Pastor Ralph Douglas West - Enduring Hope - Romans 5:1-5

0:00 This is the day the Lord has made we rejoice and we are glad in it. Take the word of God this morning, Romans chapter 5. verses 1 through 5 Enduring hope therefore since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we've gained access by faith into his presence in which we now stand and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

1:18 This is the word of God. Amen. The English poet Robert Browning was known not just for the writing of prose of poetry but of his dramatic monologues. One that speaks to Romans 5 this morning is his monologue of Andrea del Dessort. When he talks about a young Italian Renaissance painter whose ability to dream was beyond his capabilities to actually put on canvas. He could dream broader, clearer than he could paint. He saw the beautiful colors that burst through in his imagination, but he couldn't put it on the canvas. He couldn't mix the colors to actually express what he imagined.

2:25 He saw pictures that he couldn't paint, so he was far better person of imagination than he was of his skill to paint. There where we hear the words that he says are that a man's reach exceeds his grasp or what's heaven for. That was his way of saying if you and I are to achieve anything worthwhile a person should attempt some things that's even beyond their abilities to comprehend or that they might be able to take hold of. You've known that in your life that there have been some things that you've reached for but not able to grab hold to. That'll work in life if you keep it on a mundane level and you are merely speaking about some aspiration that you have but when you squeeze that formula into God talk it paints the picture of the life outside of Christ always reaching for what they could never take hold of.

3:43 And that's a rough way to live. It's actually a way that can keep you on the ragged edge of life. That you're always aspiring for something and not able to take hold of it. Romans 5 gives us a kind of solution to that kind of living where somebody's always reaching aspiring and never taking hold of it because when you do that it causes turbulence uneasiness within the life and so people are looking for a word that we have read today in the scripture and sing about in songs of him as well as the choral preparation for the sermon they're looking for peace so what does the scripture say about peace and I know what you're saying you're saying but we're in a series on the oxygen of the soul where we're focusing on hope and yet you cannot have enduring hope until you understand what peace really is so Paul is about to take us this morning in just a couple of lines we could have read much more than that but time will permit to unpack the two verses that we read and so let's look at what Paul says to us that relates to the whole idea of knowing peace that so that we can have enduring hope. And so he opens up in verse one in a continuation from chapter four and he reminds us that enduring hope grasps, takes hold of the peace of God. Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, that's important, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

5:45 Paul is a wordsmith he has built his ministry on using words to preach from and to people and so he comes to another important word in his vocabulary and now he changes and speaks of justification we'll talk about that later but he is about to say something about peace and when he speaks of peace he's not speaking of just some inward subjective emotional fulfillment that people are going after there is that kind of peace but this is not the peace that he's referring to in verse one the peace that many times we talk about is the peace that passes human understanding and Paul does use that but that's not the peace that he's speaking about here like hope he's not speaking of peace as being something that is flippant and emotionally subjective and based upon circumstances I have peace there are people who have peace as long as things are in their favor that's not what Paul is referring to he's speaking about peace something that is bedrock and sturdy and stern and something that will keep you when life seems to be falling apart, when life sinks and gives in peace. Therefore, since we've been justified through faith, we have peace, Paul says, with God. The peace that he is speaking of is objective peace, not a feeling of fact, not subjective, but objective. He said, look up and look out and look beyond into the very presence of the real and yet invisible God, and there is where you find peace. Over the last weeks, I've had to stand, I guess over the last just 10 days, maybe nine or

7:50 eight times at a funeral to preach and deliver a message. And more and more when I see people who are friends and maybe families, you can see it in their eyes that they are not Christian. I'm not judging. You just pick up that they are not comprehending. And if they are Christian, they're way on the fringe. And it gives me an opportunity to make a statement that keeps ruminating in my head no wonder people think people who are Christians who embrace this kind of faith that we're rather strange people and I guess we are strange we were called we are called peculiar people not because we're better than but because of the way that we believe that we'll sit in the midst of all of what has happened over the last 15 months and where people are giving up and giving out and giving in, you have the audacity to talk about how much you have grown and learned and how God has graced your life. Well, not many of you I see that's happened to, but it has for me. A different kind of peace, an objective real peace. But when I have that kind of objective, real, solid, firm peace, it shows up inwardly and personally, and that's where the real fulfillment comes from. It is objective, and it affects me inwardly. You see, the peace that I'm talking about is the one that people are looking for all the time. Google it sometimes, of the different cults that they are in America, and they use great religious terminology.

9:45 You might shock yourself that some of the things that you're involved in is directly associated to cultic behavior. and the goal of all of it is to find peace. They want peace, and so people find it in peace through different dietary plans and different kinds of exercises and different types of meditations because they want peace, and they keep falling short. They get peace in with subjective peace as long as they have a job, they have peace. If their relationships are good, they have peace. If their health reports are fair, they have peace. As soon as those things receive a negative, that they lose their peace.

10:44 And Paul is saying that we have in Jesus Christ Christ a kind of life that keeps us even when the reports come in negative because our peace is not determined on how we feel but on who God is. Therefore since we have been justified we have peace with God. Where do we get this message from? From the New Testament. One of the reasons why you come in a community called the church is because of the tradition of the faith that's repeated over and over and over. Some of you used to play church. And if you're really involved in church, you begin imitating things that happen in church.

11:41 You make fun of church. And what you didn't know though is that as you made fun, you were reinforcing faith in your life. And the prayers that you repeated, making fun of the old deacon in the church, you find yourself rehearsing those same prayers now.

12:02 When you imitated the way people sing in the choir and how certain people would shout, there you would rock yourself the same way. And then you found yourself, when you really began to understand what they were reading, praying, singing about, you rocking just like they are. You know, you shout just like Ms. Sorenson. You bring your friends to church and you nudge them at the Lord's table of baptism because you're waiting on something. A repetition that you know, not knowing that it's reinforcing itself in you. Jill Scott said that, honoring Frankie, Beverly, and Mays, she said that we pay our money to go to Frankie concerts to sing his songs for him. Thank you. In the field where I work beyond pastoring on that side of the street, we often refer to it reciting the words of Fred Craddock when he says, it's the ring of the familiar.

13:10 That's why when you hear a sermon preached from a particular text, you get so excited because that's the one text in the Bible you know. and you get excited because when you hear it, you know a lot about that text, so you hear that sermon differently. It's the same thing with songs.

13:32 When we're singing a new hymn related to what's going to be preached and you've never sung it before, you sing it, but you're trying to work through it, but boy, when they sing a hymn, you know. You take off your mask and just spit on everybody, They just all are spraying out just everywhere. It's the familiar.

13:55 Our faith is grounded in that very word, the familiar. Where do we get this peace from God? It's because we are rediscovered like reformation. And that is we go back and we think back of Tiberius Caesar. We think of Caiaphas, the high priest. We look at Pilate, the governor. We go back to Jesus marching up and down the roads of Galilee and being crucified brutally on a hill on a cross called Calvary and then being buried in the grave. And then three days later he victoriously get up and then visibly he ascends back to the Father. All of that reinforces what we believe. And that's why when people say, what do you believe? we say I believe in God the Father Creator I believe in Jesus Christ Son born of a virgin and crucified and raised from that I believe in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Catholic and Christian Church I believe in that that's where peace comes from that the more we recite it the more we know of it the problem is many of us as one of my old professors in seminary Roy Fish used to say that when we're looking for peace on our own inwardly, it's like a person trying to stabilize a ship out at sea by throwing the anchor on the deck.

15:23 scripture and tradition and all of what we've done today is what grounds us but more than that it gives us peace and this morning you know some of you have been battling battles and those of you that are watching around the world you you you've been saying I need that peace I keep fighting I need that peace Notice what Paul said Therefore since we've been justified through faith you see We have this through faith It's no secret or surprise that the first middle and end of chapter 5 Ends and begins the same way Through the Lord Jesus Christ chapter 6 talks about sanctification and it ends the same way through the Lord Jesus Christ chapter 7 through the Lord Jesus Christ chapter 8 which focuses on the spirit through the Lord Jesus Christ peace comes to you and me through the Lord Jesus Christ that's where real peace comes from And when we have that peace, God can cause a ceasefire in our life.

16:50 Hero Onada, it's not a new story. You've heard me tell it before, but it bears repeating now. But some of you actually remember this. Hero Onada was 52 years old. He had fought in World War II.

17:12 He was on the island, Lumpag, of the Philippines, and he occupied that territory until 1974. He terrorized the people on the island because his captain said to him, stand guard, don't give up a ground. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to convince him that the war is over and he didn't give in. An American reporter would find his captain who had gone back to Japan even now, 30 years later, when negotiations for reconciliation was in process. He's still holding his position.

18:00 The captain had to come and say, the war is over. and so he would surrender his samurai sword to Fernando Marcus, the president of the Philippines at that time. He would receive a hero's welcome. They said no crowd had ever gathered at that airport of the likes other than when Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe had come through that airport. He was asking in an interview, how were your days all those years out in jungle life, carrying out warfare. He said, I didn't have one day of peace. Not one day.

18:45 He had fought and fought and fought and the war was over. He's still fighting a battle that already had been won. Come here for a minute. Because if you got spiritual ears, you hear what I'm telling you now. There are some of you fighting battle and battle and battle that God and Jesus Christ has already won on Calvary and you're still fighting the whole battle. And God is saying ceasefire, reconcile, amnesty has been declared. Come into my presence now.

19:23 And so this enduring hope that we have, It begins by grasping, taking hold of, embracing the very fact that we have peace with God. Let me say one other thing. Look at verse number two. Through faith or through whom we have gained access. Stop there. through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. Enduring faith has access with God. Remember, Paul is a Jew and he's a preacher and he knows exactly what he's talking about as a scholar.

20:16 There are two things that you know about access. you know more about this passage than you're letting on to. The Jews knew that they had no access. They had to have a priest, a high priest that would intercede for them and they had no access because the veil of the curtain restricted them access to God.

20:42 The Gentiles, on the other hand, they couldn't access God because a wall of petition had been brought up And if they crossed that line, it meant imminent death. So there's separation of God from man. But since we've been justified, we have access into this grace because something has happened that on a hill called Calvary, that's why we celebrate on Good Friday. And every day, we are reminded of what? that the curtain had been torn in two and the wall of separation had been brought down and therefore I don't need anybody to pray a prayer for me. I can fall on my knees or lift up my voice and say, Father, I stretch my hands to thee.

21:38 No other helper I know. And because now we have access to God. Stay with me for a moment. This gets gooder than this. In this whole idea of access, this word access in its original means something like an introduction. I have access, but I also am introduced to God. Stay with me. This is too good. I'm trying not to jump off the stage.

22:14 Because now in my access, The Lord Jesus takes me by my hand. I believe the Greek word prosoge, where I have access to God. And so now he is leading me on as if a servant is being introduced to a master or a commoner is being introduced to a king. And here it is to say, Lord, this is Ralph West. and he has been justified and now he has access to your presence. since I've been justified. There are three big words that Paul uses through here. One is justification. Another one is reconciliation.

23:07 And the last is access. In justification, this is a legal term. This is the image of a guilty person, Ralph West. And sometimes when you really want to rejoice reading the scriptures, put your name in there. personalize it, identify it, and say this is my story. That a guilty person, Ralph West, stands before a righteous judge and I already know what the sentence is going to be. Guilty. And the same judge that has the power to pronounce the verdict guilty has the same power to vindicate me from the guilt that I have committed. and through that vindication he says because of my son Jesus Christ and what he has done on Calvary I now allow you and this is the word look at in the verse one where it says stand he says now you can stand and you have access to me because I have redeemed you or you have been redeemed you have been declared right before my very presence.

24:25 Now the word reconciliation, on the other hand, is a word not just of bringing things back together that have been broken apart, but it speaks of a kind of friendship, that a friendship is going to be established through this. So go back to the image of the judge and the judge vindicates you and at the same time says, but not only am I going to vindicate you, Ralph West, I'm going to reconcile myself unto you. That is, I'm going to be your friend. I'm going to befriend you. And as a result of my grace, you are going to be a friend to me. And so now we have been reconciled. Here's one thing to sit down and the judge says, you have been vindicated. Go on home. But it said, but before you leave, know this, that you and I are in the family together. In fact, I'm going to give you a big brother.

25:19 His name is Jesus Christ and because of him we are reconciled. But it gets gooder than not. Because remember the verse that we're looking at now is verse two where he talks about you have access to God. And he says and Ralph before you leave let me give you a bonus. I have declared you innocent and befriended you but now you don't ever have to schedule an appointment for me or to talk to me. You don't have to say, sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you because of our relationship of reconciliation based on justification. You have access to me. You can knock at my door whenever you want to and it's always open to you. That's what access is.

26:13 The men in our church know been on here a long time that I had a practice with my children when they were growing up that they could call me in my office anytime, meeting or not, and I would answer the phone. The second thing was they knew that they could walk into any meeting that I was having. And I literally would stop the meeting, just tell people to hold on and ask them what was it and how could I help them. because I was trying to give them an ocular demonstration of how God works with us. And I was trying to show them not that I was such a benevolent and loving dad as much as I was a man committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. And through that relationship, God showed me that while he's controlling the entire universe, he could still address me at the same time.

27:12 And I felt like if God could do that for me, I could do that for my children. I have access to God. And you have access to him. Access. Now that picture is seen in the story of Esther. The whole nation of Israel rests on a young lady in a book in the Bible where God's name is not mentioned. and yet God is on every page his sovereignty and his handprint is on every line every line friend, every line and while we're doing that the nation is waiting on her and they say this it's up to you to access the king and she tells her uncle Says look even though I'm in the line, you don't just walk in on the king.

28:16 The king has to send for you and extend his scepter. And only then can you access the king. Her uncle said, well, maybe God has put you in that place where you are for such a time as this. And she left with one confession. If I perish, I perish. But if God has put me in this place for this moment, for such a time as this, I'm going to see if I can access the king. And when she approached the king without proper royal invitation, he raised the scepter and let her in and thus the nation was preserved because the king granted her access. where this morning you don't have to guess whether you got access.

29:12 Jesus Christ has made it available that when you come to the door, you have access in such a time as this. Can I say one more thing? Let me sit down now because in this same line he says, through whom we have gained access by faith into his grace in which we now stand and we boast in the hope of the glory of God. His enduring hope how it all stands and we boast in the hope. Now you and I, we've been in hope long enough that we know that hope is more than aspiration. It's confident expectation.

30:06 And we know that. As a church, we sense that oneness of God's holy presence. And so the hope of God, the hope of glory, hope, is our oxygen. It's where we breathe. It's what gives us life, hope. in this we've seen this I I was thinking how do you illustrate this and it was as if the Holy Spirit just simply says if you just be quiet and open up your eyes everybody knows this illustration it's not just aspiration but confident expectation is Paul's way of saying that we don't just experience this, we see it with our own eyes. That we have a hope that we can see. That faith is the substance of things hoped for.

31:03 Evidence of things not seen. It shows itself. 15 months ago, our world was turned upside down. All we had that we could point to in terms of pandemic was what we read about flus and viruses 100 years prior. We found ourselves as a world that for the first time it didn't matter. Something was happening that was affecting people regardless of education, status, position. It didn't matter ethnicity, gender. It didn't everybody being affected. A little, little virus. Something just so small that mutated and the next thing you know we saw things that we thought unimaginable. And then we were hoping that we could get back

32:03 to any kind of normalcy. Debates taking place, battles over science. Some of the people we thought were the brightest people on the planet turned out to be as dumb as dumb could be. People Saying things that were just ridiculous Battle Nation divided Right down the middle Over what we should And shouldn't Could and could not do but that was some people hoping. I guess most people were, everybody hoping that things would get better.

32:47 Even when we didn't know it, you had epidemiologists at work. Long before this, COVID-19 is a new strand. The virus had been around, so people had been working for years, but now things are accelerated. We got a chance to see how God could use the genius of science And people that are debated over science and that kind of thing Start understanding that faith and science are not enmity They're not enemies one with the other That God can take high intellectual acuity and use it to make things work That's what we was hoping But we got another group they don't believe at It doesn't matter about that now But we started expecting, hoping And next thing you know, people were getting vaccinated And death rates started decreasing, hallelujah Hospitalization started declining And we saw hope, confident that it wasn't Pollyanna optimism.

34:03 It was God working through human beings who trusted him and trusted what he provided for us. And in that little vaccine, we started seeing confident expectation now there are some christians that's who i'm talking to now there are some christians who say it's all the hoax and you know i'm always my heart breaks for people who just gotta just have bad theology they're the most dangerous people on the planet bad theology that is people who say well this is spiritual warfare and we know it's a it's a virus and it's okay just to call it a virus you ain't got to spiritualize everything that happened to you you ain't got to moralize it's just a virus a deadly virus that god is showing us that if we do our part, he'll do his part. I saw it. I said, that's confident expectation.

35:12 It's not just aspiration. I hope it get better. It is rooted and grounded in God using the mind and the thinking of men and women. I like that. I like it. Because one of the problems in church with young people is that they think the church they love the church they want to love the church they want to go to church they they'll go to a church even where they don't believe how the pastor and the people teach if they'll be honest in their assessment about it They drop out when they start saying the reason why I can't go there you won't you won't even just own up to what fact and science says that's hopeful expectation that's how you do it I told you a couple of weeks ago, I may as well say it because I know this sermon won't get aired either.

36:22 And the only reason why I'm not off that broadcast is because of so many people that we reach in so many other places. I have to take the lesser evil. And I like Joni and Marcus. They're nice. We know each other. We just don't agree on this. And so I thought that they wouldn't air a sermon I preach based off my theological interpretation of a divided nation. It was over when I'm talking about now. I didn't know this, but they have a doctor that comes on the show and says that this is a hoax. That this is not real. I wanted to call in and say well what do I say to the members of my church who have buried mothers and fathers and sons and daughters who have died of this disease was it a hoax and this is what I'm talking about bizarre religiosity is when people start saying well that's not the result of it it was something that then they start naming it sin and everything else and I'm really working hard at trying to clean up how I say things because sometimes it's just quicker for me to get to the end of it just by saying what I but I'm working at this but it so infuriates me because of the people that you affect who believe in you and trust in you because of the seat that you sit in you got to be careful of saying things that's crazy and I got some crazy members too jon commercial. Y'all can cut all that out and send it in and they'll air it then. Just cut all that out

38:30 the sermon. Let me close there. The point I'm making is just simply this That hope is not just aspiration It's confident expectation It's rooted, it's grounded It stands on something It's not just Pollyanna optimism That's all I was saying Our hope is grounded That's why if you know him in the church You know this him My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name, on Christ the solid rock I stand. All of the ground is sinking sand.

39:22 I'll close. I've been here long enough. I started rummaging through my head of a story, well, something had happened and it happened to you too. And I still go to these, I like going to museums and Museum of Science and all that kind of stuff. And many of you will remember this. They would have on display these rocks, just rocks.

39:50 Nothing special about them, they're just rocks. A rock you pick up on the side of the road, that's what they look like, that's just rocks. And they would put them on display in the museum and then they would turn on a black light. And that black light would awaken those mineral vines inside of those rocks. And you would see the bright yellows and emerald greens and you would see it bursting with crimson. And you would leave and say, those rocks look dead, but when the light came on, they came alive and I thought about you and I thought about myself and I thought about the church and I thought about hope and peace and justification and I said that's exactly what God does to a group like us we look so dead sometimes and we seem like we're so out of it sometimes because life can get hard it can get difficult And then God will let the light shine on us and we burst bright and come alive.

41:04 And we say, look at the brilliance of God shining through those people. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. All in my neighborhood. I'm going to let it shine. All up and down the street, I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. In my home, I'm going to let it shine. All in my home and in my family's home, I'm going to let it shine, shine, shine because God's light comes alive in us. His hope and our access and the justification that is brought through us from the love of God and grace of Jesus Christ.

41:58 That's why we have an enduring hope. We have an enduring hope that takes hold of and an enduring hope that is confident in and an enduring hope that provides glory to. I didn't even talk about this hope of glory. You know what it is? It is the image of Moses climbing up inside of that mountain begging to see God and God saying if you saw me you would die but I'll let you get a glimpse of my glory and Moses saw just enough of it to change everything in it. His character, his countenance, his disposition and that's why I love God so much is because every morning he gives us a glimpse of his glory when the sun rise. A glimpse of his glory at the gentle blowing of the breeze. A glimpse of his glory.

42:54 So church, let's have enduring hope. And let's have a hope that we can put in God, that we can trust God. And in days like this, God can trust us. It's going to take sane, sane, balanced Christians to help other people along the way. Yeah. not just in the pandemic but in the pandemic of their lives and in a lot of areas where people need help and you you like Esther God has put you there at such a time as this to help them I'm just gonna stop I got a whole lot more to say but I'm just gonna stop right there and we'll ask God Lord give us enduring hope amen give us enduring hope in fact let's pray together with you. Our Father, we thank you for this day. And we thank you for the Word of God, and we thank you for the people of God and the church of God. And we thank you that we can stand up and open the Word and speak truth to the powers to be. Now, Lord, help us first of all, when we read Romans 5 and 1.

44:18 May we have, through this justification, grab, grab hold to. what you have made available for us, that we can access you and have hope. Somebody listening today, they need that.

44:45 They've been listening to a lot of people. they've been praying heal me and deliver me and you've put healing and deliverance at Walmart and CVS and different parking lots and they won't come let them know you've done your part now by faith may we do our part and now Lord there are a lot of things beyond the pandemic We need to be praying about for peace The violence in our city Help us as a congregation To find ways that we can help mitigate That virus that's taking place now To help mothers and fathers with their children In this community and our schools May we work with them that we can bring some of this That's out of control back into control But then let us know too unapologetically without Christ, everything fails. So now help us to be a loud witness in our community to make a difference in your name. Now Lord, there's so many things we need to pray about today and talk about and time doesn't permit. So fill in the empty blanks of our petition.

46:11 And you know what our hearts' desires are. And hear our prayer, O Lord. Incline thine ear to us and grant us thy peace. In Jesus' name. Amen. Praise God. Give God praise. And while you're doing that, choir is going to sing. I want to give those that are watching an opportunity to respond. I know you want to unite with the church and join up with Jesus. I want to welcome you before you even do that. We're glad to have you at the church with our walls and we're glad to have you as the scripture said today the Holy Spirit introducing you to the family of God so welcome we're glad to have you choir singing the door of the church is open give you time to respond go on the screen you know what to do click the button you see where membership is click that button and then you'll see the options one is you know new Christian that is you're saying Pastor West I've never confessed Christ as Lord in my life but today I want to do that I need hope I've been looking for peace and I've been looking at peace at a lot of different places but today I understand that God can take my life the way it is regardless of what my past has been he has a brand new future for me and that God can take me the way I am and that he can love me and use me. So you click on there, confess Christ and come to know who he is.

47:43 Number two, you're saying, Pastor Wes, I'm a Christian. I said to the Lord a long time ago, come into my heart and save me, but I've strayed away from God. But I want to come back to him today. That's what reconciliation is. Come back and let God be your friend anew. And so you see what to do there. And then finally, you see there where it says a Christian experience maybe, where you say, I'm already a Christian. I just don't have a church home and I need a church home. You click there and we'll respond to you today. Come on, while you're doing that, the choir is going to sing to give you some time to do it. All right, let's do it. Thank you Haley Let's prepare to leave Look this way I want to bless you as we go And those of you I'm not trying to screen this I won't even ask I won't even do it that way I want you to do me a big favor And do our city and our community A big favor Because you know people Who I was talking about This morning who have come up with a million reasons why they shouldn't do it.

48:57 Get vaccinated. Use your influence. Don't get in an argument about it. Don't fuss and fight about it. Just use your influence. Tell them it'd be good if you did it. It'd be good if you did it. You would help many people around us. And then if they won't do it, tell them say they should be honest and at least tell people that they should be honest to say i'm not going to do it and and i'm good with that because that way you can say now we need to make sure we got our distance going okay and i my my doctor said that to me i he said are you back in church and i told him what we were doing this is a couple of months ago we hadn't and he made a decision to do what we're trying to do now.

49:53 He said, well, and he said at his church what they're doing, and he just kind of shook his head. He said, our ground floor is packed. He just kind of shook his head. And he said, our balcony is for those who have not been vaccinated, this floor, for those who have, he just kind of shook his head. And I already knew what he was saying. I just hope y'all get it. You know, he was saying, I hope. And it was really saying, you know, preachers have so much influence. We're going to get back to church.

50:34 We done waited this long. A couple more weeks, not going to kill us. Last week, I'm saying this because last week, we did all of that publicity and everything. and Lil Beeland, she is one of the people who's part of that. I said, how many? I said, B, I was so excited about it. I said, B, how many people did we have in our community? Because most of my members, I mean, we'd start taking vaccinations a long time ago. And she said, 10 people.

51:05 She said, we have tens of thousands of shots available. And we were doing so good. And this is why, you know, when you're in leadership, you know, there's a word in what they talk about ethos. That is who you are before you even open your mouth. It's just your presence do it. And positions carry ethos. This is why it's dangerous for a governor. And when I make comments, I know we got Republicans and Democrats and independents in our church. But when I make my comments, I could care less how you vote. but whoever you are, regardless of what your persuasion is, at that moment you're responsible as I am as a pastor for all the people of my church. Not just the men, but the men and the women. Everybody.

51:58 And you have to watch when you make comments. I know the political climate we're in, I know what I'm saying, don't make a hill of beans to them. But the point is still, your position carries gravity. We were doing so good. I mean, we was a model city for taking shots. Our numbers were dropping exponentially until we heard these words. I'm opening everything up, and you can take off your mask. When you hear that, what that means? It's gone. So now you got a city that think it's gone. It ain't gone You still have people Checking in hospitals So we So as a Christian All I'm saying Now some of y'all Who used to rag on me When I get on these folk Give God a crazy praise I said we crazy enough We don't need no encouragement To be crazy And I always said Well why can't you give God An intelligent praise A sensible praise Why not give, and what I meant by that is, why not give a God a praise based on what you know why you praise?

53:17 Why you just got, why we just got, you know, folk learned a few words and mispronounced them and misquoted them. Let's shabak God, shabak, shabak God, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that God. I say, you know what, how about you just say it in English and let's just praise the Lord. How about that? And so I didn't wait to get old and be honorary. I've been honorary when I was 20. I've always, because I always wanted my church, if you do it, at least know why you're doing it. That's all I'm getting. So the same thing applies in church as it does in what we're facing now, is to sit down and say, when you stand up and say, we don't need no mask on, You already know. People are meeting.

54:09 Well, you know, it's gone. It ain't gone. I wish I could hug all of you. You know that. You know I like carrying on. You know I like carrying on all through the church. It hurts me not being able to do that. You know? So help me. And I know you already doing that. I know I'm talking to the choir. Even the people that's watching. I know I'm talking to you too. And young people are doing it in our church and our community. I know. But it's just reinforcement to say, say it to your family, start there and with your friends and just tell them, say, whatever excuses you have, just know this, is that as long as you don't do that, you jeopardize your health as well as the health of other people. We got a lot of battles we got going on in our city right now. And that's just one of them. Okay, look this way. Let me bless you as we prepare to go. I love you. I praise God for you.

55:01 Go on, do this now. You know, rock yourself. That's me hugging you. That's me hugging you. I love you. Don't be scared. Go on, do it. You know, unless you don't want to hug me, you know. I understand that too.