One Thing I Know For Sure, Sister Jessica Anderson

0:06 Oh, but the Bible says I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make a boast on the Lord and the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. And then here's where you join in with me. Yeah, this is where we join in. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. That feels good. Oh, magnify the Lord with me. And let us praise his name together. Good afternoon Alfred Street. I'm so glad to get to be with you all and if you saw next to my name you saw sermonette and in the African-American vernacular English that means Jessica don't take long and so I am going to move quickly but what I know is that I always have time to be grateful and so to sister Janae thank you so much for your warm introduction people don't have to say nice things after your name. I want to thank the women ushers, the men ushers, the junior ushers of this church, that I know that we have thousands of members. And if a committee gets together and calls your name, you ought to be grateful. And so I'm thankful for you. I want to thank my pastor, the Reverend Dr. Howard John Wesley, that I know when you love somebody, you let them rest. And so I am so glad and proud that he is modeling for us what it looks like to take a break while he is on sabbatical.

1:31 But he left us in good hands. He didn't just leave us with anybody. And so he left us with the phenomenal woman in the Reverend Dr. Judy Fentress Williams. I am glad as a... I am glad as a young black woman in ministry that I get to see somebody who's doing what it looks like so I'm grateful for her. To the serving ushers at Mount Zion Baptist Church, thank you. I know some Bible in Ecclesiastes 4 and 9 says two are better than one, for they have great reward for their labor and I know that's not about individuals, that's also about churches. So Mount Zion and all of the churches that have joined us, we're better because you're here. to the Chaya Praise Team, liturgical dancers, to the audiovisual ministry. I love them because they remind me that God is working on things behind the scenes that we know nothing about. And so I'm grateful for the AV ministry. And the last of my 11 thank yous to all of our guests.

2:28 I'm grateful that you are here. I know that we are hosting Angels Unaware, and I pray that our hospitality brings you back. We are going to do a short scripture today, And I'll ask that you join me in your Bibles at Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5. Some of you have it in your heart, so you don't need to open anything. But if you'll stand with me for the reading of the word, if you are able. and here's what the New King James Version says it says trust in the Lord with all your hearts and lean not on your own understanding semicolon that's gonna matter later we gonna stop there I know that's a cliffhanger you want me to finish but I'm not gonna finish yet we are gonna stop at verse 5 so as you are taking your seat I ask that you join me in the title of this sermon one thing I I know for sure. One thing I know for sure.

3:22 Pray with me. God, in Exodus, there's a simple word. You say, God saw Israel and God knew. And I'm grateful that you are a God who knows. You know the anxieties of the preacher. You know how much she prayed. You know that she fasted. God, you know the needs in this house. You know the prayer requests on our lips. God, I'm just asking in the service that you do what you've done before and you see and you know. So God, work with what you know in this service and let the word fall on fertile soil. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, many of you know that I work with teenagers here in this church, and I have spent much of my professional life working with teens. And if I look back to my teenage years, I realize I had some fantasies about life. That I really made some assumptions that now that I'm a full-grown adult, I realize I'm wrong. I assume things like people took your trash out for free. I assume that until I grew up and realized somebody sends you a bill for that. I assume that when you grew up you could eat whatever you wanted and then my doctor told me no baby your cholesterol is high you cannot eat whatever you want. I assumed that when I grew up people would get jobs for merit and then I grew up and realized, oh baby, merit is just part of the story. I assumed that everything I cooked would be good when I grew up and a couple of my meals have said not so. I assumed that I would be married by now but heaven is not interested in my timeline and I found out that when I was a teenager I assumed some things that are wrong and now that I'm an adult I realize that I'm verifying a lot of the things I didn't know, but I'm also verifying the things that I did.

5:18 And as I was preparing for this scripture, I thought about a segment that Oprah had on her show called One Thing I Know For Sure. And as I thought about this, I realized I don't know that much for sure. And it is a dangerous place for a Christian to be not to know something for sure. And so I am going to share a short list with you of things I know for sure. You ready? One thing I know for sure is how to take some sweet potatoes and make them into a sweet potato pie. Say amen. Uh-huh. One thing I know for sure is that you need every single fruit of the Spirit if you are going to be a church usher. All of them. I know for sure that if you get to 930 service at Alfred Street Baptist Church at 940, you will be an overflow, beloved.

6:13 I know that for sure. I know for sure that if you don't grow weary in well-doing, you shall reap if you faint not. I know for sure that the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous availeth much. I know for sure that in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. are a few things I knew for sure and as I sat down to write this sermon I thought I knew Proverbs 3 5 for sure until I got to the first word trust and what we know is that when we are familiar with texts that won't be quite enough because you can't memorize your way into heaven but what I know is that there are some texts that are familiar but it's one thing to be familiar and it's another a thing to find out about the text. And for some of us, we are familiar with thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. But for some of us, we found out when God came and blessed us in front of people who didn't want to see it happen. It is one thing to be familiar with, if I ascend to the heavens, thou art there. And if I make my bed in Sheol, thou art there.

7:23 but it's another thing to watch God show up in the mess of your life and stand up with a broom and a mop and for some of us some bleach it's another thing to find out about the scripture but when I get to Proverbs 3 5 and it says trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding I had some difficulty because in my life I remembered praying for my best friend to get better and then watching them lower her casket. I remember praying for a job and hoping and then getting to the final interview and getting an email. Y'all probably got this email before. Miss Anderson, we're sorry, but we've gone in another direction. Y'all know that email. I remembered praying for a miracle and then still finding out that my mother had breast cancer. And here is Proverbs 3, 5, forcing me to ask the million-dollar Christian question, is God trustworthy?

8:25 Because some of us, if we're honest in here, can remember that we have come out of some prayers and walked straight into pain and problems. There are some of us who know what it's like to serve and still be suffering. There are some of us who know what it's like to walk with the Lord and still have to wrestle at night. There are some of us who know what it's like to have fasted and still have to wake up tomorrow morning and go fight with somebody at work. Proverbs 3.5 is difficult. And we see Proverbs 3.5 on every cup, every keychain, every clearance notebook at TJ Maxx. And it is making it look easy, but it is not easy to trust in the Lord. And so, a familiar text isn't always as familiar, so can I teach?

9:14 Well, the first way that you can know that you can trust God is to know the name. Proverbs 3.5 starts with trust in the Lord. And if you read too fast, you'll miss your blessing. Because Proverbs 3.5 is not the kind of scripture that you can learn by hearing. You learn Proverbs 3.5 by reading. Because it says trust in the Lord. and if you are not careful you'll miss that Lord is in all caps and when Lord is in all caps in your Bible it's actually referring to God's personal name and God's personal name is the name that was given when Moses asked God when I get to Pharaoh and say the God of our fathers has sent me what shall I say is your name and watch what my God says my God says go tell Pharaoh I am that I am or I will be who I will be and that is important because what we don't realize is that Proverbs 3 5 is a parent teaching a child and the parent is trying to inform the child that you will not be able to rely on God's blessing but you can rely on God's being and you are going to have to trust in the fact that God will be who God will be and if you really want to trust in the Lord what you have to know is that if I get the job or I don't God will be who God will be if people come to the annual day or they don't God will be who God will be if we break up or we stay together God will be who God will be if my knees hurt or they work God will be who God will be if I lose the weight or if I keep all this glory God will be who God will be and what we can rely on is that when what the writer is saying is that you can trust in I will be who I'll be who is the name of the one that we can bring to the Pharaohs of life that this This is the name that will let our people go, that lets our children go, that lets our

11:23 grandchildren go, that gets us over a path that with tears have been water. This is the name. And let me tell you how you learn this name. Because some of y'all came to church twice a day. God bless y'all. This name you learn by being in church. And the other day I was walking, because if you know me, I don't like to drive in the city so I'm gonna walk a mile before I get in my car and fight with y'all and so I was walking looking for the entrance of LaFont Plaza Metro and as I was walking and my pinky toe was hurt and I couldn't find the entrance and I turned a corner and I saw some people walking towards me and I realized as I looked at them that oh they were coming out of where I needed to go into and in a minute that's gonna bless you because some of you came to the service for your favorite usher some of you came to this service for the kaya praise team some of you came to this service for the preacher God bless you But quiet as it's kept, you should have come for each other.

12:28 Because what you can only find out the name of the Lord when you know who God can be. And some of you needed to come here to find out that somebody in this congregation has come out of cancer. You needed to see somebody come out of grief because you are about to go in. You needed to see somebody come out of unemployment. You needed to see somebody come out of poverty. You needed to see somebody come out of loneliness. And the only way that you can know who God will be is to watch who God brings out. So look at your neighbor and say, I'm glad you came out. but in pastor wesley's absence can i push it so there's one scholar that says the way that you can define trust in the hebrew here it means to be welded to and i can't build ikea furniture so i had to do a lot of research for y'all to figure out what it means to be welded to and to be welded to means to bring two things together, usually by fire. And what this means, and what this means to me when we think about the word trust is you can't trust God the way I fly Delta. When I fly Delta, I know that Delta can get my bags from where I am to where I'm going. When I fly Delta, I know that Delta can get my bags from where I am to where I'm going, but I'm not checking my bags.

13:55 And many of us have learned to trust God like that, that we know that God can get us from where we are to where we're going, but we're not willing to give up our bags. We're not willing to give up our timeline. We're not willing to give up our fears. We're not willing to give up our insecurities. We're not willing to give up our urgency. We are not willing to give up our bags. And if you are going to be welded with God, some of us have missed the point. have grown up in faith but you have not grown up in trust because faith is I believe that God can trust is I'm willing to give you my bags because I know that you can and in the Hebrew trust is an action word so you really haven't trusted until you've done something and if you are going to be welded to God you are going to have to stop wielding your bags But, and that's important, that'll give you a shout, but I found something even better in the text.

15:00 I found something that blessed me. And so when I was reading about welders, welders say we weld because when you put the two things together and trouble comes, and trial comes, and pressure comes, everything will break except at the weld. And if we look back over our life, that'll preach because I can look back over my life and realize where I should have broken But I thank God for the wealth That if I look back over my life, I should have broken when the job said no I should have broken when I had to say goodbye I should have broken when we lost the house. I should have broken after I had to say me too I should have broken when they lied on me. I should have broken when the weight came back on. Let me know when I get to you I should have broken when the miscarriage happened. I should have broken when they stopped answering the phone and I haven't forgot it's Black History Month.

15:52 We should have broken in 1619. We should have broken in the Jim Crow era. We should have broken during civil rights. We should have broken in 2016. And my Jesus should have broken when they drew the nails through his hands. But I thank God for the will. One reason that we know we can trust God is that we were welded, that where I should have broken, I was blessed. And many of us have been pierced by the nails of life. That if Thomas were to join us in this service and Thomas said, let me see the nails in your hands so that I could believe. Many of us could make some believers because I can lift my hands and say, I'm bruised but I'm not broken. I'm hurt but I didn't break. I lost some stuff but I didn't break.

16:44 I don't have the money anymore but I didn't break. there are many of us who knew that we were welded and that's why you can trust in the Lord because when you are welded to God you know that trusting God is just not about being blessed trusting God is about not being broken now if you want to trust God you need to know the name you need to know the nails but lastly you need to know the need family I haven't forgotten that this is an usher service It's an Usher annual day service. And fun fact, I am a graduate of the ICUA School of Ushering, which means that I... That's funny, thank you. Which means that I woke up many an early Saturday morning to learn what it means I know the ushers know. You woke up early on a Saturday to learn how to be a good usher. And one thing I know for sure after all of those Saturdays is that you cannot be a good usher if you don't know how to watch the usher in charge.

17:43 And for those of you who have not ushered or those of you who are not ushers, let me tell you about an usher in charge. An usher in charge is important because of their position. An usher in charge is in the position where they can see the whole floor. The rest of us are in position where we can see our section. Let me repeat it so you can graduate. the usher in charge the usher in charge is positioned so that they can see the whole floor me and y'all are positioned where we can just see our section and if you are going to be a good usher you know that you do not move unless the usher in charge has given you signal or instruction because you cannot see the whole floor and this got real for me the other night I I came in from Houston Texas to BWI and I got a lift and when I got into the car I fell asleep. Y'all pray for me sleeping in the car with strangers. I fell asleep and 10 minutes into the ride I woke up and I looked out the front windshield and I realized oh it's pouring rain it's dark and I can't see and I my full sister jumped up and I was getting ready to tell the driver excuse me it is pouring rain outside it is dark and I can't see and the Lord rebuked me the Lord stopped me from being a backseat driver and here's what the Lord told me the Lord said Jessica you are not driving you don't need to see and I was so worried about trying to see that I didn't realize that I was being driven and many of you are about to find out what a good usher knows is that you do not need to see to trust in the Lord because you cannot see the whole floor and some of you I probably think that I'm still talking about an usher in charge but maybe a few of y'all have found out that to trust in the Lord you are going to have to rely on the fact that you can't see the whole floor this is

19:53 This is why verse 5 comes in to help us. It says, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Because when you can only see your section, you do not have a reliable understanding. And my understanding might look like I've tried for too long and I've worked too hard and I've gotten too old and I should quit. but God's understanding says that he who began a good work is faithful to complete it. My understanding is to fight and ask questions later, but God's understanding is to be slow to anger because the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. My understanding says that God put me here in this ministry, in this marriage, in this place, in this situation, all by myself, but God's understanding says, yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me.

20:53 And if we are going to walk along and trust in the Lord, we need to know that we need the usher in charge. But let me close because I know this is a sermonette. And some of you might be frustrated right now because you saw me stop on verse 5 at a semicolon. But I love my abbreviation. I love my punctuation. because a semicolon is stronger than a comma but it's softer than a period and when we get to verse 5 trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding semicolon it is a pause that is harder than a comma softer than a period which gives us time to know that if you're going to trust in the Lord you're going to need to know the name that I will be who I will be you will need to know the nails that some of us are still here because we didn't break and you will need to know the need and now that we've paused let me take you to verse 6 because verse 5 tells us trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding and verse 6 takes us to and acknowledge him in all your ways and he will direct your path and that's cool but I love the New International Version because the New International Version says he will make your path straight ooh something about make your path straight because where if we have to use the word make it means that the path was not straight until God got there and for some of us you can look over your life and you can realize that there were some things that were not straight until God got there that there are some things that are rough until God got there. And you never should have gotten the job, but God made the pass straight. You weren't supposed to be able to raise those babies on your own, but God made the pass straight. You weren't supposed to get out of the hospital bed, but God made the pass straight. You weren't supposed to be married this long, but God made the pass straight. You weren't supposed to get in the school, much

22:58 less graduate, but God made the pass straight. You did not have the credit, but but God made the path straight. That check was not supposed to stretch until Friday, but God made the path straight. I wasn't supposed to find love again, but God made the path straight. And there are a few of us in here who can tell you for themselves that I've had some good days and I've had some hills to climb and I've had some weary days and some sleepless nights, but when I look around and I think things over God made the path straight and if that ain't enough on Friday a man named Jesus took an old rugged cross to a place called Golgotha but on Sunday God made the path straight and there are some of us who know that this joy that I have cost me something that when I came into this church I was hurt and broken but what I know is God made the path straight and when we look over the verse 6 of our life many of us can testify that it wasn't easy but God made the path straight and if we are going to trust God we will need to know the name we will need to know our nails and we will need to know the need but one thing that I know for sure one thing that you know for sure one thing that we know for sure is that you can trust God. God bless you.