God, Race, and How We Move Forward -- Derek Grier
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00:00This is what's important, we tend to get promoted to do the job we're already doing.
00:10So, some of y'all say, well, I'll do that, I'll do this. You know, when I get my big break,
00:14no, no, no. We tend to get promoted to do the job we're already doing. Start doing the thing
00:20God's assigned you and you say you're gifted to do and watch your gift eventually, over time,
00:26make room for you. The question is no longer who's going to let me, but who's going to stop me.
00:33See, if you're really faithful, God will promote you. Promotion doesn't come from the east or the
00:38west, it comes from God. And if you're faithful with little, he'll put you over much.
00:44Acts 17 and verse 16. Now while Paul waited for them, as you could tell, we're in the middle of
01:04chapter 17, so some stuff had already gone on. But what the Bible is saying is Paul was waiting
01:11on Silas and Timothy. But we're about to see something about Paul that we can learn from.
01:16Paul didn't need golden invitations to do his thing. He didn't need special circumstances to
01:21do his thing. All he needed was wherever he could find an audience, he was willing to share the
01:28Gospel. I know for me, back when I was 20 years old, I started preaching at flagpoles. I started
01:38preaching on street corners, in dorm rooms, in cars, over phones, on the bus, door to door,
01:44long before anybody ever invited me into a pulpit. In fact, every Friday night,
01:50there'd be young people that met in the basement of Rankin Chapel, and we would worship, we would
01:55pray, and then one day I found myself preaching. Did not expect to do it, I just found myself
02:01preaching. But this is what's important. We tend to get promoted to do the job we're already doing.
02:13So, some of y'all say, well I'll do that, I'll do this. You know, when I get my big break,
02:17no, no, no. We tend to get promoted to do the job we're already doing. Start doing the thing
02:23God's assigned you, and you say you're gifted to do, and watch your gift eventually, over time,
02:29make room for you. So, Paul waited for them at Athens, and up to this point in history,
02:38Athens had largely been the cultural center of the world. This went on for centuries. I mean,
02:45its impact on art, architecture, philosophy, science, all that was unparalleled. But by the
02:51time that Paul visited, Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, all those guys were long gone,
02:57and Athens was only a shadow of its former glory. You know, whenever a nation, a people, a family
03:05stop growing, they start dying. And Abraham Lincoln said, he said,
03:10every generation must do its own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.
03:16And if our generation stops growing, and stops reaching, and expanding, just like
03:25ancient Athens, we will also be a thing of the past. So, he's waiting in Athens, and he's looking
03:35around, and he's getting familiar with the sites. He had probably never been there before. But the
03:41Bible says Paul's spirit was provoked. His heart was grieved. His heart was vexed, and his heart
03:49was broken within him, the Bible says. And may we have the spirit of the ancients.
03:56May God break our hearts with everything that breaks His heart. So, as he looked at what was
04:02happening with the people, and the idolatry that filled the land, his heart just went out to the
04:10people. You know, somebody said, tolerance is often indifference in disguise. I'm preaching
04:15better than you saying amen. And he saw this, and he was provoked within him, when he saw that the
04:27city was given over to idols. There were manufactured gods in every corner, worshiped in
04:35every house. He turned on the television, and you know, there was all this, you know, everyone kind
04:41of had their own truth, focused on only certain truths, and everybody just kind of manufactured a
04:47concept of God. But Paul had traveled to that city to remind them that all truth is God's truth.
04:57And if all truth comes from God, one day we'll all give an account to God
05:04for the truth we choose to ignore, or the truth claims we choose to believe.
05:12Therefore, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers. Now,
05:20Paul is like, you know, all of us. We tend to gravitate to where we're comfortable, where we're
05:26familiar. And he knew his people, he knew his culture, and he started where he was.
05:34And the only thing that God ever asked of us is to start where we are, use what we have, and do what
05:40we can. And that's exactly what Paul did. So, he starts in the synagogue, but we see an expansion
05:48here, and in the marketplace daily with those who happen to be there. So, it seems that Paul did so
05:57well in the synagogue that they took him out into the marketplace to reach even more people.
06:04You see, it's faithfulness on our present level that opens doors for opportunities
06:09in the next level. You hear what I'm saying here? You got to learn to be faithful where you are.
06:15Faithful. What little will make you faithful over much? You say, well, Bishop, when I get,
06:20you know, a platform like that, or money like that, or a job like that, then I'll do X, Y,
06:25and Z. If you're not faithful with little, you're not going to be faithful with much.
06:30So, you got to learn faithfulness in the small places.
06:38I remember when I first came to Woodbridge, the Lord spoke to my heart. He said, son,
06:44I need to be big in a small place. He didn't say, Derek, you're going to be big. I was surprised
06:51that all the Lord has done. He said, no, you need to be big in a small place. But there's so many
06:58people too big for a small place. I'm preaching better than you saying amen. Verse 22, then,
07:10which is important, Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus. So, we see he preached in church,
07:19then the marketplace, but like I said, your gift has a way of making room for you.
07:24And they eventually led him to the Areopagus. You know that word, Areopagus.
07:33I've learned if I'm faithful with the small opportunities that God puts in front of me,
07:38the question is no longer who's going to let me, but who's going to stop me.
07:44See, if you're really faithful, God will promote you. Promotion doesn't come from the east or the
07:49west. It comes from God. And if you're faithful with little, He'll put you over much.
07:57So, here it says that, again, he starts in the synagogue, and then he steps into the marketplace,
08:04and then he's in the Areopagus. I know that word. I don't know what the challenge is, but
08:09the Areopagus. And the Bible says he didn't fall down, he didn't faint, talking about,
08:14I'm not ready for this. You know what, I'm not the type of speaker. No, he said he stood in the
08:19midst, shoulders squared, looking folk in the eyes, in the midst of the Areopagus, which literally
08:27means Supreme Court. You see, in Greek mythology, it was the place the war god Ares was tried by
08:35the other Greek gods for murdering Poseidon's son. By the way, he was acquitted. I would say it this
08:44way, the Areopagus to the philosophers was what the Apollo Theater was to black music in the 30s,
08:5240s, 50s, and 60s. All the serious philosophers went there to hear the latest and to be heard.
08:59So suddenly, he comes from the synagogue into the marketplace, and now he's in the Areopagus
09:06stomping with the big dogs. You see, God knows how to promote you when you're faithful with little.
09:14So he stood up, squared his shoulders, and he said, men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you
09:22are very religious. Now we can learn from Paul here, because the way he used the term was not
09:29an insult. He began with a compliment. And like grandma used to tell us, you catch more flies
09:36with honey than you do with vinegar. You got to learn that. For as I was passing through
09:44and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription,
09:53to the unknown God. You see, Paul understood that no one, not even your worst enemy, gets everything
10:04wrong. And if you look for the good in others, you will eventually find it.
10:11A famous writer once said, he said, we can find common ground only by moving to higher ground.
10:18I've discovered it takes more intellect, more brain power to find similarities between people
10:24than to point out the difference. Pay attention if you're listening.
10:28Therefore, the one whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you.
10:37You see, the Greeks were smart enough to admit they didn't know everything.
10:41They had a whole lot of gods, but just in case they missed a god.
10:45You see, a know-it-all is any person knows everything except how annoying he or she is.
10:51A little humility can go a long way, but I want you to still keep in mind we're going somewhere.
11:03This opportunity at the Areopagus came to the man who first took that small opportunity in
11:09the synagogue. Great opportunities come to those who make the most of small ones.
11:16God who made the world—actually, after this point, you know, He establishes some common ground, and
11:23He encourages them and compliments them where He can, but now He's about to go to preaching.
11:32And no matter your platform, you need to stay true to your convictions.
11:36God doesn't change, truth doesn't change, and no matter where you go, you need to take God's truth.
11:42You need to take God's truth. So, watch what He says. He said,
11:49God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, watch this,
11:56and does not dwell in temples made with hands. So, He's saying God is not some idol that you
12:07can manufacture. He only corrects after He connects. Learn to connect before you correct.
12:16You hear what I'm saying? You see, everyone has an equal right to speak,
12:24but not everyone has necessarily done the relationship building needed to be heard.
12:30So, He digs in. He says, nor is He worshipped with man's hand—watch this—as though He needed
12:40anything. You see, God doesn't need our worship. God doesn't have—He's not going through some
12:49type of identity crisis that He needs you to tell Him who He is because He has forgotten.
12:55He's not insecure. He's not—God doesn't need our worship. Watch this. We need our worship
13:07to recalibrate our drifting priorities and remember where our help truly comes from.
13:13Worship's that opportunity for me to remember, God, You are creator. I am creature.
13:19God, I'm remembering, Lord. I've drifted a little bit, and I need to come back to You.
13:24God, I need to remember that You are the great God. Besides You, God, there's none other,
13:29and our worship is simply us acknowledging what's true. We're not trying to flatter God.
13:38We're not trying to impress God. We're just trying to acknowledge the fact He alone is a good God,
13:44the only wise God, and we love Him. We love Him. We love Him. We love Him. We love Him.
13:49So, He said, listen, I know y'all philosophers, all PhDs, all the rest.
13:59As smart as y'all are, I need to school y'all a little bit.
14:04Listen, God does not worship with man's hand. He don't need a statue as though He needed anything
14:11since He's the one who gave to all life, breath, and all things.
14:17So, what Paul has to do here is take the Athenians back to basis. He's saying,
14:23one plus one equals two. So, let's go back to, again, God is creator, one. We are His creatures.
14:32God is creator. We are His creatures. We can't make God. God made us.
14:46Idolatry is whenever we try to make God into an image we want versus the image He really is in.
14:55So, He goes back to basics, and He's basically saying that we could get too sophisticated for
15:04our own good. Humility is often just remembering where we came from. I came from God, and I will
15:14return to God to give an account for how I use all of His gifts and all of my talents.
15:23Now, I think this next verse, and we're going to begin to focus, is clearer in the NIV,
15:29and then we're going to jump back to the King James Version. And it says,
15:34from one man, He made all nations. We all came from Adam through Noah. Anthropologists tell us
15:48that there are more variations within the races than between the races. In fact, I am a perfect
15:56example of that. Look at me, two black parents, but hazel eyes. How does that happen?
16:06But because of this truth, at times we find more in common with people from different tribes
16:13than we might find in common with a person that lives two huts down.
16:20From one man, He made all nations that they should inhabit the whole earth.
16:32You see, at some point we are all connected by a common ancestor. You know, as Rosa Parks said,
16:39there's ultimately one race, the human race. Every other classification is secondary.
16:51Y'all going to be with me before I end.
16:55Last week I said to you, some came on Anina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
17:02Others came on slave ships. Others on migrant ships. But I want you to understand,
17:07we're all in the same boat now. And as Dr. King so eloquently said,
17:20we can either learn to live together as brothers and sisters or perish together as fools.
17:26From one man, He made all nations. Everybody came out of the same boat
17:40that they should inhabit the whole earth. You know, good people disagree over whether it's
17:48evolution or creationism or some combination of both. But somebody said, if evolution is true,
17:55why do mothers still only have two hands? Y'all get that when you get home.
18:09From one man, meaning we're all related, He made all nations that they should inhabit the whole
18:19earth. A person asked me, how could people reconcile, actually it was a critic,
18:30who have always been separate in America?
18:34But Paul in his verse is reminding us, history did not start in America.
18:40You see, the United States is the only country I know of in the world
18:55that has a World Series all by itself.
19:01And we act like what's happening in America
19:04is reflective of everything else that's going on in the world.
19:09I'm going to encourage myself.
19:20It was out of Noah's family that every single complexion came.
19:24Every nose size, every hair grade, every lip size, everything came out of the same boat.
19:33And just like that, just like Noah's family, we're not only in the same boat,
19:40we're also in the same storm. And if America is a boat,
19:47it would be a canoe that would make no progress unless everyone can paddle.
19:53Y'all better start paddling. We're in the same boat.
20:06I go down, you go down, you go down, I go down. We're in the same boat.
20:11It's a mess for all of us. We better find a way to work together,
20:15get together, and get over ourselves, even our history for our future.
20:21I'm preaching good here.
20:26From one man, He made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth.
20:38In my humble experience, the best way to get along with other people
20:43is to expect them not to act exactly like you.
20:47In fact, the differences between me and my wife get on both of our nerves.
20:55But it's also what makes marriage so thrilling.
20:59Couples, if loving was easy, everybody would do it.
21:04I feel a little something coming up in here.
21:22From one man, He made all the nations that they should inhabit the whole earth
21:27and has marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
21:35God is not at all surprised that all of us have shown up in North America.
21:41He knew at the founding we would have problems,
21:46but I believe the question He asked Himself was not would it be easy.
21:53The question He asked is would it be worth it?
21:57To see all of God's children, black men and white men, Jew and Gentile,
22:03Protestant and Catholic, worshiping together in Dumfries, Virginia, the cradle of the Confederacy.
22:10A place in a state where over 100,000 indigenous people were enslaved or displaced.
22:33Many died of diseases brought from other parts of the world from the 1600s onward.
22:38Over half a million Africans worked on tobacco farms and other farms
22:46doing back-breaking work in soul-crushing conditions.
22:52Historians estimate that 618,222 people died in our Civil War.
23:01And more died in this state of Virginia than any other state.
23:11The road has not been easy, but it's up to us, our children and our grandchildren
23:19to make the sacrifice that has gone before it worth it.
23:22You're getting it, you're getting it.
23:37Church, no, it has not been easy, but we can make it worth it if we handle our past correctly.
23:46From one man, He made all nations that they should inhabit the whole earth
23:56and has marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their
24:00lands. God knew all of us would be here, even each of us in this building today.
24:07But He made us different so that even though we're a little bit different,
24:13we can still see God in our brother, God in our sister.
24:16So that when we see the particular precious gifts that the other person brings, we begin to seek
24:22the Lord. And He said He brought all of us together in hope that we might grope for Him and find Him.
24:28The reason for our diversity is really to discover God.
24:36God has an imagination and a sense of humor. Just look in the mirror.
24:44And He made us the way we are, we look the way we look, we talk the way we talk,
24:50we walk the way we walk. So that in that we say, this God is bigger than just me.
24:59This God had that person in mind, that person in mind, that person in mind.
25:06Oh, there must be more than just me.
25:13So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him,
25:18though He is not far from each of us. No matter how diverse what you look like,
25:25He's not far from any one of us.
25:29Please hear me. I'm not sure that God requires America to be a Christian nation.
25:37God gives each individual the freedom to live with Him or without Him.
25:43And here's the deal. If you make a choice to live without Him in this life,
25:49God will honor it. He'll honor it in this life as well as in the next life.
25:57God is not sending anyone to hell, we are choosing our eternal destination.
26:06So, if you make a choice in this life to live without God,
26:13God's like, well, in the next life I'm going to let you do the same.
26:16Why? Because if you can't stand worship or the mention of His name or the principles
26:22He's espoused here on earth, how are you going to handle heaven where everybody's
26:28only doing what He wants them to do? Everybody's praising, talking about Jesus,
26:32thanking God for the blood and the cross and the resurrection and eternity.
26:37Heaven will be hell to you unless He was your choice.
26:49So, God in His wisdom—listen, if I had to tie my wife up in a chain
26:57in order for her to be in my house, that's not love, that's something else.
27:08And if God has to force us to—it's not love.
27:14God is love. He's not going to make you do something you don't want to do. It wouldn't be love.
27:24So, if you don't want Him on earth, He's like, well, you don't have to have me for eternity.
27:29It's your—I love you too much to force myself on you. Imagine if I force myself on my wife.
27:39What type of relationship would that be? There are prisons for that.
27:47And if God eternally forced Himself on you and I, He would be a tyrant.
27:55So, God lets the sun rise and sun set so we can make a choice whether to let ourselves be loved
28:03by Him and to love Him. And whatever choice we make is the choice He allows us to eternally
28:14live with. Are you with me?
28:25Amen.
28:3327, so that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they may grope for Him and find Him,
28:38though He's not far. Not far. Not far. Not just for the Jew, but for the Greek. You hear what
28:43I'm saying? Not just for the black, the white, the Chinese, you know, the Hispanic, whatever.
28:49Though He's not far from each of us.
28:52Now, what I said was I'm not sure that God requires America to be a Christian nation.
28:59And I went on to say that God gives each and every individual the right to choose
29:06whether they're to worship God or not. But on the other hand,
29:11every government will answer to God for the freedom or lack of freedom it gives its people
29:19to worship Him. One of the most spiritual things you can do outside pray and love your neighbor
29:32and love your neighbor is devote your conscience.
29:40So that they should seek the Lord in the hope that they may grope for Him and find Him,
29:44though He's not far from each of us.
29:45Then Paul does something that folks criticized me for in the past. I do it every Sunday.
29:55He adapted quotations from people with common sense, but happened to be outside the faith.
30:03To reach people with common sense, both inside and outside the faith.
30:13And in this case, Paul, without mentioning one scripture,
30:18he quotes Aretas and Epimenetes. He says this, for in Him we live and move and have our being.
30:29And what he's saying to the Athenians is an idol can only sit still and it can't move unless someone
30:39moves it. But the God of my Bible is always in motion. Psalms 21 and 3 says,
30:49He who watches over me neither slumbers nor sleeps.
30:56The Bible said that in the beginning God, and then it goes on,
31:01and He was moving over the face of the waters. From day one God was moving.
31:09You know, even if I'm sitting still, I'm made in the image and likeness of God
31:15that on the inside I'm moving. My heart is pumping. My lungs are breathing.
31:23There's always movement with life. And what he is saying is that every movement
31:32comes from God. Let me tell you a little bit more about God and I'm going to end.
31:39He said, not as if God should need anything. He said that a couple of verses back.
31:44God don't need nobody. You know, God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in eternity past
31:50had everything they needed. They were happy. They were content. They didn't need not one thing.
31:59They didn't need a universe. Matter of fact, when God showed up and spoke to Moses, He said,
32:09well, what should I call you? And you know, it's like, you know, I mean, God's like, well,
32:13what could you compare me to? So He said, I am that I am. In other words,
32:22before there was a being, I am being. And in eternity past, I was enjoying being so much
32:30that I chose to make other beings. But what's amazing about God is in the Godhead,
32:41you see an important thing. Now today, we talk a lot about loving self.
32:49But in the Godhead, the Father loved the Son.
32:55And the Holy Spirit was the spirit of love between them.
33:03God does not really love Himself. He loves His Son who is God.
33:13Real love is not selfish love.
33:15OK. We're made in God's image and likeness.
33:22When someone's put in solitary confinement, we call that incarceration. That's punishment.
33:31God in Himself has someone to love, commune with, conversate with. He needed nothing and no want.
33:44Creation was a mercy. Creation was like, you know what? Now, I don't even know if God thinks.
33:52He just kind of knows. I don't know how that works. But I'm going to give you the capacity
33:57to be rational. I'm going to give you the capacity to feel, to smell, to taste.
34:06I'm going to lend you my attributes and then see what you do with them.
34:24Life is motion. And the God we worship is always in motion.
34:33He said, in Him we live and move and have our being. Why? He says,
34:40as also some of your poets said, for we are also His offspring.
34:47He didn't just say the Jew. He was speaking to the Greeks.
34:53He said, you know what? Your philosophers got this point right. I don't know about the rest,
34:57but they got this right. For we are all also His offspring. But each of us, like naive children,
35:09we've all run away from home in one way or another. And the only purpose of this Sunday
35:18is to invite you back.
35:33The Father says, come. And at His table are different complexions, different heights,
35:43different weights, different hair, different tastes, different aspirations, but one family.
35:58God loves diversity. Look at just the number of bugs in your backyard.
36:05All the different types of grass. Some of the strangest looking animals go to the zoo.
36:17What was God thinking? But He loves diversity. He's thought in motion. He's creative.
36:26He likes color. Never call God colorblind. My big point is white, black, Hispanic,
36:38Chinese, North Korean, Australian. I don't know who I might have left out. African, thank you.
36:47We're all welcome at the table. And we're all family. God likes the fact we look a little bit
37:03different. Otherwise, we'd all be the same. The big point I want to make to you is there's room
37:11at the table. No matter who you are, no matter what you've done, the arm of the Lord is not too
37:19short to save.
37:27Thank you so much for visiting our YouTube channel. My hope is that you found something
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