"Hard Work and Future Glory"

The First Jurisdiction of Illinois Annual Ministers and Workers meeting for 2015 continued for the second night under the Leadership of our esteemed Prelate, Bishop Ocie Booker. Tonight's meeting was held at Inspirational Deliverance Center Church of God in Christ, where our Jurisdictional Mother Shirley Hughes was host.

The praise and worship team blessed us richly with "You're all I need" and a soul stirring rendition of "This means war!" It was a blessing to all as the congregation raised their voices in unison and joined in with the young people as they charged the atmosphere with joyful sounds for our second night of the meeting.

Our theme once again for this year is "The Hope of the Church." The evening was facilitated wonderfully by 2 ^nd Administrative Assistant Superintendent Walter H. Blalark, Pastor of The Living Gospel & Cole Temple Churches.

The night began with sermonettes from three candidates for licensing and ordination from the Jurisdiction's William Roberts C. H. Mason Ministerial Training School.  

The first speaker was Sister Vanessa Mc Coy of Faith Temple Church of God in Christ. Her scripture text was taken from the Gospel of St. John 9:4, with the subject "Keep on Working." She sighted the Lord Jesus as our great example who was the supreme light while in the world, and we as His ambassadors and representatives must work to be that light in this world. She went on to say that in all the various facets of ministry, whether it is on the Usher board, singing in the choir, preaching, teaching or evangelizing we must not become discouraged! Nothing done for the Lord is in vain so we must not ever be tempted to throw in the towel, but encourage ourselves in the Lord! Never going by what our eyes can see but knowing that we must walk by faith because all things work together for the good of them that are called according to His purpose. We must all keep working, keep praying and carrying on in our various capacities. She sighted Matthew 9:37 "the harvest truly is plenteous but the laborers are few."   We want to be complete in the Lord so that we can one day hear Him tell us well done for having run the race and completed the work that He had for us to do. We must keep on working for the Lord!

The second speaker was Sister Wanda Johnson also from Faith Temple. She shared a powerful testimony with a scripture reference from the book of Joshua 2:1. She shared how the Lord had delivered her from a life of heavy drug and spousal abuse. There was an assortment of drugs that she contemplated taking to end her life, because she had grown so tired of getting high. The words of her grandmother came to her in the midst of hopelessness where she was reminded "if you ever find yourself in trouble call on Jesus." She contrasted the Lord's being merciful to Rahab who'd consented to hide the men of God and requested that they remember her sacrifice in her time of deep trouble and despair. Though a woman of ill repute she ended up being in the direct lineage of David, the future King of Israel. Sister Johnson went on to say that no matter what you have done, or where you have been your situation is not hopeless if you call on the Lord in sincere repentance, because she is a living witness that God still loves you!

The final early speaker was Brother Robert Miller who is a member of Spates Temple Church of God in Christ. He exhorted the saints and reminded us of where the Lord had brought him from. He said after all he'd experienced from abusing various brands of alcohol none of the liquor gave him the peace and stability that he found in the truth of God's word. He went on to say that when he was lost and did not know that he needed the truth God gave him the truth! He told the saints that he did not have to guess how to get right, the word taught him how to get right, and it was only when he got deep down into the word of the Lord that all that he searched for was fulfilled. The word is all we need to live right and it will show you how to live right because the word is right and if you stay with God and in His word it will bless you richly!

Minister Cornelius Doles and Sister Tamela Reed once again presented The Jurisdictional Mass Choir, who blessed all in attendance. They came forth with several wonderful numbers. The first selection was "Do not Pass Me by" where the voices rang out throughout the edifice as all in attendance stood to their feet and blessed the Lord along with our wonderful music department. They also blessed us with an old COGIC standard "Down by the Riverside" and finally they let us know that no matter what ails us we can look up in faith realizing that "There is a Balm in Gilead".

Our Prelate Bishop Ocie Booker was presented by Auxiliary Bishop Willard L. Payton of the New Birth Church of God inChrist He briefly exhorted the saints saying " I believe that we are in the right place with the right people at the right time and we are blessed!" He went on to say that the only thing that the eyes can see is what the mind can first conceive, and we can clearly see that we have all been blessed by the Lord! Bishop Payton told us that it was by divine design that we were blessed with exemplary leadership in the person of Bishop Ocie Booker.

Our Prelate greeted us once again and led the saints in the blessed praise "he's a wonder in my soul...." immediately segueing into the time proven standard, the Yes Lord praise. The voices of the saints resounded as one, blessing the Lord as the crescendo of praise reverberated throughout the service. After acknowledging his cabinet, all of the Superintendents, Pastors, and the Department of Women, Bishop honored the service of the honorable Bishop Carlis Moody who served  faithfully on the Mission field for 40 years. He also acknowledged Elder Marx Succes who was recently appointed as the Vice President of the International Missions Department of our great church.

It was time for the Word of God to come forth, and the sermonic solo was given by Minister Christopher Hodges, who allowed the Spirit of the lord to use him as he sang "There's Something about the Name Jesus"

The Glory of the Lord was in our midst and our hearts were prepared for the rich word that was to come. The keynote speaker for the evening was Pastor Alvin Perryman of Harvest Temple Church of God in Christ. His text was taken from Ezekiel 36:17 and his subject was "Hard Work and Future Glory." He spoke of how God set a watchman over the children of Israel and expected him to provide them hope of a future through their obedience of God's man who watches for their souls in the work of the Lord. He also referenced Ezekiel 3:17 where the Lord promised through the prophet to make His people clean, that they may have a heart to serve Him and obey His commands. It is God who prepares and employs us for work in His Kingdom, and in the service of His people. We must be motivated as workers to become more involved in local church ministry. As workers we must also be willing to let our work for the kingdom extend to our communities. The Lord has called us all to be workers together. He sighted Matthew 9:37, where the Lord is cautioning the Disciples that the harvest truly is plenteous but the workers are few. We must be willing to not only work, but speak the truth. It is very important that we have integrity, so that the Lord can use us effectively. He also reminded us of the young shepherd boy who continuously cried wolf, causing the villagers to run in vain because there was no wolf. Finally the wolf did show up, but when the young boy yelled again, the villagers didn't respond and the wolf had indeed scattered the sheep. When the villagers did finally show up, the young boy sat alone weeping. He asked an older man why they didn't come when the wolf showed up. The older man replied "no one believes a liar, even when he is telling the truth." We must be that worker for the Lord who is full of his mercy and truth at all times, willing and ready to be open to hard work, to receive the future glory that awaits us with God!