guaranteed. And you've heard it from the time you were knee-high to a grasshopper. But one day, you don't just hear it, you hear it. One day, it isn't just there. It's everywhere. And one day, you didn't just spend an hour wishing you were out on a lake fishing. But you spent an hour that will change your life.

And that's the rub.

Because the Word has weight. And I can bring my interpretation of that. But you have to bring your interpretation of it to your children. And to your grandchildren. And to your friends. Because, I can't, I can't even think of the number of times someone says, Oh, of course you believe it. You're a preacher. You have to.

But when their neighbor says to them, You know, I heard, I was reading in my Bible, and I came across this passage, and it touched me. They'll hear that much more than they'll ever hear me. So, you have to do your job too. I have to, I have to stand up here and do my thing. But my thing is to empower you to leave this place and do your thing. Which is to spread the message of Jesus Christ. That Jesus Christ is Lord.