Beeson Podcast, Episode # Bishop Gerry W. Macklin Date >>Announcer: Welcome to the Beeson podcast, coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Now your host, Timothy George. >>Timothy George: Welcome to this week’s Beeson Podcast. Dr. Robert Smith and I are here once again to introduce a great voice from the contemporary pulpit. Today we have the privilege of hearing a sermon by Bishop Gerry W. Macklin. Let me tell you a little bit about him. He and I are friends. We serve together on the board of Prison Fellowship Ministries. So, I’ve had a chance to get to know him, to hear and see his heart up close – a man of great compassion; tremendous ability to proclaim the Word of God. He is the pastor of the Glad Tidings Church of God in Christ in Hayward, California. I tell you – you’re going to be blessed by this sermon by my friend, Bishop Macklin. Do you agree, Dr. Smith? >>Dr. Smith: Most definitely. This is a sermon, Dean George, in which Bishop Macklin plead with the Lord not to let him preach at the pastor’s school because he said after it’s over he would not have a friend. It’s the prophetic voice of the preacher. >Timothy George: Watchman, What of the Night? That’s the title of the sermon, taken from the book of Isaiah, chapter 21. >>Dr. Smith: That’s correct. >>Timothy George: He uses this image of the watchman. He points out that we’re all in ministry, called to be watchman. And what a weighty responsibility that carries. What is a watchman? >>Dr. Smith: A watchman is one who looks and see what people cannot see. Because they are down and he is up on the wall. Therefore, his responsibility is to warn them of the danger. What Bishop Macklin does is to challenge not only the church but challenge culture and to say to us in essence that God has an eraser. That’s one of his metaphors. And that God can erase, since he has a memory, God can erase persons who get to high than they ought to be and fail to remember why they were called into the ministry. >>Timothy George: What I like so much about this sermon is it’s so rooted in the text of Isaiah and the scriptures and the biblical narrative. And yet it is a marvelous application of that to our own context and culture today. It’s dark, it’s night in America he says. >>Dr. Smith: Yes. Yes. >>Timothy George: So, Watchman, What of the Night? But there’s another part of that text. We better listen to- >>Dr. Smith: Morning comes. >>Timothy George: Morning comes. >>Dr. Smith: And this is what is so wonderful I think about this sermon in that he closes with an eschatological hope. And talks about the morning and shows that Christ is the ultimate fulfillment of that morning in that the Word becomes flesh and that Christ will come back again and bring the morning where there will be no more night. >>Timothy George: The Church of God in Christ in which Bishop Macklin serves as a Bishop is one of the great Pentecostal denominations in our country and indeed in the world. And it fosters this kind of spirit anointed preaching. Let’s listen to Bishop Gerry W. Macklin, a sermon “Watchman, What of the Night?” >>Macklin: Thank you so very, very much to my dear friend and brother in the Lord, Dr. Timothy George. What a joy to be here this evening and to be with him. And to be with all of the saints of the Lord who have gathered here from far and near for this great conference that has so profoundly impacted this country, as people have come here for years and have been inspired and gone away to do great and wonderful exploits for the Lord. I solicit your prayers. I’m not going to tell you that I am nervous and I’m not afraid. I just feel a little bit scared. But other than that I’m fine. The last time I felt these butterflies this bad I was in Indonesia and standing in front of 25,000 people that I did not understand them and I was sure they didn’t understand me. And I said, “Lord, how do you preach when nobody understands you?” Thank God for the interpretation that was there, the interpreter that helped us on that evening. This evening I want to bring to your memory, and I started to walk in here with them but I knew I would be criticized severely so I left them on my desk in the room. Because I didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot. But I had these newspaper articles that I was going to bring because somebody told me once that a preacher is supposed to have a newspaper in one hand and a bible in the other. And so I was going to bring them in and then I chickened out. There were four articles that I have been holding onto over the past few days. One article speaks of a fire that ravages the Santa Cruz mountains in California. And the line underneath it said, “Homeowners outraged.” The next article said, “[inaudible 00:05:26] Bank Goes Under. Financial Markets Threatened.” The next line said, “The investigation begins.” The next article talked about the salmonella poisoning that’s going on right now and that has been difficult for anybody to detect. We’ve wiped out the tomato industry and now we’re getting ready to wipe out the peppers. People are passing away and others are looking for someone to blame. And then one that was very dear to my heart that I just kind of ... my heart started pumping ... it said, “Air controllers complain that they can’t keep up. Flying public in danger.” Now, when you fly 100,000 miles a year that article will get your attention. The first thing that they all had in common was this: every one of them was depending on somebody else to watch out for them. And the second thing that they had in common was this: that all of them were disappointed and angry. Tonight I ask you to turn in your bibles with us again to our text that is found in Isaiah 21. Our reader has already shared with us so graciously that chapter, those first twelve verses, I will not read beyond that. Allow me just simply again to read versus 11 and 12. Now this evening the Dean said to me, “Now Bishop Macklin, I want you to just be at home. Just be yourself. Just act like you’re at home. And make yourself at home.” And I believe him. So, since he wants me to act like I’m at home. I’m going to ask you to do what we do at home and that’s we stand when I read the verses of scripture. Is that all right? If not, you may be seated but if it’s all right, remain standing. Isaiah 21:11 – “The burden of Dumah, he calleth to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?” The watchman said, “The morning cometh and also the night. If he will inquire, inquire ye, return come.” I want to talk to you this evening for just a little while from a subject entitled “The Role of the Midnight Watchman.” The role of the midnight watchman. Now before you sit down, in the tradition of our church we talk to each other. I have been in some churches where people talk, that means you have about three minutes to sit down. But I’m going to ask you just to look at somebody near you that looks friendly. Do not do this if they do not. But if you’re standing next to anyone that looks friendly, would you simply ask them, “Are you still in the tower?” [crosstalk 00:08:29] You may be seated. Not too long ago it was late in the evening a few months ago, a few weeks ago, a warm summer night when all of a sudden lightning began to light up the skies and there was no rain in Northern California. But lightning began to flash across the skies of Northern California. And it appeared almost like a Fourth of July celebration. Within days thousands of fires were discovered burning throughout California. And one in particular was in the Santa Cruz mountains and from where I live I could see the smoke coming out. They eventually put that fire out but it had a great toll that it had taken on that mountainside. And in particular, there was one lady who was absolutely livid. She was so mad. And she called a news conference to tell her story. She lived in the Santa Cruz mountains. And she was aware that no individual, it was not an arsonist that started that fire, it was an act, as they say, of God, an act of nature. But she was mad and wanted to sue the rangers. And somebody said, “Why do you want to sue them?” She said, “Because when the fire began to rage up this hill, I heard no sirens, I heard no horns, nobody called us, nobody warned us. And as I was running for my life to get out, I saw the ranger station and I ran up to the ranger station to see what they were doing about the fire.” And she said, “When I got there I looked in the window and the firemen were at the table playing cards. Having a good time and was not even aware.” And she shouted to the top of her voice, “Mountain on fire!” For which they began to move and do the necessary things. She said, “I’m not mad, because the fire started. Nobody could stop that. But I’m upset because those that were supposed to watch for me were negligent in their job.” If you’re the watchman for fire, stay awake. If you are the watchman for financial markets, and trends, stay alert. If you are on the board as a watchman for food and safety, remain vigilant. If you are the watchman in the control tower in the airports I fly in, please, please pay attention. Your mistake can be harmful to others and it can be deadly. Preacher, teacher, CEO, president, leader, director, administrator, pulpit chair, director of social services – all honorable names, all positions that describe the very role of ministers in the 21st century church. But I ask you tonight my friends here in Birmingham, when is the last time the pastoral search committee included the word “watchman” in a job description? When is the last time you heard the pastor or the preacher for the evening introduced as “Ladies and Gentlemen, our speaker tonight, the Watchman in the tower?” Travel with me tonight, if you will, to Iraq, the Assyria of yesterday, to a little place called Edom, south of Judah. Today Iraq is a place of war but yesterday it was a place where countries gathered and where many nations stuck out their chest and boasted of their own power and their own strength. Isaiah, that strange prophet, that strange man of God who prophesied over the term of four separate kings and in the end had his body sawed in two. Left his mark upon his time. And in chapters 13 to 23 he gives us a series of oracles; gives us a picture of the [inaudible 00:13:04] garden of yesterday. You’re here but in God’s tomorrow you can be over there. Isaiah was strange, Isaiah he was. One of the things that he did prior to this chapter here is that when Israel decided that what we’ll do is just make some alliances with some other nations and if we make them our friends everything will be fine. Isaiah said, “No, you will not.” And for three years he dressed up like a prisoner of war and walked around in those loin clothes to protest the very thought of depending on anybody else other than God. And so those nations of Babylon: Moab, Damascus, Ethiopia, Egypt, Arabia, Tyre ... all of them would soon learn that delayed judgment does not mean cancelled judgment. God does have a memory. Charles Edward Jefferson years ago said that the minister is a prophet of the Lord. He is a truth teller and therefore most of all must be a truth seeker. Paul [inaudible 00:14:12] Professor of Preaching at Union many years ago said, “Nothing can do people good without disturbing them. And nothing will disturb them to any lasting effect unless it disturbs them deeply.” And there are no pre fabricated substitutes for the disturbing gospel of a redeeming God. Isaiah was guilty of disturbing the peace. Yes, he was. Isaiah did not fit the mold of the preachers of the 21st century. As a matter of fact, he had a way of disturbing people. He reminded me of my mother. Who embraced both spanking and psychology. She would not do well in our society today. And she had a way of working on you mentally. I didn’t realize that she was a psychologist until later. And she would say things like, “Keep on cutting up.” Now you’ve got to be from the South to understand what that means. “Mm hmm, Mm hmm, don’t stop, just keep on.” “Oh, I wouldn’t quit if I were you.” “Go on, go on!” I tell you, my friends, Isaiah ... as if he was saying to all of those nations who were doing all of those evil things, “Go on, keep on. You bad, you grown, just keep on. You got all the power in the world in your hands. Go on. Just do what you want to do.” But like my mother, he always was aware that there’s a switch on the tree. And there’s going to be a come to Jesus meeting after awhile. The Lord lifts up Isaiah for us. And we begin to get this picture of him as the watchman in the tower. In verse five of the 21st chapter we hear him prepare the table and watch in the watch tower. The Lord said unto me, “Go, set a watchman, let him declare what he seeth.” In verse eight we hear, “I stand continually upon the watch tower in the day time. I am set in my ward all night.” From the watch tower he hears this word in a vision much like the man from Macedonia who said, “Come over and help us.” He hears this word, “Behold, here cometh the chariot of men with a couple of horsemen.” And he answered and said, “Babylon has fallen. Babylon has fallen. And all the graven images of her god have woken to the ground.” By the time we get to verse eleven, Isaiah is hearing clearly now. And he hears this desperate panicking voice, a voice that is gripped by fear in the grand canyon’s of the darkest night. Watchman on the wall, what of the night? Watchman, watchman? I hear the footsteps of the marching soldiers in the darkness, our enemies are coming upon us. How long will this last? Watchman, watchman, what of the night? The voice calls out of the stillness, “How long, the suffering? How long, the misery? How long, the pain? How long, this confusion? How long, the fear? How long, will it last? Watchman, tell us, is there any hope of day? Is there any sign of light? Is there a ray from the sun? Watchman, you’re in the watch tower, tell me what you see. Watchman, what of the night? It’s dark where we are.” Isaiah the watchman gives us a short prophetic answer. And he simply answers back, “The morning cometh! And also the night. If you will inquire, inquire ye return, come.” [inaudible 00:18:43] are names for Eden. Duma was actually a word play that Isaiah exercised because Duma really means stillness or silence. Those who lived in Edom were actually descendants of Esau. Whose nickname was “red” for Edom. Edom was a rugged land of red sandstones and people were bitterly hostile against the Jews. And when you read the history of it they went out of their way to make sure that the Jews were uncomfortable. Isaiah answered them back in a strange way. He answered them by speaking to them of silence. Silence was Isaiah’s way of introducing Edom to the eraser of God. “Go ahead and act up, continue to mistreat God’s people, go ahead, Edom.” God has an eraser with your name on it. Edom did not heed the invitation, the nation was taken by Babylon and then by the Persians and finally by the Romans. But when you read history carefully you discover that after AD 70 you don’t read of Edom anymore. Do you know why? Because Edom was introduced to the eraser of God. God has a way of erasing you. Be careful when you think you’re more important than you ought to be. Be careful when you think of yourself more highly than you ought. Because God has a way of allowing us to understand that you’re not God! You’re simply my creation. In other words, Isaiah took the time to read them their obituary before their funeral. The morning cometh and also the night. If we will inquire, inquire ye return, come. Three simple words: inquire, return, come. Inquire, return, come. Seek the Lord. Turn from sin. Return to him. Come to him. And he’ll receive you. In other words, there’s a window of opportunity in the darkness of the night, there’s a window. In the darkness of the night there is a light that shines, but only briefly. In the darkness of the night there is a ray of hope. But you have to lay on it quickly. In the vision, the voice from Edom [inaudible 00:21:17] dark night cries out, but my brothers and sisters, I ask you to whom did that voice cry? Notice, that voice did not cry to the King of Babylon. That voice did not cry out to the city officials of Edom. That voice did not cry out to neighbors and friends who themselves are grouping in darkness. No, that’s not who they cried to. Because when people get in trouble, I don’t care how much they say they’re an Atheist, let trouble come. I’ve never seen so many Atheists converted as I did on 9/11. I saw wholesale revival. I saw people who said, “I don’t believe in God.” I saw them saying, “Our Father, which art in heaven...” It’s amazing how crisis can bring you to a place of conviction. Who can help us? Who understands who we are? Who is it that can see through the darkness and tell me what I cannot see with my natural eyes? It’s dark. My brothers and sisters, night is a dangerous time. More crimes are committed at night. More murders are committed at night. More people die late in the night. More robberies take place in the night. More rapes take place in the night. Fire seems most devastating in the night. And when you awake to the smell of smoke in the night it is an absolutely horrific experience. Night provides a covering for what we cannot see so well. Watchman’s were to stand guard. To watch over things that were valuable. Perhaps treasure, perhaps a person, perhaps a city. And from the height and protection of the water that watch tower, they were supposed to be able to see what those beneath them could not see. They worked strange hours those watchmen. Yes, they do. Because during the daytime people don’t need you to watch as much because they can see for themselves. But while they’re asleep they need a watchman. Yes. Watchman guard, they watch over cities and fields, they look for thieves and [inaudible 00:23:42] animals. While the military are civil persons, our security, they had to protect the ancient towns and the military installations from surprise attacks. Watchmen also had the responsibility of announcing, “It’s the dawning of a new day!” “It’s the dawning of a new day! The sun will soon shine.” Nehemiah appointed watchmen to guard the walls of Jerusalem during their rebuilding. Oftentimes watchmen also worked as guardians and as policemen for the city. But nobody explains to us what a watchman is as it relates to ministry. As it relates to the prophetic call that is upon every one of us here tonight. Nobody gives us definition of the watchman. Not the search committee. Nobody gives it to us like God. II Samuel 18 where David is sitting between the gates we get a picture of what the watchman is about. Because the bible says between verses 24-27, “The watchman went up to the roof. The watchman lifted up his eyes and looked. The watchman cried and told the king. The watchman saw another man running. The watchman called unto the porter.” My brothers and my sisters, I say to you tonight that the business of a watchman does not belong to anybody who is not alert. It does not belong to anybody who is asleep at the wheel. It does not belong to anybody who is preoccupied with preoccupations. No sir. II Kings 9:17 says, “And there stood a watchman on the [inaudible 00:25:23] on the tower in Jezreel.” Psalm 127:1 “Except the Lord keep the city watchman awaketh, but in vain.” Jeremiah 6:10 grabs us in the collar and shakes us, “To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? To whom shall I give this warning? To whom can I trust to warn those that are sleeping?” In the contrast to the faithful prophets Isaiah compares the leaders of Israel to a blind watchman who lack the ability to see Israel’s danger. The prophets who served in Israel’s time were watchman who not only could see what was happening but they were also the first ones to see the coming destruction of Israel. But there can be no greater passages on the watchman and the great challenge that is before us, the duty that lies upon us, and the challenge that God has placed in front of us, the definition of a watchman in Ezekiel ... that’s where it gets a little tough ... it’s here where the rubber meets the road. I have a son that is an outstanding track star and he told me he would rank I think number five in the nation a couple years ago in junior college. But then he said, “Dad, I want to run division one. I want to go to a division one school.” I said, “Where do you want to go?” He said, “I want to go to Texas, TCU. They have one of the best teams around. I want to run for them.” I said, “Son, those fellows run rabbits for lunch. Those are some pretty big boys.” And he said, “Dad, that’s where I want to go.” What he was really saying is, “I want to be in a place where the rubber meets the road.” We have a whole lot of people in ministry today that want to join the ministry but they join the ministry for the wrong reasons. They’re very much like that lady from Velao, CA who joined the Army and after a few months in the Army they gave her papers and told her, “You’re going to Iraq.” She said, “No, I’m not.” They said, “Yes, you are.” She said, “No, I’m not.” They said, “We gave you an order.” She said, “Those folks haven’t done nothing to me and I ain’t doing nothing to them. I ain’t going.” They called her in and said, “We’re court marshaling you.” She said, “I don’t care. I ain’t going over there.” They said, “What is wrong with you? Why did you join the Army?” She said, “I joined for the benefits.” (laughter) My brothers and sisters, there’s a whole lot of people who get into ministry for the benefits because they think it has a lot of benefits that go with it. But you gotta read the small print before you sign on the dotted line. Oh, bless the name of the Lord. Hallelujah. I’m trying not to act Pentecostal. Ezekiel 3:17, “Son of Man, I have made thee a watchman unto the House of Israel.” Oh, listen to the words of the Lord, “I am the one that made you a watchman. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth and give them warning for me. Hear the word at my mouth.” Not CNN, my mouth! Not the latest commentator, my mouth! Not the social architects of our society, but my mouth! I’m the one that has the word of life. Hear me. Hear me. But if the watchman see the sword coming and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned, if the sword come and take any person from among them, he has taken away his iniquity but his blood will I require at the hand of the watchman. You better read the small print. So, “thou Son of Man, I have set thee a watchman unto the House of Israel. Therefore thou shall hear the word in my mouth and warn them for me.” Let me hurry to a close. In our tradition we close three times. I suggest to you tonight in the strongest terms that I can that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Edom is dark. Duma is silent. But would you not agree with me tonight that Edom is not the only dark place? Edom is not the only place of darkness. Edom is not the only place that leads to light. Would you not agree with me tonight? Here in this 21st century that many of the communities in which we live are in the dark? When there are two million people in jail and we only just flinch and look at it and walk away like it’s nothing. It speaks to us of the darkness. When 4% of the next generation is currently telling you I don’t believe, I believe in the bible and 96% said I don’t, that’s our future, those are our kids. And while they’re dancing to rap music, while they’re involved in rock music, while they’re involved in every kind of activity and we think it’s cute – somebody better ask them if they know what a bible looks like. When pornography has become a $57 million a year industry in this country. When $3 billion a year is spent on pornography for children only ... when the California Supreme Court decided they did not want to be Supreme Court Justices they wanted to be theologians and professors at some of the world’s best seminaries and then came back and rather than interpret the Constitution decided to interpret Genesis 2 and 24 and re-define marriage. I say to you it’s dark. It’s dark in America. When adoption centers are running over with throw-away babies and we advertise have a baby and drop it off at the fire department. No questions asked. When we live in a throw-away baby society wouldn’t you agree that it’s dark? When alcoholism and drugs have a stranglehold on us and rather than preach against the sin we tell people you have a disease. It’s dark. When the Stock Exchange can sell stock in a prison and allow people to buy stock and shares in a prison where they are literally being rewarded for locking up people and the worse they act the more money we make on them. It’s dark in America! Yes, it is. The other day in California the Governor and I, the Governator and I, we have our differences. I won’t go into all of that. I won’t put his business in the street. But I will tell you, the other day when he came out and said, “I have a way to balance our budget here in California. I know it’s off. I know education is taking a big hit. But I have a way to fix it. We’re going to expand the lottery and open up more places for gambling. We’re going to borrow from the lottery fund to help sustain education.” I said, “No, you’re not either. Because we already know that the majority of the people that play the lottery are poor people. So, now we’re going to encourage them to give away the money that they do not have to pay for education while others get away free. No, we’re not.” Today, the watchman must deal with self salvation schemes. Transactional analysis, spirits of the occult, the new morality, humanism, yes, we’ve got to embrace the moderns and post moderns. And the new temptation to advertise smorgasbord churches. Tell me what you want and I’ll deliver it for you. You want more sermons that make you happy? We’ll do that. You want me to promise you a car in your driveway? We’ll do that. You want me to promise you that you won’t have any more trouble, no more trials, adversity, come on to our church, pick which sermon you want today, allow the jukebox preacher to preach your favorite sermon. I ask you as I try to close for the second time, what about your community? Is it dark where you live? Last Sunday, millions of people went to church, millions of people sat in front of elaborate pulpits. Millions watch men and women as they came into the pulpits dressed in clergical attire. Many watched others as they walked to the sacred desk with such dignity and poise. But while some are undoubtedly impressed by style, education, positions, and titles – do you suppose tonight that there may have been anybody that showed up last Sunday at your church simply to ask, “Watchman, what of the night?” Do you suppose that anybody showed up at your church last week who was not overwhelmed by your building, but simply to ask, “How long will my suffering last?” Is it remotely possible that someone showed up to your church and said, “Hey, watchman in the tower, I brought my son here last month and nobody can do anything about it and he’s still a lunatic.” Hey you, up there in the tower, preacher, hey you, up there in that pulpit, did you talk to God this morning? Did you tell him what’s going on down here? Hey, watchman, you’ve been up all night. Did you talk to God last night? Did you tell him about my runaway daughter? Watchman, did you tell him that our children have lost every interest in God? Watchman, did you tell God what’s going on in my neighborhood? How long will this last? Watchman, are you awake? I see your car. Are you awake? I see you on television. Are you awake? I see they gave you a position at the city council. I also heard the best way to quiet a prophet is to give him a promotion. Are you awake? If the watchman for the fire needs to stay away, if the watchman for financial markets needs to stay alert, if the watchman for food and safety still needs to be vigilant, if the watchman for the control in the tower needs to stay awake – I ask you tonight: What about preachers? What about those of us in ministry? Can we afford to sleep at a time like this? Can we afford to turn our back on the world that’s going through right now? My brothers and sisters, I plead with you tonight, I wrestle with this message for so long I said, “God, please don’t make me go there and preach this. I won’t have a friend left nowhere.” Hallelujah. I’ll never forget that when we came to Hayward, California the church was fine and then all of a sudden crack showed up. Turned the neighborhood upside-down. And when that got so bad there were many people who said to us, “Get out of the neighborhood. This is a bad neighborhood.” My assistant pastor is here. He’ll tell you. I remember telling him, “Everybody be still.” And on a Sunday morning while it was raining down so bad I got up out of the church and I said, “I’ll be back. And I walked all the way around that neighborhood that everybody said was bad and everybody was waiting for me to say, ‘we’re going to move to a different city where it’s not so bad for the neighborhood.’ And I stood up at that pulpit that morning and I said, light shines brightest where darkest. And if the gospel is the gospel, it will work anywhere. We’re not going nowhere! We’re going to let this light shine. Lord, this little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” Yes! Now, let me close for real. What draws us to the tower week after week? What encourages us to return to the tower after we’ve been talked about, made fun of? What encourages us to come back to the tower week after week? And deal with the [inaudible 00:38:08] of our time? What causes us to answer the question, “Is there a word from the Lord beside?” Likewise my friends, just like I must preach about the darkness it cannot be the gospel if I don’t preach about the light. Hallelujah. Yes, Edom is dark. But I need to tell you that I see a window and Israel, I want you to know that there is a window of light. And I hear the bible saying to us, “Arise, and shine for thy light has come.” Behold, I stand at the door and knock and if any man open the door I’ll come in and sup with him and he with me. Come now, and let us reason together. If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. The thief comes to steal, to kill, and destroy but I have come that you might have life. And have it more abundantly. My brothers and sisters, don’t let people leave your church on Sunday morning without pointing them to the light. They’re in darkness all week but on Sunday morning somebody ought to see the light shining ... see a ray of light coming and every time I think of Jesus I see that light. But I need to tell you today that I not only see that light here, but what encourages me to keep on going in that I see the light of another tomorrow when all of God’s children from every background and color shall gather around the throne in heaven. And I like what Jesus said when he was having that last supper with his disciples and he turned around and said, “Listen, I’m not going to do this with you anymore until I do it with you in my Father’s Kingdom.” And that means that somewhere in Heaven there’s a long communion table, all of God’s children are going to gather. There is a light that I’ve got to get to. And I’m going through what I’m going through down here but I see a light coming. I see a day coming. And somebody said, “Well, we have time.” No, it’s a brief window. For those of us that are here it’s the church age, it’s the time when Jesus rose from the dead, and the time that he returns again. And the bible said it does not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when Christ shall appear we’re going to be like him. Somebody bring the light home. Somebody stand in your tower. Don’t be afraid to lift up your voice. And remember the words of the old Southern Baptist preacher, Vance Abner. Who said, “God has not given us a fiddle to play. But he gave us a trumpet to blow.” And I hope that everybody in here will leave this place tonight determined I’m going to stand in that tower and I’m going to blow that trumpet like I’ve never blown it before. Because people are in the dark. And only God’s light can deliver them. Would you stand with us? Our gracious God, our Lord, and our Savior Jesus the Christ. Thank you that you’ve given us the privilege to stand in the watch tower. Thank you that you have assigned us to walk on the wall; that we are to see what the others cannot. Lord, you told us that when we see danger to blow the trumpet. Allow us to lift up our voice like a trumpet. Allow us to sound the alarm, the mountain is on fire. Lord, I ask now for special outpouring of your grace upon every person that is in this house right now. I ask right now for a special outpouring of your grace. There are men and women who are here right now who are discouraged in their ministry. There are men and women who are here right now who have gone through so much they feel like I can’t go on another day. But God, I ask now that you would pour our your spirit within them as never before. And let it be like Jeremiah, may it be like fire [inaudible 00:42:38] in their bones. Bless them now and anoint them. For the task that lies ahead. For in these dark days this little light of ours, we must let it shine. And may our voices be heard from every [inaudible 00:42:55] and every ghetto, may it be heard Lord to the places where Zacchaeus sits. May it be heard to everybody. Wherever they might be. And may all of us discover quickly that the ground around the cross is always level. We receive your spirit and your blessings. Give us courage for the days ahead. In your name we pray. Thank God. Watch tower is signing off. >>Rob Willis: You’ve been listening to the Beeson podcast; coming to you from the campus of Samford University. Our theme music is by Advent Birmingham. Our announcer is Mike Pasquarello. Our engineer is Rob Willis. And our show host is Doug Sweeney. For more episodes and to subscribe, visit www.BeesonDivinity.com/podcast. You can also find the Beeson Podcast on iTunes and Spotify.