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[Music] I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I am on the battlefield for my Lord. And I promise him that I, I would serve him till I die.

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I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I am on the battlefield for my Lord. And I promise him that I will serve him till I die.

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I am on the battlefield for my Lord. I was alone and I know I was a sinner too. I heard a voice from heaven saying there is work to do. I took my master's hand and I joined the Christian band.

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I am on the battlefield for my Lord. Yes You know I left my friends and kindred Bound for the promised land

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The grace of God upon me The Bible in my hand To distant lands I trod Crying sinners come home to God

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I am home The battle is for my Lord ♪ Oh, I am on the battlefield for my Lord ♪ ♪ Yes, I am on the battlefield for my Lord ♪

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♪ Yes, I am, you know I promise to keep my eye ♪ ♪ With the servant in my life ♪ ♪ I am on the battlefield for my Lord ♪ ♪ Now when I met the Savior ♪

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♪ I met Him with a smile ♪ ♪ He healed my wounded spirit ♪ ♪ And He honed me as His child ♪ ♪ Around the throne of grace ♪

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♪ He'll purge my soul of grace ♪ ♪ That's why I'm on that appeal ♪ ♪ For my Lord ♪ ♪ Yes, I am a man ♪

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♪ I am on the battlefield for my Lord ♪ ♪ Yes, I am on the battlefield for my Lord ♪ ♪ I promise him that I will serve him ♪ ♪ I promise the Lord of all that I am ♪

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♪ I promise him ♪ ♪ Oh, yes, I am ♪ ♪ I promise him ♪ ♪ I am till I die ♪

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♪ I am oh the devil's dear ♪ ♪ Oh I, oh I ♪ ♪ Oh yes I am ♪ ♪ Oh ♪

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- Amen, amen. Our scripture lesson is found in In 1 Kings, instead of 2 Kings, it is in 1 Kings, the 21st chapter. So read the first three verses.

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Later, the following events took place. Naboth, the Jezreelite, had a vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of King Ahab of Samaria. And Ahab said to Naboth, "Give me your vineyard, so that I may have it for a vegetable garden,

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because it is near my house. I will give you a better vineyard for it, or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its value in money. But Naboth said to Ahab, "The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral heritage." The Lord forbid that I should give you my ancestral heritage. King

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James read, "The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my father's." So today we want to talk about the inheritance of our fathers. This is a story about a humble farmer who lived in Jezreel, and he is approached about making a sale of his farm.

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it is extremely difficult for us when we live next door to certain people. It so happened that this farmer lived next door to the king. King Ahab had a palace in Samaria, and he had a winter home in Jezreel. So, one day he looks over on the farm of Naboth and decides that it would be a wonderful thing

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if that farm belonged to the king. And he decides to approach Naboth regarding the purchase price. You can see him as he decides to do just that. No doubt he first put out some feelers at his real estate agencies to make contact.

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And Naboth said, "No, no sale." And then the king approaches the neighbor himself. Surely this would have a great bearing upon this humble farmer for the king to get in his royal chariot and ride down to his humble home and to offer him the price of his vineyard,

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whatever the price may be. In other words, I'll give you the value, notice he said, the value of it in money. Or, if you so desire, I will give you an exchange, I'll give you another piece of ground in exchange for that venue? And Mabeth answers no. Some years ago where Highland Mall is now located

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I was told was owned by the St. John District Association. And for years there were efforts to try to get that ground from the African-American Association that owned it. So the black who was in charge resisted those efforts time and time again.

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I was living in Waco and one of your outstanding citizens visited me and Told me that the city fathers had said that they were going to get that ground And I said how do they intend to get it He said they said that they intended to offer so much that they couldn't refuse

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Couldn't refuse the offer it would be so much that they would not be able to refuse And I need not tell you that that offer did come and the ground was purchased and the association took the option of getting another piece of ground where we are now located in Highland Mall is where it is.

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So there is a general feeling that if you offer a person enough money, that they will accept that offer. And I think it's true. So Naboth is unusual, because when the king, brothers and sisters, this is the king, king

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Ahab comes to his home and offers him the price of... in other words, I suppose he said, "You can set your price. You can set your price." And in other words, whatever you want for this ground. I'm going to give... and if you still want to have some ground, I'll exchange another piece of ground for this. And Naboth has the courage to face the king and look him straight in the eye.

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and said no it's not for sale at any price at any price he was rather firm and the king slowly turns gets into his chariot and rides back to the palace And he goes to bed. He doesn't have dinner that evening. He goes to bed, turns his face toward the wall and pouts.

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Refuses to talk. There's no celebration in that house at all. He's very depressed. In comes the Queen, Jezebel She says honey, what's wrong?

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Well, I was down to Neighbors Home and I was trying to purchase his farm

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And he told me definitely no sale at any price And She says to him hold on you the king Don't worry about David. He's just a humble subject. You are the king of Israel. Leave

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back to me. I'll see to it you'll have this vineyard. You want it, you'll have it. So Jezebel goes and secures some wicked men who concoct some lies against Naboth. And Mabeth is falsely accused, unjustly condemned, and led outside the walls of the city and stoned to death. And then she says to the king's assistants, "Go down now and take charge. Mabeth is dead.

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This property is confiscated, now belongs to the king. Go down and take charge. But Naboth dies standing up for the heritage of his father. I cannot, at any price, give you the inheritance of my Father, at any price.

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In other words, he said, "Look, look, look, look at this again." He said, "I'm willing to give you the value." And we look at values, values, what value does a person have? We say, "How much is he worth?"

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"Oh, he's worth a million dollars. Somebody else may not be worth anything." When they figured out, "You owe more than you can pay," most of us fall in that category. You see, how much is he worth?

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And we talk about family values. What values are we talking about? One candidate has this ad on the news. He said that I have embraced certain values

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and these values have served me well. That's his language, these values have served me well. Now, do the values serve us? Or do we serve the values?

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That's a good question. Values. And we have a way of putting certain values on certain things. things this lady on talk show that few days ago said that she made about

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$75,000 a year as a prostitute. She was doing quite well as a prostitute. But what value was she placing on herself for a few minutes? She said she hoped to do that and get all of her bills paid and her children educated and then after that she would be able to retire. But this is selling virtue for a price. But

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neighbor says no sale I will not part with this for any price because I cannot give you the inheritance you know there's something in the family in the family and I am and and it's so precious it's so dear to me I cannot part with it at any price we're not talking about just the land we're talking about his

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social heritage that you can cling to you know that there was something that that our our father passed on to us and his father passed on to him and his His Father passed on to him, on and on it goes. It's a rich and wonderful tradition, and I can't part with it.

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You know, there are some things that our parents gave us more precious than gold, that we should pass from one generation to another. I cannot give you the inheritance of my father. It's a wonderful thing.

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It's in the family. And the biblical tradition was that this property that had been in the family for generations was not to be sold to an outsider. It was only to be given to a member of the family, and it was to be just passed on.

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We ought to have some things, some spiritual values that we inherited from our parents, from our fathers, passed on from one generation to another. Naboth stood firm. He was a man of his word and he gave his life Preserving

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the tradition of his father's And we need to do that today as we rededicate ourselves in celebration of Father's Day

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black men Have been socially castrated by the society Since the days of slavery, I don't know whether you can point to any group of men that have had the burden to carry that the African-American male has had to carry

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And and and and yet we have a noble tradition that we've inherited from our motherland Africa and It's a tradition that we should seek to preserve and passed from one generation to another.

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One of the struggles that our family had when I was growing up was owning a home. Most people rented. And I could go to Dallas Nine Point to about 10 places

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where we stayed while I was growing up. We stayed here a short time. One place we stayed a week. And we moved from this place to that place.

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And all the while, I'd hear them talk about, my father and my mother talk about, one day we're gonna get a home. One day we're going to get a home,

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a place to call our own. We'll have a home of our own one day. Finally we bought a lot. It cost $500.

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And then we built a little house on there, a five-room house on there. And they lived in that house. They paid for it, lived in it until they died.

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And they left it to me. Now that house is surrounded by people who engage in drugs. Every time I try to get it repaired, they go in and do damage to it almost before they can complete the repair.

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But I don't want to part with it. Because it's a family matter, it's been passed on, and it's something precious. I want to cling to it. And I understand what Nebeth is talking about, because I cannot give you the inheritance of my fathers

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Because the inheritance of my father is related to my father's God, and my father's God is my God. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. Thanks be to God that he is with us all along the way. And the same God is not only with neighbors as he takes the stand and when neighbor neighbor gives his life

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It is this God who blesses that life in another world We sing now the hymn of invitation Put it in the church We ask you to come by letter Christian experience

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Unite with the family of God here at Ebenezer Just as I am, just as you are, you may come. God accepts us as we are and He makes us what He wants us to be when we cooperate with Him. Come. By letter, by Christian experience, Come.

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[Chorus singing] [Chorus singing] ♪ The land I love ♪ ♪ Was shed for me ♪

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♪ And as I'm leaving ♪ ♪ Please come to me ♪ ♪ Nowhere ♪ ♪ So long I go ♪

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[Music] ♪ 'Cause there I am, and waiting not ♪ ♪ To rid my soul of what was blind ♪ ♪ To live to love and live in sorrow ♪

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♪ Oh, yes, oh God, I know, I know ♪ ♪ Yes, yes, I am, oh God, I know ♪ ♪ Yes, we are God, and we are free ♪ ♪ And when you're down ♪

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♪ I keep and weep ♪ ♪ With this ♪ ♪ With love ♪ ♪ Oh, when ♪

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♪ The power I've found ♪ ♪ I've found ♪ ♪ The land I am from which we speak ♪ ♪ With welcome song that brings me peace ♪

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♪ Because I found in my years ♪ (chorus) "And my beliefs, O blessed, of God my God, my God." Amen. To Him. Now unto Him, "was able to keep ye from falling; for thence he thoughtless, before his glorious presence, with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Father, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power,

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now and forevermore. Amen. [BLANK_AUDIO]