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[ Silence ] [MUSIC] ♪ My joy, my hope ♪ ♪ Gives my strength ♪

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♪ From day to day ♪ ♪ Without Him I would fall ♪ ♪ When I am sad ♪ ♪ You, him, are gone ♪

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♪ There is no other one ♪ ♪ That dearly so ♪ ♪ When I am sad ♪ ♪ He makes me glad ♪

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♪ He's my friend ♪ (piano music) ♪ He was with all the world to me ♪ ♪ And true to him I'll be ♪

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♪ Oh how could I ♪ ♪ This friend deny ♪ ♪ When he's so true to me ♪ ♪ Follow in Him ♪

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♪ I know a Christ ♪ ♪ I know He marches on ♪ ♪ In the earth and life ♪ ♪ Follow in Him ♪

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♪ By day and night ♪ ♪ He's my friend ♪ ♪ Jesus is all the world to me ♪ ♪ I want no measure of prayer ♪

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♪ I trust him now ♪ ♪ And trust him when ♪ ♪ Life's greeting day shall be ♪ ♪ Beautiful life ♪

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♪ With such a friend ♪ ♪ Beautiful life that has no end ♪ ♪ Eternal life, eternal joy ♪ ♪ Peace, love, and joy ♪

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♪ He's mine ♪ ♪ Jesus, you taught the world to me ♪ ♪ He's mine ♪ ♪ Jesus, you taught the world to me ♪

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♪ Yes, my Jesus ♪ ♪ Gives all the world ♪ ♪ To me ♪ [choral singing]

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[ Music ] to see what the end will be. But if I'm a good old man, and there were good times and bad,

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I will go, I shall go, ♪ You see what the end will be ♪ ♪ We are your brethren just like you ♪ ♪ I will go ♪

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♪ I will go ♪ ♪ I shall go ♪ ♪ I shall go ♪ ♪ You see what the end will be ♪

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♪ I moan and I mourn till I can't prove ♪ ♪ I will go ♪ ♪ I shall go ♪ ♪ In will be ♪

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♪ In my heart to go ♪ ♪ And the river will turn back ♪ ♪ I will go, I shall go ♪ ♪ To see what green will be ♪

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♪ Where every starry ♪ ♪ Views do shine ♪ I will go, I shall go, see what the end will be. I know me Jesus will be mine.

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I will go, I shall go, see what the end will be. ♪ God make my walk to the Lord ♪ ♪ God make my walk to the Lord ♪ ♪ And my labor will turn back ♪

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I will go, I shall go, to see what the end will be. See what the end will be. [Chorus of "Amen"] Most gracious Lord and Savior,

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how delighted we are to enter into your presence once again. To gather together in this place to praise your name for the goodness and mercy that you pour out upon us. With the breath of your Spirit,

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You seek to make us wise, and although we are weak, you inspire us to be strong. Merciful Savior, we humbly ask you to comfort and give relief to those who suffer and give strength to those who cry out in need. Show your mercy to those afflicted in mind and body. Grant the knowledge of God's love to those who

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suffer persecution, to those who are hungry, to the homeless, to the depressed, to those who are prisoners, Lord, to those who have given up on life. And please, dear God, give us the heart to serve them and the will and the patience to minister to their needs. Lord we especially ask that you send your spirit

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into this broken world. Shine your light on unbelievers that they might see. Lord your love shows no partiality and we don't have to earn it. You sent your love to all, saints and sinners alike. None of us Lord is worthy. Indeed while all of us were yet sinners, Christ died for us. So let us continue in prayer for those who

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have not received Christ into their hearts that they might be led by the grace of God to faith and to obedience. Eternal God we pray for the Church of Christ throughout this world for its unity and witness and service. We pray for this nation and for all those who serve the common good. We ask for God's

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help that they may seek justice and truth in executing their official duties. And Almighty Master, we desire your will for all the nations of this world, praying that every people will see that you indeed are ruler of all creation. Lord send your peace upon us this morning that we may be able to sing

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your praises and do your will. Heavenly Father refresh our memories of how far you have brought us as a people. Let us commit ourselves to you that we may enter into the fullness of the joy of our freedom. Lord Jesus we offer ourselves for purification. Let us lay down our victories and our failings on

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the altar of faith that we may become one with you and one with each other. Almighty God, look upon this church, Ebenezer, with compassion that we may abide in your grace at all times. Bless the pastor and his wife to be leaders, granted knowledge and wisdom from on high. Give us all strength to serve you

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faithfully until that promised day when with the redeemed of all the ages we will feast with you at your table in glory. We pray all this through Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you dear God in unity with the Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen.

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[Music] We come to praise the Lord. We come to glorify the Lord. We come to lift up holy hands.

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We come to magnify His name. We come to worship the Lord. We come to praise the Lord. We come to glorify the Lord.

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We come to lift up holy hands. We come to magnify His name. We come to worship the Lord. We come to praise the Lord.

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♪ We come to laugh and to hide and play ♪ ♪ We come to lift up our holy hands ♪ ♪ We come to laugh and to hide and play ♪ ♪ We come to lift up our holy hands ♪

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♪ We come to lift up our holy hands ♪ ♪ We come to worship the Lord ♪ ♪ We come to praise the Lord ♪ ♪ We come to glorify the Lord ♪

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♪ We come to lift up holy hands ♪ ♪ We come to baptize His body and His flesh ♪ ♪ We come to hold the fountains ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪

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♪ We come to praise ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪ ♪ We come to glorify ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪

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♪ We come to lift up holy men ♪ ♪ We come to magnify his name ♪ ♪ We come to worship ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪

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♪ We come to praise ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪ ♪ We come to glorify ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪

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♪ We come to lift up holy hands ♪ ♪ We come to bless this body and mind ♪ ♪ We come to worship ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪

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♪ We come to praise ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪ ♪ We come to glorify ♪ ♪ The Lord ♪

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♪ We come to lift up holy hands ♪ He comes to magnify His name, He comes to worship the Lord. Stand up, give God the glory, stand up. Stand up, give God the glory, stand up.

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Stand up, give God the glory, stand up. Stand up, give God the glory. Stand up. Stand up, give God the glory.

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Stand up. Stand up, give God the glory. Stand up. Stand up, give God the glory.

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Stand up. Stand up, give God the glory. ♪ Stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up, give God the glory ♪

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♪ Stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up, give God the glory ♪ ♪ Stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up, give God the glory ♪

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♪ Stand up ♪ ♪ Stand up, give God the glory ♪ ♪ Stand up ♪ ♪ We come to work the holy hand ♪

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[church singing] [cough] Our scripture, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The subject of the message, "The Church Jesus Built."

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"The Church Jesus built." "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." These are the words of the carpenter from Nazareth.

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These are the words of the one whose reputation as a builder goes beyond the neighborhood where he grew up. It goes beyond his apprenticeship to his father. In Nazareth he is known as the son of Joseph, the carpenter's son.

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Jesus' reputation as a carpenter goes beyond the heels of Galilee, beyond the geographical limits of Palestine beyond the Middle East. His reputation goes out to the whole wide world. His ability as a carpenter reaches out to every nation, nationality.

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embraces the universe. As a carpenter in Nazareth, it is reasonable to assume that Jesus worked with Joseph in making repairs to existing houses, building new houses, and in making necessary repairs. The Sermon on the Mount records the kind of material that he desires in his building,

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in his church, as we have this in the fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters of the book of Matthew. And that sermon that we call On the Mount closes with a story about two carpenters, one wise and one foolish.

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wise built on a solid foundation, and the foolish built on sinking and shifting sand. Now we see this same Jesus who tells this story as he is with his disciples on the coast of Caesarea Philippi in a retreat with them. And he asks them the question, "Whom do men say that I am?"

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And they answer, "Some think that you're John the Baptist, some think you're Elijah, some think that you're Isaiah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets." And then he pushes him a little further, he says, "But whom say you that I am?" What's your witness?

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What's your confession? Then comes the answer from Simon Peter, who seems to be the spokesperson for the apostolic band, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Now this response to the question is given by a carpenter helper.

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Upon this rock, Jesus says, "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." What kind of church did Jesus build? What kind of church is he building today?

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I thought it would be good to take a look at the outstanding builders in ancient times. I consider the seven wonders of the ancient world. The first of these seven wonders is that of the pyramids. The pyramids number some twenty or more, and the greatest of the pyramids was built by

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some 100,000 laborers, mostly slave laborers. And these pyramids that are considered such wonders are built to honor the dead. They are really tombs. So I would not like to linger there for the greatest of builders.

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Let's move to the next, the second great building wonder of ancient times, is that of the hanging gardens of Babylon, with terraces along the banks of the Euphrates River, the trees, the shrubs and flowers, the gardens. All of these were beautiful in their day, but they have long since passed away.

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Then comes another wonder. This building one day is called the Statue of Phidias. It was made of ivory and cedar and wood. All of these were put together in the building of that statue.

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But that wonder, in the course of time, was destroyed by fire. So we need not tarry there, because it did not withstand the test of time. What about the next wonder, the fourth? The Colossus of Rhodes, which required twelve years to build, but it only lasted fifty-six

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years after it was built. even by the standards of the world, would not compare with being the greatest. Then comes the fifth, the Temple of Artemis, which was in Ephesus, built by the great architect in the 6th century, but it was later destroyed, it was burned down in 356 B.C., and the fragments

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of that temple were carried away to the British Museum. The mausoleum of Halicorossos, built by a queen in adoration of her husband, is the sixth wonder, but it was destroyed later by an earthquake. The last is Phaerus, who is of Alexander, and he, this particular work of wonder, was erected in 270 B.C., a popular lighthouse on the coast of Alexandria. But

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that light has gone out. Here they are, the seven wonders of antiquity. They've had their day, they have all been affected by the limited constraints of time, and they pass away. And now we don't talk very much about the seven wonders of the ancient world, we talk about the wonders of this present world, the modern world.

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Our concern is on this particular builder who says, "Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Now a carpenter is one who builds and repairs wooden structures. A carpenter puts together broken pieces of wood and other materials in order to complete

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his structure. And a good carpenter uses superior materials, whether it be rocks, stone, or whatever. But this particular carpenter may be compared with one who uses the best. Upon this rock, there are other materials that are available for building, but rock

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is plentiful in the land of Palestine, and he says, "Upon this rock," he's not talking about Peter. Now, the word Peter Cephas means "rock," but we know that when Peter got in trouble, when the way was difficult and dangerous, he ran.

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I preached a sermon once and I entitled it "Peter the Running Rock." He ran away. And there are many like that who in the midst of things, they profess their loyalty, but when things get tough and rough, they run away.

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So he's not talking about Peter when he says, "Upon this rock." The Catholics and others sometimes say this, "He's referring to Peter," but he's not referring to Peter or Paul. He is referring to himself upon this rock, upon the rock faith that you have in me. I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

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Now the church Jesus builds stands in the storm. Winds may blow, rain may come, and the seas may roar, but the church that Jesus built remains steadfast and secure. In the midst of howling winds, in the midst of the storm, tossed seas, the church that

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Jesus built remains steadfast and secure, unshaken as eternal hills. a mountain that shall fill the earth, a house not made with hands." That's the church Jesus built. Now there are other churches we build. We try to build them without Him. But He says upon this rock, We have our own unique witness.

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We have our faith comrades of Ebony Hill. And 129 years ago, a band of Christian believers, our ancestors, met and organized this church. And we have been ministering, we've been serving ever since. Now there have been some storms.

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The rain has descended. And the floods have come. But the church still stands. And I have a feeling, I have a feeling that it's going to be here when we're all gone.

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The church that Jesus built. We have our unique witness and that's how we came into being. Immediately following slavery back in 1875, we worshipped for a while We worshiped during slavery at the first Baptist church downtown.

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Sometimes in the balcony, sometimes in the afternoon. That was our lot. But then after slavery, we're just talking about a few years after slavery. 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation, 1875, Ebenezer.

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Just talking about a few years. They wanted a church of their own, to put it in their language, they wanted to worship God under their own vine and fig tree, with none to make them afraid. So this is the result.

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One hundred twenty-nine years. So we have our own unique witness. There's a story of one sister who got happy in church and she was worshipping on Sunday in a predominantly white church and she was overcome with emotion and had to carry out.

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Of course, that was a church that was rather starchy, and she didn't fit well there. And some of us since that time have become rather starchy, and we have forgotten our heritage. But W.E.B. Du Bois says that the three characteristics of the black church are the song, the way we sing, the sermon, and the shout.

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Now many of our churches have left the shout out. But those are the characteristics of us. We have our own unique experience. And so our ancestors paved the way for us, and we must not forget that, that we stand on their shoulders. Now, the church is built, I'm not talking about the kind of material that we often refer to. I'm talking about that spiritual material.

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That's what makes the church. The church was here before we had the building. The church is made of the spiritual material that we get through Jesus Christ that strengthens us and enables us to do His work in His world.

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We can look at the kind of homes that some of us build. I had a brother who was a member of our congregation years ago in Waco, and he wanted to build a great house. He bought a humble hut outside the city limits and started working on that house.

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And whenever he could get some material, he'd add it to the house that he built. And he worked on it for years. And I wish you could see that house that he built. It was a monstrosity.

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It just spread all out here. were no building code to regulate him because he was outside the city limits and he just continued to work on the house. Finally the city limits came, took him in and he became in the city and he was compelled to tear down the house

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because it did not meet the standards. But the house, the house of God, the dwelling place of God that Jesus builds in our lives stands the test because he himself is the building code regulator so the house that he builds meets the standard. So this is important for us to recognize the kind of house, kind of

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church, kind of dwelling that Jesus has in our lives. What kind of church did he build? The church. My first church that I passed, it didn't have a home for the minister so they leased the home and after leasing the home for just a year the man from whom it was leased was to go to Greece he was going back to his

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native land we got to his native land if things weren't what he thought they were going to be and so he wanted to come back to this country and he came back to this country and he wanted his house back so it was just leased for a year so we had to look for a house if there's anything in the world I dislike it's

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moving yes I guess in the course of time we moved six or eight times the time I was in the elementary school to the time I finished high school so then we decided that we would build a house for the minister that would be lasting and the first thing we had to do was to get some land so we found a place and we

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purchased the land next thing we got an architect and many of the people they hadn't ever had an architect so they didn't see why you need an architect but But you need someone who knows, who has a vision of what this house is to be and what it should look like.

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And so we had the architect, didn't you? You need a builder. I was young, I'd never pastored before, never built a house of my own. And so we were successful in getting a builder, but who would know whether it's right or wrong?

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So we had a deacon, a member of that congregation, who had worked for a lumber company, and so he came, he was retired, and he came every day and sat and just looked to see that the right material was going in there. sometimes where you have number one number and I

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Learned for the first time that when you have a lot of knots in the lumber, that's not a good grade Not a nuts and some of the churches we build have knots Kind of material is cheap and

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Paul sort of picks up the refrain when he writes to the church at Corinth talking about the kind of church that they ought to to be churches Jesus built and he says it should be out of good material the very best material not something that's temporary he says it ought to be being out of gold can you think of a church being built out of gold he's giving us

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symbolism but it ought to be the best ought to be the most durable material that is made. That's the kind of material we should... So think of, he said, the church is like stones in a building, living stones. And so as we look at the stones that comprise Ebenezer, what kind of living stones go into the walls of this church?

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kind of living stone? Well, he said it ought not be made of hay, and he says that when you read that chapter. It ought not be made of hay. Sometimes we try to make hay fit the place where we should have stones, and it doesn't take much to get rid of hay. All you have to do is strike a match. It's gone. And there are many people who come in,

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they run in and they're like, "Hey!" They run in and they run out quick. But the church that Jesus built, if Jesus guides us, if Jesus strengthens us, if he is the one that we rely upon in the midst of the storms and stresses of life, if we rely on Jesus Christ we'll be able to stand. The church that Jesus built stands in the

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stone. So this is the church that is the reflection of the work of the Master. This is the church that Jesus builds. Thanks be to God that he's still building his church. It delights my heart when I begin to think about the goodness of God and how far he has brought us over these years, 129 years.

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In fact, when I start talking and thinking about the goodness of God, it makes me want to holler because God is so good. I think about churches back when I was the boy with just a little pot belly stove and when it get too hot we'd have to move away you know that's the kind of church and when baptism time

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came out I wasn't baptized in a fine pool like what we have back here we went down into the water to the lake and and and and before the minister went in the deacons went in and they had a pole and they they measured to see how deep it was and the fellows talked about you know that snakes might get you and all

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of that all of that that's the kind of church in which we grew but that church shaped character. They didn't have the degrees that we have now, but they had the Spirit of God. And that Spirit of God that I saw in them strengthened my life and enabled me to stay. I hear those old sisters and brothers now, when I announced that I was going to preach,

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I hear them say, "Well, you're gonna have a hard time. "You're gonna have this and that." And whenever things get a little rough, I can still see them.

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They were dressed in white. I still see them and I hear them as they speak to me and encourage me along the way. That's the church that Jesus built.

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And I'm so glad, I'm so glad that he's still building his church. - Amen, amen. Upon this rock, upon this faith, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against me.

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You know that's a significant word, the gates of hell. You know gates are stationary. They don't go anywhere. They just stay where they are. but he's thinking of a church that is so militant that it not only batters down the wrongs that may exist in the community but it marches to the gates of hell and batters down the gates of hell. That's the kind of church God put in the

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world through Jesus Christ and that's the church that Ebenezer is to be as we continue in the future to echo the words upon this rock Christ is building his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against us. I believe I'd like first to sing amazing grace how sweet the sound saved a

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This is sort of the anthem of our people because we've come through such a struggle. And it's a miracle just what happened. The man who wrote the words of this song was a slave trader. His mother tried to get him to stop, but he wouldn't.

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But one of the last voyages he made, there was a great storm that came. and God delivered him out of that storm and later he came home to write amazing grace how sweet the sound and there's some of us here who've been delivered from storms we've been afraid that we would be victims of shipwreck but

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Somehow some miracle occurred in our lives and God has delivered us It's amazing Amazing let's sing that doors of churches open we ask you to come by letter by Christian experience on profession of faith May come by letter by Christian experience on professional faith

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[Singing] [ Silence ]