Old School Sunday: Treasure the Truth

0:57 Pastor Bryant, Dr. Bryant and to the Reverend Clergy and all of you, my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Real worship does not occur because there is a preacher in the pulpit. or because there is a choir in the choir loft,

1:23 deacons or ushers in their places. Real worship can only occur when he who is holy permits us who are dust to come into his presence. God lets us praise him. And for that reason, we ought to give him thanks and praise.

1:49 This is the day that the Lord has made. We ought to rejoice and be glad in it. The late Dr. A. Lewis Patterson of Houston used to say, let everything that has breath and good sense praise the Lord. So this morning, if you've got breath and good sense, you ought to give God some praise.

2:18 Amen. Amen. I must say of the New Birth Church, what the Queen of Sheba said when she finally saw Solomon's riches, the half has not been told. This is a marvelous, marvelous fellowship, and I'm grateful for my longtime friendship with Pastor Bryant. I have watched him over the years, and I give God glory for his stalwart courage, for his strength and for his leadership. I and preachers in my generation admire his strength. He and I served together with Reverend Al Sharpton on the National Action Network board. And Jamal is such a dynamo that we just stand back and watch him.

3:16 And when he takes the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune on our behalf, we pray for him but we stay in the background so when the shots are fired we will be in the background I give God glory for him and I want to thank him for the invitation to come it's about 3 or 4 thousand people mad as hell at Lily Grove Church because they did not know I was going to be here today so don't tell them where I am just say amen and we're going to keep this between us. Thank you so much again, Pastor, for the invitation. I do not know if I like this throwback Sunday situation to call me for throwback Sunday. I guess he's calling me an old preacher for calling me back here for throwback Sunday but I'm grateful nevertheless open your Bibles with me to Proverbs at chapter 23 In verse 23.

4:27 Proverbs at chapter number 23, verse 23. and in your hearing it reads buy the truth and do not sell it also wisdom and instruction and understanding thank you you may be seated the grass withers and the flower fades but the word of our God shall stand forever Thank you. Buy the truth and do not sell it.

5:18 Also, wisdom and instruction and understanding. I want to talk to us a minute about treasuring the truth. treasuring the truth. In this age of pluralism and anti-intellectualism, nihilism almost, Kellyanne Conway and the Trump administration and others of that ilk were trying to convince us that there are alternative facts.

6:16 there's truth that applies to certain people, and then there's truth that does not apply to others. Pluralism is this notion that all of us are in this together.

6:40 I was invited to give the invocation at the city council in Houston and they were quick to tell me not to mention at the end of my prayer in the name of Jesus. And I was quick to respond. You need to get somebody else to do the invocation. because Muslims pray like Muslims pray. Catholics pray like Catholics pray. Christians ought to be able to pray like Christians pray if this is pluralism. If we're all in it together, if it's pluralism, then all of us ought to be able to pray how we pray, but if not, then it's not pluralism. It's synergism where we are kind of trying to make it what we want it to be when we want it to be that when it's convenient.

7:40 Marcus Aurelius said, everything you hear is an opinion and not a fact. Everything you see is a perspective and not the truth. And so I want to talk to us this morning about treasuring, holding on to, grabbing hold of truth.

8:09 It's not your truth or my truth. It's truth. When I get into discussions with young people, they are quick to say to me that, well, I hear what you're saying. but I have to live in my truth. I have to operate in my truth. I hear what you're saying, Pastor, but that's not my reality. That's not my truth. Well, if it's truth, it's true for old people and for young people. It's true for everybody because truth does not change. truth is not malleable truth is not anything that you can manipulate if it's the truth if it's the real truth treasure it if it's not true then trash it but if it's the truth then it holds up under any circumstance I wish you could have known my elders down in Louisiana where I was born.

9:21 They were demeaned and degraded. Epithets of condescension hurled at them as if it were ordinary language. They were called nigger and gal, uncle and boy. My great-grandmother died one week before she turned 100 years old. And white children that she raised called her by her first name. They had to get off the sidewalks and tip their hats, sit in the back of the bus. Every dressing room, every police authority, every courtroom, every act of legislation, every mean stare said to them, you do not matter. They were nothing and nobody all the week long. But on Sunday morning, a strange dignity caught them and a sense of grandeur overwhelmed them.

10:23 And although they were negated all the week long, on Sunday morning, they sang over my head, I hear music in the air. There must be a God somewhere. They took what they heard those people say in the Protestant churches, in white churches, when they said, is there no bomb in Gilead? Is there no physician there? They took their question marks and straightened them into exclamation points and sang, there is a bomb in Gilead. They took what they said about them as negative and turned it into a positive because they believed the truth that there was a brighter day ahead. I'm eight in their homes. Many of them, their wallpaper was newspaper and they hardly had anything to get by on. And here we are with three cars in the garage, opportunity that they never had before.

11:22 Here we are with retirement accounts and 401k and money in the bank. Everybody has driven here in fine cars and nice clothes. God has blessed us beyond what they could have ever imagined. And many of us sit down in the sanctuary of the living God and act like we don't know who it was that kept us. but there's somebody in this church this morning who knows that if it had not been for the Lord who was on your side if you had not heard the truth you would still be living a lie this morning thank God for grace thank God for mercy thank God he looked beyond your thoughts and saw every one of your needs Buy the truth.

12:13 Sell it not. Get wisdom, instruction, and understanding. Buy the truth. But you can't buy it with money. It comes without price. So what is the currency for kingdom truth? What is the currency that you need to buy the truth? Since you can't buy it with money, since there's no price you can place on it, what is the currency of the kingdom to buy truth? the kingdom's currency is not like the currency in this world. Some years ago, I was preaching in Haiti.

13:12 Our church has a church in Cabaret in Haiti. And getting to Haiti, the air conditioning went out on the airplane. And we were hot and people were taking as much clothes off as they can take off and be decent. and when we got off the plane, our throats were parched and we were almost feverish with heat and I was rushing, trying to get someplace to buy some water and they were out of water when I got up there because all the people on the plane had already purchased all the water and the man said to me, I'm sorry, Reverend, all I have left is beer. I said, give me two. if that offends you baptist you pray for me i said give me two uh and and uh he he's i said how much does it cost and he told me the price but i had american dollars and not haitian dollars and as thirsty as i was i couldn't buy what i needed because I did not have the right currency.

14:29 if you would get your hand on God's truth, it takes the kingdom's currency. And the currency of the kingdom is faith in God. It's faith that whatever God says is true. Whatever God tells you to do, do it. Whatever God moves you to do, do it. If God says it, you can believe it. You can have confidence in it. You can trust in it because it's the truth if God says it. Buy it, not with money. Because there's no price on it that money can purchase it. You buy it with the faith that's needed for the kingdom. How do you get this faith? my daughter and those of us who are fathers and our daughters have us wrapped around their little finger will be able to help me testify.

15:33 My daughter's always coming to me to borrow money. And I use that term loosely. She's always borrowing money. And she borrowed some money. And she said, Daddy, I'm going to pay you back. And I said, you're going to add that to the $2 million you already owe me?

15:54 She said, I need some money to go and buy you a Father's Day gift. That was last year. She said, and I'm sure the same thing will happen again this year. But she said, I need from you some money to buy you a Father's Day gift. I said, now let me get this straight. you coming to get money from me for my father's day gift she said yes i don't have any money i need some money from you to go buy your father now she works but she doesn't have any money she lives on her own but she doesn't have any money and she needed some money to come and buy me a father's day gift and i was pleased that she wanted to buy me a father's day gift but what she needed to buy it, she had to come get it from me. She wanted to buy me a gift. She wanted to make me happy. But what she needed to make me happy, she had to come get from me.

17:00 She wanted to please me. But what she needed to please me, she had to come get it from me. she was broke she was bankrupt she was destitute but she wanted to please me but to please me she had to come get from me what she needed to please me she said i want to buy you a father's day present but i need to come get some money from you to go buy you a present she wanted to please me, but to please me, she had to come get from me what she needed to please me. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. And you must first believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them. I wish I had a Bible reader. In order to please God with faith, you got to go get from God what you need to please God with.

17:59 My daughter wanted to buy me a Father's Day gift but she had to come get money from me to go and buy it to please me. I want to please God with my faith but the faith I need, I got to go get it from God to come back and say, Father, I stretch. I wish I had a witness. My hands to thee, no other help I know. I need to please God but in order to please him I've got to go get from him what I need to please him.

18:37 Faith pleases God. I love preaching at churches where I've never preached before. I can tell the folk who got faith in this church. I can tell the folk who believe in this church. because you kind of like your cousins at my church. You know, folk who got plenty of money and they got prestige and power, you can tell it by the way they carry on in church and how they shake their head when they say what I'm about to say. When they see you shouting and jumping up and down, they just shake their head.

19:18 It don't take all of that. You know, they've been to Morehouse or they've been to Spellman and they've been to Howard and they've been to Hampton and they got a little money and they got some influence and they got an office downtown so it don't take all that. You know, that's that Baptist shaking your head. It don't take all of that. But the folk who got faith and know that if God don't pay this bill, if God don't get this child off drugs, if God don't come with me in this doctor's office, they don't care how much you shake your head and they'll look around and say to you, it may not take all of that for you. you speak for yourself. You don't know how many prayers God has answered for me.

20:15 You don't know how many doors God has opened for me. You don't know how many tears God has dried for me. I've got faith because I've seen God open doors. I've seen God do impossible things. You can buy it, but you got to have kingdom currency. And the currency of the kingdom is faith. My story goes something like this.

21:00 Some years ago, about 12, 15 years almost now, I was praying, asking God to give me the strength to move our church into this building that we are in now. and during my devotional time, I started having severe headaches and I was getting ready for New Year's Eve watch service and had such a severe headache that I was taken to the hospital. The ambulance brought me to the hospital and a PET scan and MRIs and all of that was done and they determined that I had a brain tumor, a pituitary macro adenoma. Whatever that is, I don't know what that is. It just sounds expensive. A pituitary macro adenoma.

21:56 It was a tumor that lodged at the base of my brain. And it eroded the bone at the base of my brain. And the doctors gave me that diagnosis. and after some time in the hospital, they gave me some medication. And one of the after effects or one of the side effects of the medication is hot flashes. Sisters, I know what you're going through. Mmm. I'm having one right now. But after a while, the medication made me so sick that I was put in critical care at MD Anderson Hospital. Critical care is different from ICU at MD Anderson. Critical care is where they place a patient until the family can decide which funeral home to call.

22:53 I was in critical care on the ventilator, breathing for me 100%. My family was there. Members of Lily Grove was there. And the people were milling around and they were trying to get some information. And the doctors brought them all into an auditorium almost this size and said to them, This man is the sickest man in this hospital. He only has two hours to live. Everything MD Anderson University of Texas Medical Center can do for him has been done. He's been placed in critical care. And if there's a family member here, I'd like for you to find out what funeral home you'd like for us to call. Because this man will not live another two hours. Go in, family, and say whatever you need to say to him. Because he will not be around for two hours.

23:49 Perhaps my daughter came in and said, Daddy, I need some money to get you a Father's Day present. Thank you. But they came in the room and sat with me and the doctors told him he wasn't going to make it. And then the doctor said to my brother, if he lives, you're going to have to put him in a nursing home because he's going to be a vestibule for the rest of his life.

24:17 My brother said, Doc, what is it can we do? What is it that he needs? and the doctor said what he needs is a miracle. My brother said, I know where we can get one of those. And they got down on their knees and start calling on the name of our Father.

24:40 And here I am at the New Birth Baptist Church testifying this morning that if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to the mountains in your life be removed and they will vanish out of your sight and the doctor said he will be a vegetable for the rest of his life here I am in the language of my old deacons clothed and in my right mind with a reasonable portion of my health and strength testifying if you trust and never doubt he will surely bring you out. Buy it and sell it not.

25:27 When you treasure the truth, buy it with kingdom currency, but sell it not. Another way of saying that is don't be a sellout. when it comes to truth don't be a sellout when it comes to the things of God when it comes to the church when it comes to the Bible when it comes to the ways of Christ don't sell out I was sitting outside my garage and some Jehovah's Witnesses came by and No. You know, I get full of the devil sometimes.

26:24 You pray for me. Sometimes I just get up on the wrong side of the bed, and I just feel like being devilish and just doing the evil things just to shake folk up. I had a member of my church, before I get to my Jehovah's Witness, I had a member of my church who was so holy like some of y'all looking at me right now too. so spiritual she'd answer her phone praise the lord and she too blessed to be stressed she blessed and highly favored so i just got full of the devil one day and she i called her house and she answered the phone praise the lord and i hung up the phone And then I called a second time and she said, praise the Lord. Then I hung up the phone.

27:20 I called a third time. She said, praise the Lord. I hung up the phone. And I called one more time. She said, God, who in the hell, who is this playing on my damn? Who is this? I said, it's Pastor Anderson. She said, oh, Lord. you ain't as spiritual all of us got some devil in us and if the Lord took his hand off you you'd be in a crack house right now if it had not been for the Lord who was on your side you'd be in the penitentiary right now if God had not kept you from being a fool you'd be on the streets right now it was grace mercy He looked beyond my faults. Coop

28:17 Some Jehovah's Witnesses came by my house. and they wanted to sell me a watchtower and a wake magazine and I said no no sit down have a seat no no I don't have no money I don't have no money on me let's let's let's sit down and talk they said well no we don't have time we just want to sell you a magazine and I said well no tell me something about what you're selling. Give me your spiel. Let me hear it. And they went on to talking and they were just really trying to sell me the magazine. I said, no, no, no, I got time. They said, well, sir, we don't have time. I said, I got time. Have a seat. Let's talk. And they start telling me about 144,000 are going to be in heaven. And I said, that's good. That's wonderful. I said, but that's half the truth. They said, well, no, we don't have time. Do you have? I said, no, no, I got time. Sit down. You, you interrupted me.

29:20 I was watching the Young and the Restless and you come in here talking about you want to sell me a magazine. I'm trying to find out if Victor Newman going, going, going to get his company back from Phyllis. And you come telling me about the magazine. Sit down, sit down, sit down. I said, let me, let me, let me see if I can help you. You are half right. And half the truth is all of a lie. there will be 144,000 in heaven but that's the tribes of Israel that ain't got nothing to do with me and you we're not going to be in that number John said I saw a number no man could number coming from the north and the south and the east and the west and they had on white robes and reeds in their hand that that's the number I'm going to be in I'm not backing up from the truth I trust that Jesus is the son of God without sin.

30:15 I trust that one Friday he died. I believe one Sunday he got up from the grave. I believe that he's coming back again. I believe he's sitting at the right hand of God with power and he ever lives to make intercession for us. You can't make me doubt him because I know too much about him. Stop letting folk invite you to happy hour but you can't invite them to church. Stop letting sinners make you ashamed to be a Christian. I'm not ashamed of the gospel. it's the power of God under salvation.

31:03 By the truth. Don't sell it. Don't let people make you back up from what you believe. Don't make, don't let folk make you cower and bow down to isms and allergies. and superstition and propaganda. If it's new, it's not true. did you get that if it's new it's not true i was on my way to preach a church in houston a new jerusalem church and one of my deacons was a brother pastored that church and and i would ride with him every every night because i just got into houston and uh acres homes in houston if you've ever been to Houston, Acres Holmes is a jigsaw puzzle. Acres Holmes, the streets start with one name and right in the middle of the street the names change and I get confused in Acres Holmes. I can make it on 610, 59 North and South. I know how to get around in Third Ward where I live but Acres Holmes is a jigsaw puzzle. There's a barbecue place in Acres Holmes called Burns Barbecue and I've been looking for that barbecue stand for 35 years because they give me direction and tell me where it is and I can't ever get there because Burns barbecue I want to get there I heard about it but Acres Holmes is a jigsaw puzzle a street start with one name and in the middle of the street the names change I can make it on 610 and 59 north and south a third ward where I live but Acres Holmes messes me up so I would ride with my deacon every night the last night I told him go ahead I think I can make it he said pastor you got it I said I think I got it. But Acres Holmes is a jigsaw puzzle. Street star with one name, and before you know it, the names change. I've been looking for Burns Barbecue for 35 years. I can make it on 610, 59 North and South. I do pretty well in Third Ward where I live, but Acres Holmes is a jigsaw

33:14 puzzle. Told my deacon, go home. I think I can make it, go on to the church, and I started to the church and Acres Holmes is a jigsaw puzzle. The streets start with one name and before you know it, the names change. I've been looking for Burns Barbecue for 35 years. I can make it on 610, 59 North and South, Third Ward where I live. But Acres Holmes messes me up and I told my deacon, go ahead. It's seven o'clock and I'm late for church because Acres Holmes is a jigsaw puzzle. I can make it on 610, 59 North and South. Third Ward where I live, I've been looking for Burns Barbecue 35 years. Acres Holmes messes me up. I'm driving around in circles until I see a brother standing in front of the value-marked liquor store.

34:03 He's a soul brother who's had one or two refreshments too many. But I'm desperate. I'm running out of gas. I'm trying to get to the church. I needed my little check. It's the last night of revival. Acres Holmes is a jigsaw puzzle. The streets start with one name, and before you know it, the name changes. I can make it on 610, 59 North and South. I do pretty well in Third Ward where I live. Haven't found Burns Barbecue yet. I'm desperate as a man with one or two refreshments. He's drank too many in front of the value-marked liquor store, but I've got to get to New Jerusalem Church. I said, brother, can you help me get to New Jerusalem Baptist Church? He hit on my hood three times. He said, the way you're going now, don't go that way no more. he said you're gonna come to a church called greater zion and on the top of greater zion church there's a cross lighted to make it look like it's burning he says when you see that cross burning, turn right, and you can't go wrong.

35:17 He said, you got it? I said, run it by me one more time. He said, the way you're going now, don't go that way no more. When you see that cross burning, turn right, and you can't go wrong. If you're in New Breath Church this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior,

35:42 the way you're going now, don't go that way tomorrow. At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I received my sight. And now I'm happy all the day. Buy it, sell it not. You need to purchase the truth. You need to prize truth. Once you get it, let it be a prize for you. But then as I go to my seat, once you purchase it and prize it, every time you get a chance, you ought to give God praise.

36:40 I know that's old-fashioned. I know that's ignorant and old-timey. I know we don't supposed to carry on like that in the 2026 and in this 21st century. But God's been too good to us. If anybody ought to shout when we come to church, it ought to be black folk that God has delivered.

37:05 God has brought us through a winding way. God has brought us through ups and downs, the middle passage and Jim Crow segregation. God has brought us through Richard Nixon and God has brought us through George Bush first and second. God is bringing us through Donald Trump. My sister asked me the other day, Lord, with Trump in office, what are we going to do? I said, we're going to do what black folk have always done. We're going to eat some cornbread and mustard greens. We gonna eat pig's feet and fat back. We gonna thank God when we wake up. We gonna thank God when we go to bed at night. We gonna thank God on Sunday. We gonna thank God on Wednesday. We gonna pray and ask God to deliver us. God can handle Donald Trump.

37:59 God handled greater than Donald Trump. God handled Nebuchadnezzar. God handled Pharaoh God handled all the enemies of the children of God and just like he brought us back then that same God can bring us right now I need a witness this morning who has bought the truth you have purchased the truth you have prized the truth now you're getting ready to praise God you praise God not because of what he's done but because of who he is and when you know who he is you can really praise him for what he's already done he's a rock in a weary land he's a shelter in a time of storm he's a friend when you're friendless he's bread when you're hungry he's water when you're thirsty y'all know him don't you He's God's only son. He's Adam's redeemer. He's Abel's vindicator. He's Abraham's sacrifice. He's Noah's ark. He's Moses' bush on fire. Y'all know him, don't you?

39:21 he's Joshua's battle axe he's Gideon's fleece he's Samson's power he's David's music he's Solomon's wisdom y'all know him don't you he's Jeremiah's bomb he's Ezekiel's wheel he's Mary's baby boy he's James and Jude's older brother he's Matthew's king he's Mark's suffering servant he's Luke's great physician he's John's word made flesh he's act coming of the Holy Ghost he's the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth he's the blessed and the only potentate he's the faithful and the true witness he's the rose of Sharon he's the lily of the valley he's a bright and a morning star y'all know him don't you He's distinctive in supernatural capacity.

40:21 He's superlative in sovereign majesty. He's exclusive in spiritual beauty. He's radiant in eternal splendor. He's matchless in supernal deity. He's the God of gods. He's a prince of princes. He's alpha and omega. He's the beginning and the end. He was born in Bethlehem, reared in Nazareth, baptized in the Jordan. He died. Didn't he die? But I wish I had a witness.

41:03 Sunday morning, he got up from the grave with all power in his hand. I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. I know that he is living. Whatever men may say, I see his hand of mercy. I hear his voice of cheer. And just the time I need him, he's always near. He lives. He lives. Christ Jesus lives today. Why don't you grab somebody? Why don't you hurt somebody? Tell them he walks with me. He talks with me.

41:58 He tells me I am his own. Do you know him? Have you tried him? Won't he make a way? Won't he open doors? Won't he answer prayer? Tell him thank you. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you. I know he's all right. I know he's alright. Won't he do it? Won't he fix it?

42:51 Won't he make a way? say yeah yeah yeah he's a heart fixer he's a mind regulator he's a burden bearer he's a problem solver thank you Jesus thank you Jesus why don't you shake somebody's hand tell them you don't know like I know You can't tell it Like I can tell it What the Lord Has done for me I know he's alright Thank you. Come on, somebody ought to praise him right there.

44:14 Come on, look at your neighbor. Tell him, I know he's all right. Come on, give somebody a high five. Say, he been better than me. Then I've been to myself. I gotta give him a praise. I gotta give him a shout. I gotta give him a scream. because when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he's done for me, my soul cries out hallelujah. It ought to make you want to clap your hands. It ought to make you want to stomp your feet. Come on, Zion.

45:07 Give him glory. Give him glory. Give him honor. Give him thanksgiving. I'm trying not to yell I'm trying not to holler But he's been Better to me Than I've been to myself If I had a thousand hands I could wave him enough If I had a thousand feet I couldn't dance enough If I had a thousand tongues I couldn't yell enough But with the two hands I had I can't stop praising his name with the two feet I have. I gotta jump where I am with the one mouth I have. I gotta lift him up to God. Be the glory to God.

46:05 Be the glory for the things he has done with his life. love he has saved me with his power he has changed me at the cross at the cross where I first saw the light and the burdens My heart rolled away. It was dead by faith. I received. my sight and now and now and now unto him who is able to keep me from falling and to present me fullness before the throne of grace rest rule abide give him praise give him honor give him thanksgiving i said i wasn't gonna tell nobody but i just can't keep it to myself He's been better to me If you love him Why not serve him If you love him Why not praise him If you love him Open up your mouth Give him glory I hope you are energized That you don't need an energy drink What you just heard Should have you off and running chasing your dreams, pursuing your purpose, and answering your call. If this was a blessing, share it with somebody else. Don't be selfish. This is what God gave you so that you can be a blessing to somebody who needs it worse.