00:00:00.000 - 00:00:40.240

[ Silence ] [ Inaudible ] church would be edified. We're glad that our speaker,

00:00:40.240 - 00:00:53.740

Cossette Kincock, is here tonight. He is a saved person. - Yes. - The Lord has anointed him and called him and

00:00:53.740 - 00:01:08.540

sent him to deliver the eternal world. And we would that you would be proud, that we've been to sing a verse with him. And then, as you pray,

00:01:08.540 - 00:01:24.820

our speaker, Dr. James Flakes, the proud pastor of the Prince of Peace Baptist Church, Detroit, Michigan, shall come to us tonight and break to us the bread of life.

00:01:24.820 - 00:01:45.300

As the spirit of the Lord so gives him thy direction. ♪ Father ♪ ♪ I am ♪ ♪ I am ♪

00:01:45.300 - 00:02:09.060

♪ With you ♪ ♪ And I ♪ [MUSIC] (singing)

00:02:09.060 - 00:02:29.540

(chanting) (chanting) ♪ We are rising ♪ ♪ From the deep ♪

00:02:29.540 - 00:02:50.580

♪ Of the sea ♪ ♪ Ah, when did that unisonic do the choir ♪ ♪ Do my breath ♪ ♪ Ah, yeah ♪

00:02:50.580 - 00:03:07.760

♪ Ah, come on church ♪ ♪ Yes, I ♪ ♪ Feel the love ♪ ♪ Feel the love ♪

00:03:07.760 - 00:03:47.660

♪ I love you ♪ ♪ I feel ♪ ♪ The love in my heart ♪ [Music]

00:03:47.660 - 00:04:08.920

[MUSIC] >> Pastor Wiggins, Chairman Adams, [BLANK_AUDIO] To all of us,

00:04:08.920 - 00:04:51.100

[BLANK_AUDIO] claim the name of the Lord Jesus. Praise God for another expression of his kindness. in allowing us the opportunity to once again come together.

00:04:51.100 - 00:05:27.840

Amen. I agonized somewhat as to what type of text I would read. And then it dawned on me I was going to talk about a person of whom all scripture speaks.

00:05:27.840 - 00:05:49.240

- All right. - All right. - So whatever your favorite scripture is, you put it to this. Plug in somewhere along the way,

00:05:51.440 - 00:06:02.960

for they all ultimately lead to this person. (audience murmurs) Okay. I wanna talk to us

00:06:02.960 - 00:06:29.280

about when a God is God. When a God is God. All right now. Well, the water has been muddied.

00:06:29.280 - 00:07:14.480

For many gods have made attempts at usurping the lofty throne of Jehovah. perhaps so strongly in our day, but there was a day when the guards kind of had to jockey for position. And one would want to ask the real guard to please stand (audience laughing)

00:07:14.480 - 00:07:30.360

I think I'd better make an announcement right now that my choice for God is Jehovah. (audience laughing) - Fix it, Robin, fix it, fix it.

00:07:30.360 - 00:08:06.840

- But I don't believe in being unfair. I don't want to just cram my God down your throats. And I think I ought to give a fair hearing to these other guys. I wouldn't be too fair to just decide without a hearing that my God is God.

00:08:06.840 - 00:08:18.920

(audience laughing) And the only logical way to make a choice is by comparison. (audience laughing)

00:08:18.920 - 00:08:30.340

- Right, Reverend. - Be honest with me now. None of you ladies would go downtown tomorrow and buy the first hat you saw, would you?

00:08:30.340 - 00:08:39.140

(audience laughing) - All right. - You'd have to compare them. and then make a choice.

00:08:39.140 - 00:08:55.140

Stay with me now, I'm kind of a slow preacher. (laughter) I would like to beg your indulgence

00:08:55.140 - 00:09:07.760

to compare, if you will, some of these religions and the merits of their God. - Yeah, all right.

00:09:07.760 - 00:09:15.880

- Ascertain as to whether they should hold the chief position. - Well. - Oh, good.

00:09:15.880 - 00:09:27.360

- There is a religion known as Hinduism. - Well, fix it now. - Had its origin in 500 BC. - Fix it, sir.

00:09:27.360 - 00:09:57.820

Coming over. flourished between three and four hundred A.D. They believed in the sacredness of cows and the sacredness of snakes. The chief aim of their religion was to reach Nirvana, which which was a state of ecstasy

00:09:57.820 - 00:10:16.040

alongside the great god Brahma. Now Buddhism, a branch of Hinduism, around 400 BC,

00:10:16.040 - 00:11:06.560

had as its chief end, Moksha, That was some type of ascetic relationship with God wherein one swore off completely from other worldliness and actually lived, as it were, of a citizen in another land. A complicated system I might add, which held to four noble truths, which followed on the heels of the other.

00:11:06.560 - 00:11:46.760

Those four truths were that existence is in suffering. Cause of suffering is desire. Suffering stops when desire stops. And to end desire, follow the eightfold path. Harm no living thing, right belief, right thinking, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right occupation, right effort, and right ecstasy.

00:11:46.760 - 00:12:05.960

Then there was Shintoism. Intuition all right you a word called Kami KMI Which means the way of the gods? Everything had a God

00:12:05.960 - 00:12:22.420

the Sun had the moon That was an agricultural God. Yeah, that was a God of fertility Everything you could mention had a God.

00:12:22.420 - 00:12:34.760

(audience laughing) - Second plain shot. - Now you know I couldn't get along in that religion. For I might be hungry and call on the rain God.

00:12:34.760 - 00:13:05.880

(audience laughing) I might forget which God was the God of hunger. Now someone has suggested that we serve many gods in that he used different names at various times. But I want us to know that it's the same god.

00:13:05.880 - 00:13:32.880

Yes, he used different names. But a different name only signifies a different relationship. But when he dealt with Moses, he declared himself to be El Shaddai. Shaddai being a Hebrew word which means almighty, the one of the mountain.

00:13:32.880 - 00:14:05.880

And later on he announced that he was Yahweh. And again he said he was El Elyon, which means God the ancient one. Later on in history he declares to be Yahweh Sabo, the Lord of Hosts, the one of the army. Then he decided he would be Elohim. Well he's God, he can be what he pleases.

00:14:05.880 - 00:14:22.360

(audience laughing) I won't worry you long now, just to mention another Jainism around 600 B.C. Who believed everything was eternal.

00:14:22.360 - 00:14:48.520

Now let me say something here. All of these gods are antedated by my God. Did you notice something peculiar to all these gods? 500 BC, 600 BC, 300 AD?

00:14:48.520 - 00:15:17.240

That signifies the date when they came into being. What I'm trying to say is they all had a beginning. They all started somewhere. My brothers and sisters, I don't want a God that had to start somewhere. I want one that's always been here.

00:15:17.240 - 00:15:43.960

Well, in fact, these other gods were hitchhikers. First of all, they were hitchhikers in their existence. They were made by men. If you wanted to write a Bible about their god, you'd have to start in the beginning,

00:15:43.960 - 00:16:29.960

created God. They all had a beginning. They were hitchhikers. For my brothers and sisters, the very fact that they are dated says to me that something was here before they got here. They were not only hitchhikers in their existence, they were hitchhikers in their construction. They were made from gold and silver. They had rubies for eyes and diamonds for earrings.

00:16:29.960 - 00:16:54.960

Now you know who put the gold in the ground. You know who made the rubies and the diamonds? These gods were hitchhikers off of my gods' creation. Not only were they hitchhikers in their construction, they were hitchhikers in their work.

00:16:54.960 - 00:17:14.600

If I lived in one province and the god was set up in another province, I would have to travel thousands of miles to see the God. Or either they would have to load him up on an ox cart and bring him where I was.

00:17:14.600 - 00:17:24.800

(audience cheering) They were hitchhiking. All right, but you see, I don't want a God that has to thumb a ride.

00:17:24.800 - 00:17:47.700

(audience laughing) I don't want a God when I call him out on the corner trying to catch a ride to come see about. What was problematic about these gods was the fact that they were always being repaired.

00:17:47.700 - 00:18:08.700

Their ruby eyes were always falling out. Their diamond earrings were always falling out. And they would have to climb up on the God and fix it. But you know our God doesn't need any repairing.

00:18:08.700 - 00:18:44.700

Not only that, his creation doesn't need any repairing. I've never heard of a repair team going up to put one of the stars back in its silver side. Never heard of a repair team going to fix the moon, fix the sun because it refused to shine. My brothers and sisters, one of the things crucial to putting my trust in Edgar is the fact that to a certain degree, he must be predictable.

00:18:45.700 - 00:19:19.840

Now I know I cannot gauge his every move, I know I cannot monitor his activities, but to a certain degree I want him to be predictable. I know I can't make him what I want him to be, and I know he's no slave to one mythic, for he often comes in different ways. But I kind of want to believe that some things I can know about him, about his creation and

00:19:19.840 - 00:19:35.380

how it operates. And when I look at this universe, the first thing I note that he is a God of order. And I say, "Oh, he's predictable." My brothers and sisters, he's a god of order.

00:19:35.380 - 00:19:59.780

The earth goes rotating on its axis, tiptoeing as it were around the sun. Takes 24 hours to make a complete revolution. It never gets in a hurry, and it never slows down. It's never late. 24 hours every day.

00:19:59.780 - 00:20:23.780

And not only that, my brothers and sisters, when I look at nature and consider the seasons, I see that God is somewhat predictable. Winter will always come after autumn. Spring will always come after winter. Summer will always come after spring.

00:20:23.780 - 00:21:08.780

And Autumn will always come after Sun. He's a God of honor. Another overwhelming truth about my God is the fact that He's a great and mighty designer. Don't bother me, brethren. I know he didn't have to design anything, but the only way I can talk about him is through some anthropomorphic way, which means some human way of understanding. I can't use God language because I'm not one in the divine council. I am mundane and earthy, and I must speak of him in earthy terms.

00:21:08.780 - 00:21:32.780

So suffice it to say that he's a great and mighty designer. Oh, there's a God somewhere. Who would have had sense enough to give fish the type of apparatus to separate oxygen from water? For that matter, who would have known that there was oxygen in water?

00:21:32.780 - 00:21:59.780

He's a great designer. Look at me. One little bit of sperm possess all of the elements necessary to making a human being. One little bit of strength. Got a head on it.

00:21:59.780 - 00:22:14.780

Stomach on there. Hands, feet, toes, elbows. Eyes, ears. One little bit of strength.

00:22:14.780 - 00:22:26.780

Got it all in it. There's a God somewhere. (audience laughing) When I look at something that seems simple like the rain,

00:22:26.780 - 00:22:37.780

I remember when it would storm and rain, my mother would make me go sit on the bed. Couldn't listen to the radio. She said God was at work.

00:22:37.780 - 00:23:02.780

Yes, her heart, I don't mean her any harm, but I think I should tell her that God is always at work. it work. And when it's raining, God's not working to make it rain. No, no. He's too great a designer to have to get up every morning and make it rain. (audience laughing)

00:23:02.780 - 00:23:21.180

God made it rain only once. A long time ago, rain fell to the earth. And God went on about his business and left it alone. But he told the sun to draw that rain up into the clouds.

00:23:21.180 - 00:23:36.300

Told the clouds to drop that same rain back to the earth. And it's been doing it for millions of years. He's not making it rain, he made it work! And he sets it in motion where it can perpetuate itself.

00:23:36.300 - 00:23:54.180

Look at something so vital to life, like oxygen. God doesn't have to get up every day and make oxygen. He told the plants and the leaves within them barrymill chlorophyll factories,

00:23:54.180 - 00:24:19.100

and they live on poisonous carbon dioxide that we exhale, and they take that carbon dioxide and a metamorphosis goes on within those leaves, and those plants give off pure oxygen that man can go on living. Isn't God a great designer? [crowd cheers]

00:24:19.100 - 00:25:06.100

Now in his unique design of creation, God was aware that man had a sense of aesthetics. Sense of aesthetics is an appreciation of the beauty, amen, of the coherence of nature. It's man's ability to comprehend and to appreciate something, for instance, like a good song, a beautiful sunset, to become involved in the natural, to actually become a participant, a man in the divine by participating in the natural. He learns to appreciate beauty and thereby learns to appreciate God.

00:25:06.100 - 00:25:20.100

My brothers and sisters, God could have made the world bling. He didn't have to make the world so beautiful. He could have made everything white. He could have made everything black.

00:25:20.100 - 00:25:53.100

He could have made all fruit taste like apple. He could have made all vegetables taste like cabbage. My brothers and sisters, God knew that man had an appreciation for the aesthetic and gained something and made him a world that he could appreciate. For my brothers and sisters, we see God working with his work. He knew man needed variation in order to appreciate this earth.

00:25:53.100 - 00:26:20.100

Nothing but a God could have put fragrance in the flowers. Nothing but a God could have painted the beautiful colors in the spectrum of the rainbow. Nothing but a God could have put green in grass, yellow in leaves in the autumn, sweet in honey, sour in lemon, heat in fire, cold in snow.

00:26:20.100 - 00:26:31.100

There's a God somewhere. [audience cheers] Now I've got to close it here. [audience laughs]

00:26:31.100 - 00:26:53.300

Now, two basic reasons. Two basic reasons. That I cannot give credence to these other gods. Number one, they did not act like God.

00:26:53.300 - 00:27:21.220

And they did not sound like God. Someone has suggested that if you want to know what God is like, take a good look at Jesus. If you want to know how God would have responded in any given circumstance, look at the life of Jesus.

00:27:21.220 - 00:28:04.220

In fact, one day Philip approached Jesus and said, "Well, I want to see the Father." Jesus said, "In effect, Philip, not only have you seen Him, you're talking to Him right now." So if you want to know what God would have done in any given situation, take a good look at Jesus. You know Jesus acted like God. Look at him at the grave of Lazarus.

00:28:04.220 - 00:28:20.220

You thought God would make a day. Come back who's been dead so long today. Come on. Look at him. Taking a little spill of clay.

00:28:20.220 - 00:28:35.220

Working in a blind man's house. Providing for the house. Look at him about three o'clock in the morning. Walking up on Water River.

00:28:35.220 - 00:28:51.460

And a common raging fire. (laughing) [BLANK_AUDIO]