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(silence) (music) [Music] [Music]

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[Music] Just a closer walk with Thee When in Jesus, if you please, You guide me safe thus far,

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Let it be, dear Lord, let it be. [MUSIC - "LET IT BE"] I am weak, but thou art strong. [MUSIC - "LET IT BE"]

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Jesus, keep me from all harm. I'll be satisfied as long as I walk. Let me walk close to Thee. [MUSIC]

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When my feeble life is o'er. [MUSIC] And time for me will be no more. ♪ Just a-walkin' in ♪

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♪ Just a-walkin' in ♪ ♪ Guide me safely ♪ ♪ Gently o'er ♪ ♪ Just a-walkin' in ♪

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♪ Just a-walkin' in ♪ ♪ To thy shore ♪ ♪ Just a-walkin' in ♪ ♪ Kingdom shore ♪

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♪ It's all right ♪ ♪ To thy shore ♪ ♪ Just a-walkin' in ♪ ♪ Just a-walkin' in ♪

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Just a closer walk with Thee. Just a closer walk with Thee. Just a closer walk with Thee. Grab it, Jesus, if you please.

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Just a closer walk with Thee. Just a closer walk with Thee. I'll be satisfied as long as I walk, let me walk close to thee. ♪ Oh, Mary ♪

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- That's all right, that's all right. That's all right. (gentle music) [Music]

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[ Music ] As we consider this particular event around which our message is woven, we go back into history, so to speak, a step back into history.

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the time of the judges, a dismal period, a time when every man did what was right in his own eyes. There was none to make him afraid. It was a time when each man considered himself for the most part a law unto himself. In such a time as this, there lived a man whose name is Jephthah.

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I've chosen to speak from this particular passage and entitled the message, A Father's Vow, because it gives us a message regarding the duties of a father and the challenges

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that we face in such a time as this. Fatherhood has to do with our relationship to the source of our being. Children are sometimes referred to as being

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chips from the old block. In ancient times, every father was considered a warrior. He was to bring the bacon home, to keep the wolf away from the door.

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He was to fight for the welfare of the family. And my father would often say that he was facing a tight fight with a short stick. Well, in ancient times, the father who was the head of the family was expected to be a courageous and successful warrior.

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Another role that the father had was that of being a ruler. And of course, most of us men love that title, being the ruler, even though we may not rule rule we like to be thought of as a ruler. As one with authority and equipped with the necessary

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weapons in order to provide the kind of care that the family deserves. A father not only serves as a warrior, But a father serves as a judge in ancient Hebrew society.

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He was to make decisions for the welfare of the family. So this is the role that Jethro plays, warrior, ruler, judge. He's the one that is to deliver his people. So as we celebrate this particular day,

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let us focus on this somewhat unknown biblical character. We don't hear much of Jephthah. He seems to be hidden in history. So we want to rescue him today and lift him up and see what he has to say and hear what he has to say

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that will be helpful to men here at Ebenezer facing the challenges of the 21st century. Jephthah. Well, Jephthah was born in a critical time, but in this critical time, he had a rather strange existence.

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was of Gilead and he had the unfortunate situation of being born of a harlot. You read this passage. His mother was a prostitute. Now we would like to sort of cover that up. hide that, tell all the good things that he did and leave that out. But that's not the way the Bible does it.

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The Bible doesn't try to dress it up, cover it up, it just puts it as it is. There was a man who was getting his picture taken and he had some spots on his face

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and the photographer said that he could cover those up, those white spots, those warts, he could do with his skill as a photographer cover that up.

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The man whose picture was being taken said, "No, no, I want you to take it just as it is, warts and all, that's the way it is." So the Bible presents And this man, Jephthah, once and all he presents him.

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And because he was the son of a prostitute, there were other sons that were born in what we call a legitimate way. And as they grew up and they looked upon this half-brother, we say, and said, "He's not one of us."

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Our daddy went outside the home and got this child. And as he grew up, they put him out and said that he had no part of the family inheritance. That's the way people are many times. And that was his lot.

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Exiled from his own family, put out. He has no stake, no share in the inheritance. That's the plight of this man whose name is Jephthah. But Israel was facing rather difficult times.

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They were losing battles here and there. They found that they needed this man Jephthah. Even though they had put him out, they went to him and asked him to come back and lead them in a struggle against the Ammonites.

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The Ammonites were the enemies of Israel. He said, "You put me out. You said I didn't have any stake, any share in the family inheritance, and now you want me to come back and fight?"

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They changed their attitude and he came back and led Israel in a fight against the Ammonites. And brethren, that's our task, to lead the people of God in our own time, in our own in the fight against the Ammonites, because we've got some enemies to face. It's not enough for us just to talk about it and have forums about it.

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We must act on it. It's not enough. It's a wonderful thing to go to Washington and have a men's program celebrating the contributions and also the challenges that we face as African-American men to unite and have the various civil rights

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organizations, religious groups, Muslims, Protestants, Catholics, all wonderful thing to come and talk about how we're going to improve our status. But it all, when the rubber hits the road, depends upon when we get back to this local community where we live, to these houses that we are heads of, all of these challenges that

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we face in the church, in the community, in schools, in our families. That's where, as we say again, the rubber hits the road. So here is the challenge. The challenge is to be prepared to fight the enemies, to be prepared to equip our families

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to face those difficult challenges. This is what Jephthah did, and this is what every man today needs to do if we would profit from his example. So they go forth to fight the Ammonites.

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That's their decision. But before they go, Jephthah makes a commitment. He makes a promise. It's a vow and he makes it to the Lord.

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Sometimes we make promises and we make them to persons and we forget them as soon as we make them. There was a play on Broadway some years ago, Promises, Promises, Promises. All through the play there were promises made, promises broken.

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So we make promises many times and we don't keep them. But this is a promise to the Lord, a promise certainly not to be taken lightly. We like to talk about the man who is a man of his word, that what he says you can depend upon him doing it.

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So Jephthah, even though he had what was considered in that time an unpleasant family background, he makes a vow to the Lord. "Lord, if you will be with me, if you will bless us as your people as we go forth to battle if you will go with us, fight with us, and give us the victory.

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When I come back from the battle, we're celebrating the victory. Whatever, whatever comes out of my house when I come home from battle, I will sacrifice it to you as a burnt offering. That's quite a promise.

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Well, someone may say that that was something that was done in the spur of the moment, something rash, but the real meaning is that here is a man with all of the difficulties that he faced, with all of the adversities that he confronted, here is a man who makes a vow to God.

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In other words, "God, if you will be with me, I will be faithful to you and I will give to you whatever sacrifice." He doesn't name it. So often people want to give God the least, the sacrifice, but the sick cattle and the

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like, the maim. But he is saying, "Whatever." He said, "Whatever," in other words, I don't have any limitations on it. "Whatever comes out of the door when I come home again, I'll sacrifice to you."

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Well, to his surprise, when he returned from battle, the one who came out to greet him was his daughter. only daughter and having only one child I have a feeling that that may have been considered by him as a prized possession. One and only as we often say daughter.

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I will sacrifice it to you. That's his vow and I think every man needs to make a a vow as to what he's going to do, not only for the Lord, but for his family. When our children were going off to school, and they had various forms that needed to be filled out, and one of them raised a question that was to be answered, "Why do you want

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to go to college? Why? And one of them said to have fun. That disturbed me somewhat because

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it was quite expensive and every time we filled out one of those forms, those applications, we had at that time 25 and $50. Some institutions charge $50, some charge $25. I don't know, it may be $100 now. But that's all. You don't get anything for that. They may not even accept your job.

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But you have to pay that enrollment or that interest fee no matter what happens. And I said in response to that, I said, "Now look, I don't have any money set aside for you just to go have fun." I said, "But if you're serious, I'm willing to work my fingers to the bone to see that

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you get as much education as you want." That was my commitment. So he makes a commitment. Jeff Jephthah makes a commitment.

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He makes a vow. And he makes this vow to the Lord. He's committed to God. Lord, if you spare me, if you'll be with me, if you'll fight the battle with me and give

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me the victory, when I come home again, I'll sacrifice whatever comes out that door first. I'll sacrifice it to you. I think we can all share some idea of what it was like when he discovered that it was his only daughter.

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Only daughter. But he didn't change. Now I know many of us, and Lord, you know, I was caught up in the moment, and we'd like to revise it.

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So many of us have made commitments, we've made promises. In fact, we have a national group, is seemingly dwaining now, called Promise Keepers, made up largely of men who are committed,

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who are dedicated to the task of trying to turn this nation around make some significant changes, promise keepers. And one of my favorite words is, the woods are lovely, dark,

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and deep from Robert Frost. But I, I, I, I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep. Now, here we are this morning.

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Some of us have been on the journey 90 years. Others have been on the journey just 30 or 40 years. But all of us are involved in a faith journey. And every one of us has promises to keep.

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To keep. So having these promises, here, Jephthah said, "I'm going to keep it. I'm going to keep it.

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I've made it to the Lord. The Lord has been faithful, he's given me the victory, and I'm going to keep my promise to him. And the wonderful thing is, the daughter who came out of the door, the only daughter, told

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the father, "You made this promise to the Lord." She said, "Keep it." So both the father and the daughter are committed to keeping this promise to the Lord. And this condition is provided.

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So, well, since I'm not going to have long to stay, let me go to the mountains and bewail my virginity. She went to the mountain for two months, bewailed her virginity. And we remember this incident.

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Some people don't want to make commitments. Oh, you should listen to some of the remarks that some make when we try to get them to make a pledge just about what they're going to give to the Lord to support the work of the Lord.

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You don't want to make a promise. I said, "Well, I don't want a promise, Reverend, because if I make a promise and I may not be able to keep it." Well, if you make the promise to the Lord, the Lord will help us keep His promise with

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you and your promise with Him. So the thing that is disturbing about this is that this girl, this only girl, this is all he has. His only child.

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And she goes, gives herself after a period in the mountains, and is offered up as a burnt offering. But that's what God does for us. He gave his only begotten son

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that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He went to the cross, he went to the grave, And he rose again and carrying out the promise that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

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So remember, brethren of Ebenezer, remember it, audience. Remember this man who gave God a promise that he was determined to keep, because all of us have some promises to keep. And the thing I like about this man, while he seems to be unknown among all the judges, and you read the book of judges,

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You don't hear much about him, but his name appears along the list of judges. But when you get over there in Hebrews, the 11th chapter, he is on the road of the faithful.

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When we have promises to keep and we keep them with God, God sees to it that our lives are victorious. And so, Jephthah is on the road. So we who are faith-based,

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we who are on the faith journey and join with that long list of champions, warriors, rulers, those persons who are disciples of the Christian way, the way of God in human history.

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As we come now to the close of this message, we want to extend the privilege of the church, the privilege to journey with God, to keep your vow. As a spiritualist says, "Done made my vow to the Lord. I'm not going to turn back."

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No matter what happens, no matter what occurs, sickness, illness, disappointment, discouragement, whatever it is, I'm going to keep my hand in the hand of God because I've made my promise to the Lord and I'm not going to turn back. [MUSIC]

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Make a decision, promise, commitment, a vow, accepting Jesus Christ as Lord of your life. [MUSIC] I want you to make that decision and we'll make it now,

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just raise your hand where you are. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] [MUSIC]

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♪ Away below the hill ♪ ♪ If I had heard the Lord's glory ♪ ♪ If I had turned aside for a moment ♪ ♪ The water of grace ♪

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♪ The sky of gifts above ♪ ♪ The fruit of strength ♪ ♪ Be loved for him ♪ ♪ If I have ever heard so high ♪

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♪ Born of gold ♪ ♪ He now hath longed for shelter in the fold ♪ ♪ And now hath given me some food to hold below ♪ ♪ For thee, for thee ♪

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♪ Forgive the sins I have confessed to thee ♪ ♪ Forgive the secret sins I do not see ♪ ♪ O God, belove me and my guilt be free ♪ ♪ I give the peace ♪

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♪ In the Lord ♪ ♪ Amen ♪ - As the musicians continue to play softly with those who stood early celebrating birthdays

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and wedding anniversaries, as you go now to the rear of the sanctuary. (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music)

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(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music)

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[ Music ] We thank you for the men of Ebenezer. We have served as brave warriors, righteous rulers, caretakers, the source of your will from one generation to another.

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Thank you for those who have been faithful to this task. and we pray for those who will be laborers together with you from this day forward. Not only the men of Ebenezer, but all men everywhere, and your people. Send us forth with renewed vigor, determination, commitment to serve you.

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you. Grace, mercy, peace be with you from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [ Silence ]