Program Success September 2008 | Page 13

13 FROM GOD’S CORNER By Aundra Bryant Tallahassee, Florida Several years ago, Reverend Jasper Williams of the Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia recorded a soul stirring, thought provoking sermon entitled “If Walls Could Talk.” In thinking about the title, my mind ran back to the book of Nehemiah, Chapter Six where we find Nehemiah’s three adversaries Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem trying to discourage him and getting down right angry at his attempt to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Verses 1-4 states, 1 When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates- 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages [a] on the plain of Ono.” But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer. There are three things that the walls would tell us today if they could talk. Firstly, the walls would tell us that it is time for a change. The reason that the rich upper class does not want a change in Washington is because they want the status quo to remain on top where the rich can continue to get richer and the poor poorer. Former Fulton County Commissioner Reginald Eaves said once that “the rich get all they can, can all they get and then sit on the can”. The Word of God tells us that “when you have done it to the least of these, you have done it unto me”. We hear it repeated every Sunday during the benevolence offering, “If a man sees his brother in need and shuts up his bowels of compassion, where is the love of God within him?” The Church of Jesus Christ today has a great challenge because not only must we be concerned about saving the souls of our brothers and sisters, we have to be concerned about their family, their children and their livelihood. Dr. Barbara Reynolds, well known journalist put it this way, “people don’t care about how much you know until they find out how much you care”. Secondly, the walls would tell us that you can’t build a house without walls. In other words, we can’t make this journey without the Lord. Remember, that the Israelites were God’s chosen people, a peculiar people and a blessed people. However, when you forget about God and start placing gods before him you are headed for trouble. The prophet Nehemiah encouraged the people not to be intimidated and that they could complete the walls with the help of the Lord. Many times we have to remind our young people that what you’ve learned God taught you, where you plan to go in life, God will have to take you there and what you have accumulated God gave it to you. We as the people of God should be the first ones to enter the House of God on Sunday morning because as the Mighty Clouds of Joy sing, “I get a blessing every day, on Monday, he gives me peace of mind, Tuesday, he gives me joy divine, on Wednesday, hears every word I say, on Thursday, he’ll always make away, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I get a blessing every day.” Finally, the walls would tell us that the best is yet to come and no one or nothing can keep us down. One of the greatest weapons that Satan tries to use on the people of God is that of discouragement. A father was giving his son a lesson on Black History and he began to name all of the great men and women who contributed to not only America but the world as a whole. The father asked his son about a man whom the son never had heard of before. The son replied “Dad, I’ve never heard of him before”. The father replied “Do you know why? because he gave up”. Satan feels that if he can somehow discourage the saints and make them feel that God has forgotten about them, he can lead us astray. Our young people are faced with obstacles every day that Satan has tried to place in their way and block their path. We hear of so much crime and devastating news about our young men who would rather turn to a life of crime than to pursue and focus their minds on positive goals that help produce bright, responsible and law abiding citizens. The negative folks will tell them that working that low paying job or going to that boring class will lead you nowhere. The Word of God tells us in Ephesians “now unto him who is able to do abundantly exceeding above anything that we could ever ask, according to his power that is at work within us”. We need some more Nehemiahs in 2008 because there are too many great minds being wasted, eyes losing their insight, hands being placed in handcuffs, legs being shackled and voices being hushed, never to speak again. There is a story told of a black man name Joe who worked in a brickyard. The other white workers would throw racial slurs and very nasty comments at him every day while he was working. Joe pondered in his heart what to do and he came up with an idea. Joe said to himself, “every time they call me out of my name, I am going to take a