I'll Be Back, Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley

1:10 But yet I feel God calling me to time alone with him. You know, when God wants to speak to you, God will make certain God's heard. And Ralph, I want to say to you like they used to say in one of my favorite movies from the early 90s, I'm going to get you sucker. We can do this the easy way. but we can do this the hard way.

1:49 And when God wants you, there's an easy way, which is to say yes, but there's a hard way. I've been going the hard way kind of avoiding the call of God by being busy. it's amazing when God wants to speak to you, God does it in such a way that wherever you go, it's like the same message. Have you ever felt God press rewind and play just about everywhere you go?

2:27 This morning, the Lord convicted me. I was reading in Revelation the words of Jesus to the seven churches. To the first church in Ephesus, the Lord said, I know all the works you've done. You're bragging and boasting about your resume. He said, but you've lost your first love. I need time to reestablish my first love, which is in church. It isn't preaching. It's not even my children. It's God. And it's so easy. So easy to get caught up in doing. so for those who are not aware I will preach Tuesday but this will be my last Sunday service with you until Easter and I'm going to spend some time renewing, reflecting reconnecting restoring and sitting still with God Judy I feel like that clay in a potter's hand that God just wants to remold my entire life and it takes time to develop new disciplines.

3:51 That's why half of your New Year's resolutions are going to fail because you're going to make a promise that you don't give yourself the time to develop the discipline to do. And it takes about three months to make something permanent. So I'm stepping away from all pastoral responsibilities for three months.

4:14 To let God remold me. And in this final pastoral sermon, which I really want to do over the weekend and let New Year's Eve just be New Year's Eve. There's a frightening word from the Lord that I think is also very instructive for us as we begin this journey of sabbatical and 14 weeks of being absent one from another. It comes to us from the Old Testament book of Exodus. And I want you to hear the similarity of the people of God in chapter 32 of the book of Exodus that will sound strangely similar to our own context today. Exodus chapter 32, if you've got it in your Bible or device, it will also be on the screens. And I invite those who are physically able to stand with us as together we reverence the reading and the hearing of the word of God from Exodus chapter 32, beginning in verse number one. Listen for the word of the Lord.

5:13 Now, when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, come, make us gods that shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. and Aaron said to him them break off the golden earrings which are in your ears of your wives your sons and your daughters and bring them to me so all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron and he received the gold from their hand and he fashioned it with an engraving tool and made a molded calf then they said this is your God oh Israel that brought you out of the land of Egypt.

6:09 So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. And the Lord said to Moses, go, get down. For your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They've turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They've made themselves a molded calf and worshiped it and sacrificed to it. And have the audacity to say, this is your God, O Israel.

7:05 that brought you out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore, let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say he brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains and consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to your people.

8:05 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and all this land that I have spoken of, I give to your descendants and they shall inherit it forever. So the Lord relented from the harm which he said he would do to his people. I want you to hear that first verse again. And when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they said to Aaron, make us a God. When they saw that Moses was delayed coming down, they said, well, we got to make a God. I got a word for you today that I pray will hold you till April 12th. it's real simple I'll be back you may be seated in the presence of the Lord I'll be back.

9:15 when the Lord shared that it was time to address sabbatical in sermon in front of the entire family. I heard the Lord speak that word, say la, to my spirit. I want to give Mr. Barbara Florville credit. It was her that heard it first and became the t-shirt, became the sermon, Selah. And when I sat down with God to write that sermon, you need to know that in my mind, it was meant to be nothing other than a private conversation between me and Alfred Street Baptist Church. it was not intended for anyone else.

10:09 And I'm utterly amazed that it has found relevance in a larger audience. AlphaTree, what we're about to do, what we're engaging in for these next 14 weeks, God has called us to model what sadly is not seen or practiced in the black church. And that is learning how to rest. Let's do it. and what we are doing has caused and created conversations inside and outside the church. People are talking about Selah.

10:48 To date, Kevin, I've received almost 100 emails and texts combined from pastors who reached out simply to say thank you. you've given me the courage to admit that I'm burning out while I'm working for God you've given my congregation the space to talk about giving our pastor some time of rest our social media pages have been flooded with well wishes from people who've never set foot in Alfred Street encouraging with words like pastor take care of your emotional your spiritual your physical and your mental health and well-being because mental health is something we never talk about in black circles. we cover mental disease with sanctified language as if the faithful don't have issues and if you can just pray all of your issues away no sometimes you need to walk by faith pray and sit on your therapist couch and work out some of the issues that are going on in your life God has blessed me with angels who've come to me with resources of time and space and vacation homes that they've offered to me.

12:11 in locations I will not disclose, to go and sit and be alone in the presence of God. And I want to thank you, Alfred Street, for the amazing gift you've given me of being able to start a conversation where we can help model to the world what God really meant when God said, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. So often we've read that commandment and gotten into arguments about what day we're supposed to worship on when that verse ain't got nothing to do with church. Stop arguing with Seventh-day Adventists about what day the Sabbath is. That's not what that verse is about. Sabbath holy. The word Sabbath literally translated means stop. Sabbath ain't a day of the week. Sabbath is a commandment to sit yourself down somewhere.

13:16 And keeping it holy means to be like God. So here's what God literally says when he says, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. He says, every now and then, I want you to be like me and stop. Stop being busy. Stop running from pillar to post. Stop burning the candle at both ends. Rest is holy. Let me say that again. So you tweeted right. Rest is holy. We limit holy to what kind of tongues you talk in, how many scriptures you memorize, how many services you attend, how many ministries you serve in. When that's not holiness, holiness is resting. Did you know vacation days are God's gift to your life? paid time off is God's will for you. Taking a mental health day just because you can is God's blessing on your life that God grants you the ability to step back and rest.

14:26 Resting is holy. Now watch how the devil works. I need you to understand something. The devil in his power can never create anything. All the devil can do is pervert what God has already created. So let me tell you how the devil has perverted rest. We become so busy that we have normalized burning ourselves out. So that the only time we appreciate rest is when something's going wrong. Then when we hear rest, it must be because someone is sick or struggling. And maybe we wouldn't be so sick and maybe we wouldn't struggle so much if we just learned how to rest.

15:14 You all believe this. When I announced my sabbatical, I received dozens of phone calls from folk asking the same question. You all right? because the only time you would rest is if something is wrong and satan has perverted rest so much that rest is now no longer holy rest is hiding something The world has perverted this as if something is wrong and not something is right. You've had to deal with conversations about it. People outside of Alfred Street who don't know what's going on have assumed something's wrong. So you've had to defend your pastor. Girl, what'd he do?

16:08 they must have called him in something and you know the one that always turns up who's pregnant now I get it all the time. Because Satan has perverted rest. When we've got to be the ones that understand rest is part of God's plan for God's creation. Nothing God created was meant to be on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It was meant to rest. shocker did you know you can't even farm a piece of land all the time at some point you've got to stop sowing in the dirt you've sown in because you've robbed it of its nutrients and every farmer knows there comes a season when even the soil has to rest god made the earth to rest I love good shoes.

17:11 I take care of my shoes, shine them, put shoe trees in them. Took them to my God the other day down in Nordstrom. He said, pastor, your shoes in bad shape. I said, why? He said, you're wearing them too much. That leather has to rest. My shoes need to rest. If God rests, if Jesus rests, if the earth rests, if shoes need to rest, then certainly we need to rest. And I refuse to allow the devil to pervert what God has called to be holy and somehow turn it in to something that is scandalous and ugly and rumor-filled and nasty. And you want to know one of the ways you know you're maturing? Here it is. I'm going to give it to you. This ain't for everyone.

18:02 You know you're maturing when you're okay letting people think whatever they want to think. Thank you. Can I help you grow up real quick? Listen, this sabbatical is about me, God, and Alfred Street Baptist Church. And if you ain't in one of them three, baby, I really got to let you know I appreciate your prayers, but your opinion don't mean nothing to me. That whatever you think, you can think. Whatever you want to say, you can say. Whatever you want to rumor, you can rumor, because I'm too grown. I try to change people's thought. Let them think what they want to think. I want to give you some truth so that you're armed with it. I don't want you to think your hairdresser knows more about church than you do.

18:57 The media got this thing wrong. The media reported that some pastor stood up and shocked his congregation. This sabbatical is not a surprise. Beloved, nothing happened that triggered the deed for me to get up in the sanctuary. No, that's not how it happened. We've been talking about this for two years. Planning it for two years. The deacons approved it more than a year ago. Church council approved it before that. For this entire year, the staff has been working on getting ready for my sabbatical. This is not a surprise. Nothing is going wrong. There's no scandal. Nobody's pregnant. I'm not hiding something. I'm trying to prevent something.

19:59 I'm trying to prevent the temptation that will overcome all of us when you're running on empty. Y'all, God has blessed me to pastor this church for 11 years. But you need to know before I was called here, I pastored 10 years without a break. I've been pastoring 21 years.

20:24 21 years of no holidays off. 21 New Year's Eves. I remember preaching Y2K. we thought the world was going to end And that was 20 years ago. 21 years of pastoring suntan folk. Twenty-one years of funerals. 21 years of hearing they said it was cancer 21 years of praying over folk going into surgery 21 years of multiple services over the weekend no I'm not hiding something I'm tired If I work for the government, I'd be on my way to a Rolex.

21:29 I can be honorably discharged with a pension for the rest of my life. 21 years. I'm tired. And let's kill another lie. I'll be back.

21:51 I'm not leaving Alfred Street. It always amuses me when people think, Pastor's leaving. Where would I go? what church do y'all think I would go what's better than Albert Street I don't know how you feel about it, but this is the best church I've ever been a part of that I've ever belonged to. I never loved church folk the way I love church folk at Alpha Street. I've never loved ministry the way I love ministry at Alpha Street Baptist Church. This is the best thing God has ever given to me in my life. Allow me to tell you something, that when you are insecure, you'll always wonder if the one you love is leaving you. But when you know you bringing your A game, when you know you the baddest thing on the block, when you know ain't no sister better than you, when you know can't no brother treat her better than you can, you don't worry about them leaving because if they leave you, they a fool. Look, when you know that you the best you can be, you don't worry about losing nobody.

22:55 I wouldn't leave this church for nothing. I wouldn't trade y'all for the potter's house. I wouldn't leave y'all for Lakewood. I wouldn't go to New Psalmist. I wouldn't go to Trinity. I wouldn't go to Cliffwood. I wouldn't go to Oakbriar. I wouldn't go nowhere because I love me some Alfred Street Baptist Church. And I want you to know I'll be back. You need to know that because that was the problem with the children of Israel. They didn't know Moses was coming back. And when they didn't know he was coming back, they started acting a fool. Can I share with you some Exodus 32? What goes down in Exodus 32 really begins in chapter 24. In chapter 24, Moses has done a whole lot for God.

23:50 Been preaching in front of Pharaoh. Stood at the Red Sea. Watched the Egyptians chase him down. Brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea. Led them in the wilderness. Got food from manna. Got the water from a rock. been preaching the word of God and Moses looks down, God looks down at Moses and says, man, you're tired. You can't do this 24 seven. I got too much in store for you, Moses. You need to take a break. And God in chapter 24 tells Moses, leave the people and come up to Mount Sinai and spend some time alone with me. God calls Moses to some Sabbath. Moses takes Joshua, leaves the people under the leadership of Aaron and Hur. And while Moses goes up, watch this, the Bible says the glory of the Lord descended so that when the people saw Moses going up to be with God, they also saw the glory of the Lord coming down to them. That the glory of the Lord was present when the people allow Moses to go spend some time with God. That's when they really experienced the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord came down. Moses goes up to God and from chapter 25 to chapter 31, God is talking to Moses. God is giving Moses his word that Moses will then give to the people so the people can walk right with God.

25:22 Don't you miss this? Moses goes up to be with God so he can get the word that the people need in order to walk right with God. It is to their benefit to allow Moses to have time with God so they can get the word they needed to walk right with God.

25:44 All they had to do was wait on Moses to get back. And they couldn't do it. they said Moses been gone too long and they went to Aaron and said hey we need a God Aaron says cool but we gonna need some gold they said we got that they took off their earrings they gave them to Aaron Aaron melted the gold down and made a big statue of a golden calf that they then bowed down and worshipped and after they finished worshipping this golden image they said this is the God that brought us out of Egypt and the Bible says that they then began to eat, drink, and play. God and Moses are up on the mountain. God is talking. And all of a sudden, God says, hold on. What's that sound? And God leans over and listens and says, All.

26:44 Moses they down there acting up they made a golden image they bowed down and worshipped it they said this was God and now they're eating drinking and playing I hear the party going on DJ spinning a tune I can smell the grill getting fired up. I can hear bottles popping. There's a party going on right here. A celebration to last throughout the year. So bring your good time. Touching him, telling him you ain't saved. You ain't saved.

27:38 There's a party going on. While Moses is away and God gets so angry, God said, look, look, Moses, the people you brought out of Egypt have violated my commandment. Move out the way. I'm about to wipe them off the face of the earth. what could have happened in Moses absence that allows the people to engage in something so displeasing to God how is it that the servant leaders absence winds up with God's displeasure what can the people of God do while their servant leader is gone that makes God so upset I want to hang out there for a moment I dare not tell you that I'm Moses but I feel God calling me away and I want to make certain y'all are here when I come back what has caused God to be so displeased walk through the text with me I'm gonna show you a few things that I want you to learn from I want to see how quickly you get this the Bible says in verse one that because Moses was gone they said we need a God okay I'm trying again they said because Moses is gone, we now need a God. Okay. Third time's the charm. When they saw Moses was absent, they didn't say we need another Moses. They didn't say we need to find another leader.

29:22 They didn't say, let's go elect a new pastor. They said, since Moses is gone, we need to get us another God whom we can see. Now, if you ain't figured it out yet, what they have done is they have elevated Moses to the place where Moses is now equal in their sight with the God that brought them out of Egypt. And there's always a danger when you elevate someone to a level no man and no woman should ever be elevated to in your life. and make them equal with God. Since Karen, I'm a believer that the most damaging and dangerous thing that happens all the time in the life of a church is when they elevate their pastor to a status that no man or no woman can maintain, and they begin to confuse their pastor with their God. Oh, I know I'm going to lose some colleagues on this one, but what a shame when you can walk into a church and see the pastor's picture everywhere, but ain't a cross to be found.

30:37 What a shame when the pastor's anniversary is more celebrated than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a shame. When you give more for the pastor's birthday, than you do for Christmas. Churches elevate their pastors and the worst thing, pastors let it happen. They allow themselves to be elevated to a level that no man or woman can sustain. And the danger is the minute you've elevated your Moses, you put them under satanic attack.

31:24 Because Satan knows all I've got to do is expose their humanity. and because you had your faith in them, when I show you that he ain't nothing other than a man and she ain't nothing other than a sister who's tempted like you, fragile like you, sinful like you, messed up like you, ratchet like you, that when they come crashing down, the witness of the church is destroyed. I tell people all the time, don't put me on a pedestal. I can't stay up there. Lay me on the prayer altar. Pray for me. Pray that God keep me humble. Pray that God allow me to walk in the right way. Pray that Sister Boom Boom don't catch my eye every Sunday. Pray for me.

32:21 Because I'm human. So watch what God does. This is important. Whenever you've elevated someone and are confusing them with God, God will move them out of your life for one reason only, for you to remind yourself who your God really is. I'm going to move them so you remind yourself they didn't wake you up this morning. They didn't answer your prayers. They didn't give you that job. They didn't move that mountain. They didn't heal that disease. You need to know who your God is. Is there anyone in here who's not confused and know who answered your prayer?

33:19 Who made a way? Who brought you out? it's important that you know who your God is because watch this if you've come to worship God then sabbatical these next 14 weeks they are a pop quiz yes it is the Lord says over next 14 weeks here it is I'm just trying to figure out why you really come to church. That's all I want to know. Do you come to be entertained by him or do you come to worship me? So we're going to take attendance for the next 14 weeks to find out who comes to church to worship the God that made a way, that opened a door, that answered a prayer. Is there anybody here that says, I've come to worship God?

34:25 The Lord says, here's the problem. You've elevated Moses and made Moses equal with me, and I got to move Moses so you know who's really making a way. Y'all, I didn't build this church.

34:49 And truth be told, you didn't join because of me. If you did, I need you to relinquish your membership right here and right now. This is the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's church. You are God's people. Judy, the Lord has convicted me to stop calling people my members. Mine, mine, mine. I don't want to be active on it. You're not mine. And I ain't yours. Don't get it twisted. I work with you, but you don't own me. We are God's people.

35:44 So Lord says, don't elevate Moses. So watch what happens. This is good. This is good. They say, listen, Moses is gone. So we need to see God. Aaron says cool we can do that we can make a god but we're going to need some gold the people go ain't no problem we got gold they take all their earrings off they put them in their hands they give it to Aaron Aaron takes the gold out of their hands melts it down and makes a big statue I'll make certain you get this they say Aaron we need to see God we're going to need some gold cool we got gold they took the gold out their earrings put it in their hand They gave it to Aaron. Aaron melted it down and made a golden statue 100% gold. Do you know how much gold you have to have to make a statue that's 100% gold? Tell somebody to say, that's a lot of gold.

36:40 Where did all that gold come from? They had it in their hands. Now, here's the problem, Marla. You're talking about you want to see God. So you take all the gold in your hand and you make a God and don't realize you had all that gold in your hand. Hold on. Hold on. You forget 10 chapters ago, they were slaves. And now slaves have enough gold to make a golden statue. Where do you think all of that gold came from?

37:23 Hear me, beloved? The Lord says you don't need to see Moses to know you have a God. All you got to do is look at what God has already put inside your hand. And you ought to know there must be a God. I don't know who I came to preach to, but over these next few weeks, if you begin wondering about God, don't worry about who's in the pulpit. Go walk through your closet. Go count your pair of shoes. Go sit in your car and push the start button. And when you see what God has put in your hand. Here's your problem. You want to see God, but you didn't see what God has already put in your hand.

38:18 Listen, somebody here today, you've got undeniable evidence that there must be a God working on your behalf. I'm sorry, I know to say for everyone, because some of y'all got 800 credit scores, and some of y'all got four or five degrees, and some of y'all make seven figures, so I'm not really speaking to you. I'm talking to the folk that know what I got can only have come from the hand of God. God had to make a way. God had to open a door. God had to approve the application. God blessed me with what I don't deserve.

38:55 Do me a favor. Now somebody tell them, it's in your hand. It's in your hand. you already have evidence that God is on your side. Watch it, watch it. So they make this golden calf and here's what angers God. They have the audacity to look at what they made and said, this is the God that brought us out of Egypt.

39:25 And God is looking at them and said, woes, ho, ho. You mean to tell me what you made with your hands, you have the audacity to think is what got you out of Egypt? Here it is. You think the labor of your hands is what brought you through? You mean tell me you only going to worship when you think that you're the reason why you got through what you got through. Come here, come here. Again, again, it's safe for everybody. I know, I know, I know, and I apologize for those who are going to miss the point of this sermon. I'll come get you later. But there's some folk here who are literally under the delusion that you are self-made. I mean, there's somebody in here that looks back over these last 50-some weeks, and you think you made it through because you were smart, because you were well connected, because you had a good job, because you played your cards right, because you didn't mess up and make a mistake. So I'm not preaching to you. I came to find at least five folk in here, and I'll make number six who can declare when I look back at everything that I came through this year. I didn't make it by myself, but I made it because there's a God who worked on my behalf.

40:49 God did this work. Beloved, if you're standing up right now, I don't have to worry about you coming to church. I know you're going to come every Sunday because you've got too much to thank God for not to show up because some preacher ain't in the pulpit. Is there anybody here who knows I've got too much to thank God for to sit at home.

41:22 Beloved, I don't know who this is for. You can sit down. I'm almost done now. Listen, God's done too much for you for you to keep yourself at home. The least you can do is press yourself on Sunday to tell God thank you. Because I know my own hands didn't bring me through. I can look at what the Lord has blessed me with, and it's too much I got to thank him for. And I know who the real source of my blessings is. It's not Moses, it's God.

41:59 So watch what happens. The Lord's looking at him and says, Moses, here's the problem. They have violated my commandment. Now, Andrea, the crazy thing is that Moses is on the mountain getting the commandments, and the Lord says, you violated my commandment. how can Moses be getting the word and God tell the children of Israel, you violated the word? Because the word he's talking about is the word he gave them before Moses went away. In chapter 20, God gives Israel a word. It's called the 10 commandments. In case you haven't read it, let me tell you how the first one goes.

42:39 God looks at his people and says, listen, I want y'all to understand one thing. and don't get this twisted. I am the God that brought you and your little self. You know, when we put little in front of something, you know, I brought you and your little self out of Egypt and I want you to understand that I am a jealous God and you shall have no... I'm just talking to sisters right here. You shall have no other God before me. Do you understand? where I'm coming from.

43:21 He tells them no golden image. And here's the problem. With Moses gone, they don't think they have a word. Because they believe Moses is the only preacher. And so in the absence of their preacher, they didn't think there was a word from the Lord. Oh

43:46 I just came right down your pew because somebody on your pew has already convinced themselves I ain't coming to church until pastor's back. I don't want to hear Reverend Hurd. I don't want to hear Minister Aaron. I don't want to hear Elijah. I'm tired of Mark. I don't want to hear Marcia. I don't want to hear none of them preach and you gonna miss your word.

44:16 Because you're hung up on a preacher. Let me tell you something. The power of preaching has never been based on the personality of the preacher. The power of preaching has been in the power of God's word. And one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to think that if you don't have your preacher, you won't get a word. I got to go. I'm upset some folk.

44:54 Somebody's sitting there saying, dang, I got to come to church now. They've elevated Moses. They failed to see what was in their hands. They thought the works of their own hand got them through. God says to them, you got to realize there's a word when you don't have your preacher. But listen to what God is upset about. God is listening to them. And the Bible says in verse number six, all God heard was eating, drinking, and playing. God is listening to God's people. It says all I hear y'all doing is eating, drinking, and playing. You mean to tell me while Moses is gone, all you could do was eat? Drink and play.

45:49 Here's the Lord says, I'm missing what I ought to be hearing from the people of God. Pray. There's something wrong when God doesn't hear the prayers of God's people. can I tell you when your life has been the most jacked up I'm going to tell you I don't even know you but I'm going to tell you when your life has been the most jacked up I promise you that's right I don't need to know your ratchet but I'm going to tell you when it was at its highest can I tell you when your life was at its worst when you didn't pray can I tell you when you made your biggest mistakes when you didn't pray and one of the things I lament of where we've landed is that we've strayed from a place of prayer.

46:42 Judy God convicted my heart we have not had altar call in so long it's no longer a space where the sick can walk up and we unashamedly lay hands on them and pray until they're healed I don't even think we have a bottle of oil anywhere near this pulpit. You want to know why? my prayer life has failed. I get up and start running and doing and the pastor can't lead the people in what the pastor doesn't do. everybody wants to know pastor what you're gonna do on sabbatical pray I mean if you need anything else on that list you're just being too nosy Pray I want to come back and I want us to become one of the most praying congregations you've ever worshipped in.

47:59 To know. We've got to make some changes to the order of worship and the time of worship. Beverly, we can't keep running through worship, worrying about the next crowd and not praying. We can't, we just can't do that. God says, I hear your shout. I hear your, oh, we building a new church. I hear you membership size, but I don't hear your prayer. There is something about being convicted of a lack of prayer that you can't escape. So I'm getting ready to step down. Excuse me, step away.

48:54 Because I'll be back. You better be here when I get back. I'm the only one God called to go on sabbatical. if you heard the Lord speak that in your life you misheard him that's not what he said And I want you to trust our leadership.

49:19 Deacon Charles Montario Jr. assumes my role as chairman of the board of directors. Deacon Lolita Eumanns assumes my role as CEO and takes over the daily operations. And I'm pleased to turn you over into the hands of the one who will not only lead us in prayer, but lead us as our pastor for these next 14 weeks. Dr. Judy Fentress Williams. Amen. Thank you. messenger this morning, our pastor.

50:22 Pastor, I'm here to tell you that we'll be here when you get back with our watches, making sure that you are here at the appointed time. Grateful for what God is going to do. Church, we want to close out in a time of prayer. I'm going to invite you to take your seats. We're going to have two prayers. The first prayer will be for our pastor, and that's going to be led by Deacon Beverly Overby. We're going to invite the pastor to come sit here, and some members of leadership have already been asked to come forward and lay hands on him. And I'm going to invite the rest of you to sit in place and extend your hands as we pray over our pastor. And after that prayer, then, we're also going to lift up a prayer for this congregation.

51:18 in both of those prayers there's going to be a moment when we pause and invite anyone to lift up a prayer so wherever you are you can feel free to say the prayer that the Lord has played on your heart we're not going to take turns it's all going to happen at once because God's ears are big enough to hear every word that we want to utter today. So please prepare your hearts as I invite Deacon Beverly Overby to come forward and pray for our pastor. Let us pray. To the God of grace and mercy, we acknowledge your faithfulness.

52:30 To the God of power, presence, and promises, we welcome you because you hear and answer prayers. To the God who is sovereign, we praise and honor you. With a sincere heart and intentionality, we come with confidence to your throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. We will be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make our requests known, and you, God, will oversee the rest. And because of your promises, we intercede and petition you on behalf of your servant leader, Howard John Wesley.

53:45 As a son, relative, father, friend, fraternity brother, we retreat your blessings over his personal life as he daily seeks your guidance and heeds your counsel. As a pastor, preacher, teacher, scholar, activist, community leader, mentor, and so much more, we request blessings according to your call upon his life. for his daily communion and heightened intimacy with you. Permit him to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior for his physical and mental well-being, sportsmanship, hobbies, and interests, travels, and the desires of his heart.

55:05 We petition your blessings over his regeneration, renewal, refreshment, relaxation, rest, release, and re-entry into your service. During this tranquil period of Selah, we call upon your blessings to manifest in him a new creation in Christ, not yet realized, so that it can clearly illuminate God's goodness and God's greatness.

55:53 Selah. We pause now for those who desire to utter a prayer. You may do so at this time. Thank you. Thank you. um

57:24 um Jesus, by the name of your heart, amen. For all who pray without ceasing, please hear and answer our prayers. For all who love and support, Pastor, may encouragement be evident. As a united body in Christ, we agree that your good and acceptable and perfect will will be achieved. As a united body in Christ, we agree upon this much needed and necessary Selah. as a united body in Christ.

58:27 We pray this prayer in Jesus' name with a joyful spirit of great expectations and revelations. Amen, amen, and amen. Thank you. Let's pray.

59:35 Lord, it's hard to stand in this space without just saying thank you. thank you for the many ways in which you have been faithful to us. Lord, we thank you for the ways in which you've blessed this church. We are so spoiled here, Lord. We have such great music. We have phenomenal preaching. We have such a glorious experience that the temptation is to take it for granted. So we just want to stop, Lord, and say thank you. Thank you for the Alfred Street Baptist Church for over 200 years of your faithfulness. Lord, this congregation that's assembled here, we represent an inheritance. We have inherited the prayers and the hard work and the labor of those who have gone before us. And we've discerned, Lord, that you've called our pastor to a time of rest.

1:00:45 And we're trusting you, God, to do the work in him that needs to be done and return him to us. But while we wait at the bottom of the mountain, Lord, we ask that you would keep this congregation. keep us Lord because we have short attention spans we have spiritual ADD some of us won't remember what was said today and what we promised to do next week remind us Lord of our role in the work and life of this church retrain our ears Lord so that we can hear your voice even when it doesn't sound like pastor Help us, God, to hear you in surprising places so that we can be restored and realigned and renewed, Lord, so that we can be fixed.

1:01:45 Because we believe, God, that this work that you are calling for us to do is the work of preparation. We believe, God, that you have something greater for us on the other side of this period of Selah. We believe, God, that if you told us right now what it was, we would fall out because we're not ready for it. So get us ready, Lord.

1:02:13 Help us to be able to hear your voice and say yes. To be able to risk for you and know that you will always be faithful to your word. you are faithful God help us to be faithful