04/28/2024 | Rev. Markesce Patton-Williams, Guest Speaker | By St. John Missionary Baptist Church | History you're the center of my joy good and perfect comes from you you the heart of my contentment all I do Jesus you are you the center of my joy Jesus you are The center. The center. Of my joy. Of my joy. Jesus. Jesus. You are. You are. The center. The of my joy you're everything you're everything you're everything yes you are you're my joy and my sorrow you my hope for tomorrow when I'm lonely feeling sad. You are the lifter. Of my hand you my music you're my song you're my joy Yeah. All the day long. Oh Jesus. You're the center of my joy. Joy Somebody ought to say amen. Amen. Because Jesus is the center of my joy. Amen. He is all that I need him to be. As my great great aunt used to say, he's everything you let him be. And when you let him be the center of your joy. Alright. And you find all of your joy in him. Uh huh. You'll find your life much much better. Alright. Amen. Thank you Jesus for being the center of my joy. We praise god for our being here this morning and to the ministers in the house, to the officers and leaders of Saint John Missionary Baptist Church, Red Oak. We again say thank you for this opportunity and we are glad to be here in your presence. Amen. And as always, my wife is here with me. Wave your hand, Kiera. I know y'all know her but I like to recognize her and thank her for all of her prayers and sacrifice that she travels with me on this journey. Then, we thank god for my mother-in-law who is here with us this morning Reverend Marshelle Kennedy. Our scripture this morning is Psalms thirty-four verses one to three and verse eight. One that we all know. But before I read that I want to tell us this morning how we got to this Psalm. First Samuel chapter twenty through chapter twenty-two gives us the background and we know about David, don't we? David killed Goliath. And after David killed Goliath, they made up a song like we heard this morning that said, Saul killed his thousands. But David, his 10 thousands. Well, like anybody, I believe. Saul upset about that song. He was displeased about this and because of that, David had to flee from Israel and he ended up in the camp of Gath. Now, if you read the Bible, you know Gath is where Goliath was from. Amen. The giant he had just laid. And while hiding out there, he was found out and the king recognized who he was us and in order to save his life that the king wouldn't kill him, he started to act crazy. He started to drool at the mouth. He started to scribble on their walls. The thought of that day was, if they're crazy, leave them alone. Because the gods, little G, had already dealt with them and so, the king said, get em out of this place. I want nothing to do with him. And Saul and David pins these words. Psalm thirty-four verse one, I will bless the Lord. At all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My souls shall make her boast in the lord. The humble shall hear thereof. And be glad. Oh magnify the lord with me. And let us exalt his name together. And then verse eight oh taste and see. That the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. Amen. We want to preach this morning from the subject at all times? Amen. At all times. Let us pray. Heavenly father, we thank you this morning for your word and how you're going to open it up to us. Use me, oh god, for your glory. Let the words of my mouth, meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight. Oh lord, my strength and redeemer in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. At all times. At all times. Alright. But does David really mean at all times? Does David understand at this point at all times? Well, I believe he does. You see, David was the tender of his father's sheep, slaying lions and bears to protect the sheep. And yet when Samuel came to David's house, he was found worthy enough to be brought before Samuel to be considered as the king but David still says at all times You see, David was the only one. We have a lady in Fayetteville says, the onlyest one That was willing to go and slay Goliath. Not just to protect Israel but to protect the name of the lord. Amen. And yet his brothers and even Saul didn't believe in him. And David still it at all times. After David slayed Goliath and they sang his praises, yet he had to flee protect his life and yet he says at all times and how easy is it for us to praise god in our good times it's easy to praise god when we've got a new job. Yeah. But it's easy when we get laid off. Yeah. It's easy to praise god when we go to the doctor and they give us a good report. But is it easy when he says, it's not so good. There's healing process. You're going to have to go through. It's easy when we get that new car, that new home but then when we lose it, do we bless god? At all times? How David, can we bless god at all times? Well, he didn't leave us hanging. He gave us how we can do it. In this Psalm. In verse two, he says, my soul shall make her boast. Yes. Yes. In the lord. We've got to learn to boast in god. Come on. Amen. You see, sometimes we boast in ourselves and we say, I go to the gym. I walk around the track. I eat healthy. I gave up this and I gave up that. I keep myself healthy. We boast in ourselves and we say, I earn this job. I wrote my resume right and and I made myself rich. I saved my money. I studied to get the right GPA. We boast in ourselves. But David said no. Boast in the lord. See, David could've boasted in himself. He could've said, yeah, I slayed the lion and I slayed the bear but when he told Saul, he said, that's not what I'm resting on. I need god to be with me and I can slay Goliath. David realized and we need to realize it is god's goodness and mercy. Hallelujah. That sustains us. David knew how to boast in the lord and we too need to learn. For when we boast in ourselves, we boast in our successes but then, we must blame ourselves for our failures. Now, you got to keep what what we as young people say, keep the same energy. So, if you going to boast in yourself for your success, you got to blame yourself for your failure. Amen. But when we boast in god, we have assurance no matter what the circumstance. It's going to be alright Alright. And that's how David could say at all times. He could say at all times and I think about the pastor of my church when I was a little boy. Doctor BL Rich. I have some of his tapes that my grandmother and mother recorded Sunday services. Now, listen to his sermon sometimes and about around the time, we were building a new church. He often would say to us, I don't want to hear anybody say, look what we have done. He said, look, what the lord has done through friendship and how god has to us and we need to learn to boast in him. See, when we boast in ourselves, we got a pride issue and we know Proverbs sixteen and eighteen tells us, pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit, an arrogant spirit comes before the fall. Yes, boast in the lord and just a side note when you boast in em, the humble will hear thereof and be glad. Now, David didn't just make that up. Go back to the scripture. I told you earlier. First Samuel chapter twenty-two. And read that after David escaped from the king of Gath, that those who were downtrodden, those who were oppressed, those who were in debt and in trouble, joined with David and he became their commander. Now, David had an army and it wasn't the army of the most valiant man. It was those who were downtrodden but he said, when I boast in god, they're here of him and get glad and be strong too. Right. Yeah. First thing we got to do is not boast in ourselves but boast in the lord. But then the second we? We find it easy to bless god at all times. We've got to keep the right people in our circle. Yes. David said this, oh magnify the lord with me. Alright. Uh huh. Let us exalt his name together. Now, David didn't say, let me magnify the lord by myself. Amen. Everybody exalt his name in your own corner. He said, let's do this thing together. After David was delivered from King Akish of Gath, the group of people met with him and he gave him, he gave them this invitation. David knew he had some trusted, loyal, courageous, and god-fearing people around him. He had to have some praises in the circle. Now, you can imagine if he has some negative Nancy's. Some Debbie Downers. I hope this is not your name. Some pessimistic pause in his Those who couldn't encourage him in the lord. He had to remove those professional mourners and praise party poopers. He had to get the right people. That's right. In his circle. Proverbs seventeen and seventeen says, a friend loveth at all times and a brother is born for adversity. What that saying is that we have to have a friend and a brother that will encourage us so that we can bless god at all times. Us, what god has done. Now, Job didn't have the right people in his circle. He had to get them straight. While he was trying to get himself straight. We don't need those kind of people. That makes the struggle and the journey harder. But David said, I've got some people going to help me. Praise the lord and see, I want you to think about the math of this thing because when I'm down, if I got the right people around me to praise god, they're going to lift me up and see then one day, they're going to be down because something's going to come their way and I'll be up by that time and I can help them lift up the name of the lord. That's why you got to keep the right people circle. Amen. Sometimes, you got to change your lunch table. Sometimes, you got to change your telephone buddies. Sometimes, you got to change your texting buddies. Sometimes, you got to block people on Facebook to keep the right people in your circle. I am so glad for the right people in my circle because in twenty twenty, I was installed as the young adult president for the women's convention of of the General Baptist. And I felt a heavy burden because at that time, we going through a transition but I thank god for my wife and my brother and two of my god siblings who came together they didn't tell me nothing about it. They went secretly and recorded the video and it's they sang a song that says, I look back over my life. And I think things over. I can truly say, I've been blessed. You see, I had the right people in my circle to help pick me up as I felt a heavy burden and lastly, as I head to my seat, I'm not going to keep you long this morning. But if boast in the lord. If we keep the right people in our circle but then David said this last thing in verse eight, oh taste and see. Yes, lord. That the lord is good. Amen. And I want to tell you this morning, remember what you tasted and remember what you've seen. Now, you go back and read verses four through seven of Psalm thirty-four and David is remembering what god has done for him. And we need to remember what god has done for us. Amen. I remember and I told you last time, Kiera and I like to travel and we went to the Outer Banks one time and we tasted good food at Black Pelicans, fresh seafood. We went to the top of the lighthouse and looked over god's ocean our tithes paid for. At the time of all those steps. But we saw god's beauty. We went to Memphis, Tennessee and if you never been there, go taste the barbecue. It's perfect. We saw where Martin Luther King was assassinated And that brings a solemnness about you as you stand there in that place. But that doesn't talk what I've tasted and seen. Let me tell you what I've tasted and seen with God. Because one night at NC State's campus. I was crossing the street and a car didn't see me and a car hit me and I thank god I came out of there with no broken bones, no major injuries, and I can jump and say what I've tasted and seen from my god. Oh yes, don't forget what you tasted and seen. For the songwriter said, Jesus, I'll never forget. What you've done for me. You see, somebody here this morning has seen him pay bills with no money. Somebody has seen him help you graduate when noone believed in you. Somebody has seen him open a closed room, Restore broken marriages. He healed you from mental and emotional trauma and protected you from the plot of enemies. Don't forget what you've seen and don't forget what you tasted. Because I tasted of his restoration. I've tasted of his grace, love, and mercy. Of his protection and his forgiveness. Don't forget what you've tasted and seen the hymn writer said, I've seen the lightning flashing. Yeah. And I've heard the thunder roll. I felt sin breakers dashing. Trying to conquer my soul but he said, I heard the voice of my savior. Bid me still, fight on. He promised never to leave me. Never to leave me alone. The songwriter said, I've been young and now I'm old. I'll say, I've been younger and now I'm older. I'm not old yet but I'm never seeing the righteous forsaken. I've never seen his seed begging bread. Don't forget what you've tasted and seen and when you get in the rough times of life, when you find it hard to find something to praise god for, just think about what he's done. Begin to boast in him and not in yourself. Keep the right people in your circle and remember what you tasted and seen and if you can't find any encouragement, say, Jesus, I'll never forget Yeah. What you've done for me. Jesus, I'll never forget how you set me free. I'll never forget how you brought me out. I live as long as I live and I'll never forget. I'll always remember and that'll help me bless god at all times. Amen. Yes. At all times.