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Pastor & Mrs. Epps'
36th Anniversary
A Faith That Focuses Our Faith
~Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20~
In-person service at
Second Baptist Church
2412 Griffith Ave.
Los Angeles
William S. Epps, Senior Pastor
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A Faith That Focuses Our Faith
And God spake all these words, saying, 2I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
7Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
12Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13Thou shalt not kill. 14Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15Thou shalt not steal. 16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. 18And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
Exodus 20:1-4 / 7-9 / 12-20.
The scripture from the Old Testament for today is found in the book of Exodus chapter 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20. This is that portion of the scripture when Moses was on Mount Sinai. It has been recorded that Moses received the commandments on Mount Sinai near where he experienced the presence of the Lord in the burning bush some six years earlier (Exodus 3:1). When God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai Moses received some words which are guidelines by which the Israelites could live their lives in a way that is pleasing to God.
Bear in mind the children of Israel had been in bondage in Egypt for 430 years. Exodus chapter 3 verse 7 says, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land.” Moses was who was chosen to speak to Pharaoh. It is interesting to note a recurring theme Moses spoke to Pharaoh about letting God’s people go.
In Exodus 4:23, “Moses said the Lord says let my son go, that he may serve me.” In Exodus 5:1, “Moses said God says let my people go that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” The next six times in Exodus 7:16, 8:1, 20, 9:1, 13, and 10:3, let my people go that they may serve me in the wilderness. The recurring theme is that the Lord freed the people to serve the Lord not Pharaoh.
You see, the Lord wanted those who belong to him to be free to focus their adoration, devotion, faith, gratitude, praise, reverence and worship in the right direction and to the proper source. The Lord has freed you to belong to the Lord and you depict that belonging by having no other gods, by making no graven images and not bowing down to them, by not using the name of the Lord in a profane manner and by keeping the Sabbath day holy and treating your people with respect. These are signs that you are God’s people.
Consider that the Decalogue (Ten Commandments) is a gift of the Lord to focus your faith in the right direction and to the One to whom faith is due, the Lord.
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They are miraculously liberated from their captivity and led through the wilderness. It is there in the wilderness that they learn to depend on the Lord and trust the Lord. Moses goes to Mount Sinai to received how God’s people will serve and worship the Lord who freed them.
When you think of wilderness as the children of Israel experienced their sojourn and as you think of Jesus being tempted, there are parallels to our experiences of being in a wilderness. The children of Israel did not have what they needed to survive. What they needed was made available to them. The children of Israel were frightened because of the unknown that they are facing. The children of Israel did not know how long they would be in that condition.
We experience our wildernesses the same way. We don’t seem to have what we need to survive whether it is sustenance, support and security. We are frightened because of the unknown that we face each day. We are uncertain about “how long oh lord how long.” The current state of affairs politically and socially has us in a wilderness of uncertainty about so much that is unknown threatening our survival, safety, and sanity.
Consider what it means that you are freed from bondage and captivity to become the people of God and witness to the reality of the One who liberated you from the cramping confines of discrimination, injustice, oppression, selfish narcissism and the like.
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Tuesday, October 10, 2023 | |
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2I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
This passage shares how God has done something completely new during the Exodus through the prophet Moses. Obviously Moses had certainly intended the end of captivity and the freedom of his people. In that sense he was working against the empire ruled by Pharaoh. Moses also intended the formation of a new community which would be centered on God’s freedom, justice and compassion. Moses directed his efforts toward a whole new social reality which rejected the practices of oppression and exploitation characterized by Pharaoh. Moses led a movement not simply aimed at the release of the captive but of a whole new social order.
Moses’ tactics included both criticism and energizing. Criticism should not be seen as akin to whining and complaining, but the critique he advocates is a robust public expression of the grief of a people who suffer oppression. The cries of the people constitute the complaint which is aimed more toward God than toward the imperial ruler and has a dismantling effect on the empire. (i.e. “how long will you let this go on…). The energizing message envisions a new reality that does not yet exist. It is called into being through the freedom of God. Energizing names the new reality and allows the community to imagine this new possible future.
It was in 2020 that Covid-19 led to closing public facilities including churches to practice social distancing, wearing of masks and washing hands. Regrettably, the pandemic became politicized and there were those who responded by resisting to practice the procedures of the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Unfortunately, 6,922,393 million persons have died from Covid-19 outbreak as of October 3, 2023. We have been doing what we do as congregations of believers in Christ remotely and virtually. Now we are back to a new normal of gathering to worship together in person.
We have had a confluence of crises colliding with the pandemic, income inequality, social and racial unrest, violence perpetrated by white supremacist and militias, disasters occasioned by neglect to maintain what people need to be sustained against climatic changes and shifts in temperatures. It is always our allegiances that determine our decisions which either deliver or damage, help or hurt, remedy or ruin.
The Lord reminds the children of Israel who God is and who God has been for them. “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage (v.2).” Remembering who God is and who God has been for, to and with you in the situations of your life is what focuses our faith to the proper source. That makes you as God’s people act, behave and live so that your lives honor and respect the Lord to whom you belong, the Lord who delivers you from bondage, captivity and oppression
Individuals develop allegiances of all sorts, whether familial, politically or socially motivated. We all have allegiance of some kind. The process of socialization has people aligning themselves to social groups, such as family, school, clubs, political parties and you name it. We align ourselves with labels that identify what we believe and how we think (liberals, conservatives, moderates, reactionaries, revolutionaries, traditionalists and you name it).
Political scientists distinguish between natural allegiance, which arises from membership by birth within a society and expressed allegiance, which arises from an oath or promise to support. Moses reminds us with what he received on Sinai that those who are freed by God are freed to have their allegiance to the God who freed them. You are a new community centered on God’s freedom, justice and compassion. You are a whole new social reality which rejects the practices of oppression and exploitation characterized by Pharaoh. “But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellences’ of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”
I Peter 2:9.
Consider what it means to realign your allegiances with the Lord
having the ultimate in your allegiance as a Lord of freedom,
justice and compassion.
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Wednesday, October 11, 2023 | |
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The Lord frees us to reconsider our commitments.
With all of the voices vying for your commitment you have to decide which ones get your attention and determine your choice. Circumstances give us an opportunity to reconsider our commitments. On a personal level the pandemic made us aware of the what is really important in life. We have been put in a position of missing so much that we have previously taken for granted. Our social activities have been curtained putting us in awkward isolated positions. Some have lost loved ones and were unable to have a proper opportunity to come to closure. Our societal norms have all been altered.
The escalating social unrest and conflict coupled with the bitter divisiveness politically and socially continue to make an already pejorative predicament worse.
The book, “The Truth About God, The Ten Commandments in Christian Life” makes the observation that “we cannot understand the ten commandments, the Decalogue (“Ten Words”) apart from the worship of the true God. “The Ten Commandments are meant for those who are known by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God of Jesus Christ. The commandments are a way we learn to worship the true God truthfully, (p. 14).” “We live by the Ten Commandments as a way of worshipping the true God. When we thus worship the true God, we show the world the sort of people the Lord is able to produce. Our little lives are caught up in the great purposes of God for the world. We become commandeered for purposes beyond ourselves
(p. 17)”
The commandments are a gift from the Lord that focuses our faith. Faith without the proper focus can misguide, misrepresent and can most assuredly be abused and misused creating behavior that is horrific and immorally selfishly destructive. So the Lord gave Moses what would become a standard for focusing on the true God who has freed you to worship him.
We are learning how to make commitments that are necessary instead of the commitments that diffuse, distract and dismantle what is absolutely necessary. We upgrade our commitments to match the demands of the times with upgrades to our commitments to the Lord to match changing circumstances.
Consider what it means to that the Lord frees you to reconsider your commitments and upgrade them to the Lord as the source of all that you have.
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Thursday, October 12, 2023 | |
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The Lord frees us to reorder our priorities.
8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
There was a perspective by Peter Michaelson entitled,The Deeper Roots of Social Unrest.
Social unrest arises largely from inner conflict that we fail to understand or acknowledge. The hostile split in the United States between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, secularists and religious, and urban and rural is not really about who’s right and who’s wrong. The discord is primarily a result of inner conflict, and most people are largely ignorant of the dynamics of this conflict and how it degrades their lives on a personal level and contributes to social unrest.
Examples abound of how the personal dysfunction of everyday people infiltrates society. For instance, a person who feels a desperate need to succeed is likely unaware of a possible deeper motivation, namely unconscious self-doubt, a sense of unworthiness, and even self-loathing. This individual, whose inner conflict could produce acute self-centeredness and perhaps narcissism, would likely be indifferent to the existence and needs of others. He might also be quite hostile toward others, mirroring his inner relationship with himself.
Setting aside a time to remember, reflect and refresh yourself with a faith that focuses your allegiances, commitments and priorities in the proper direction and to the proper source grounds you to get through the uncertain, unsettling, ubiquitous experiences of the unforeseen, the negligent, indifferent, selfishly ambitious persons that is so prevalent today.
Imagine being controlled by the politics of anger and grievance of discontent as you respond to unrest and social upheaval. Imagine being controlled by chaos rather than competence, fraud rather than fact, dishonesty rather than dedication disunity rather than unity.
Consider what it means to be free to reorder your priorities and principles rather than permitting your inner conflict to be the bases of your action and behavior.
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Now is the time to realign our allegiances, reconsider our commitments and reorder our priorities.
Consider what it means for you to realign your allegiances,
reconsider your commitments and reorder your priorities.
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Saturday, October 14, 2023 | |
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I have decided to follow Jesus no turning back, no turning back. “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus” is a Christian hymn originating from India. The lyrics are based on the last words of a man in Assam, north-east India, who along with his family was converted to Christianity in the middle of the 19th century through the efforts of a Welsh missionary. Called to renounce his faith by the village chief, the convert declared,
“I have decided to follow Jesus.”
Consider what it means to follow Jesus as Christians whose practice of faith is consistent with being the people of God who depict the freedom, justice and compassion of God as expressed in the life of Christ.
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