This morning we celebrate the dedication and labor of this anointed man of God. The Vision God has given him to continue to fight the good fight and the dedication to stay the course. There are times when life will throw you a curveball. There will be times when it gets hard to fight, when your arms are tired from swinging, sometimes it gets hard to Stand, when your knees are weak from standing. Sometimes it seems as though you are Boxing giants with the arms of a small child.
Yet is there anybody here who knows that with God on your side nothing is impossible, if God be for you then who can stand against you! No weapon formed against you shall prosper, not that it will not form, Jealousy will form, people will walk away from you, and sickness will come, but that it will not prosper. The winds of trouble will blow. People will talk about you, friends will walk away from you and they will criticize you, the people you started with won’t always be the people you finish with. But I believe Pastor Tommy is like Nehemiah and said I cannot come down from this wall, I am doing God’s work. There is work to be done.
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Thank God For Pastor
For 16 years of fighting the good fight, 16 years of running for Jesus you have stayed your course. The great Apostle Paul said, For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Jesus Christ our Lord. There is something to be said about staying your course especially in this world in which we are living in now in the 2nd year of this Covid 19 pandemic everyone who starts this race will not finish the race. Paul while writing from Rome to the church in Philippi, Paul said in Philippians 3:14, I press toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Paul said I press which means there was something in his way that he had seen trouble, when he stood before King Agrippa to plead his case and Paul become enemy not only to the Jews but also to the Roman government, Paul said I have been locked up because of my faith. He said I went from on top of the world to the world on top of me. There is something about being in the press the bible says that there was a woman with an issue of blood and when she heard Jesus had come she got in the press behind him and touched his garment. There is something about getting into the press. The bible speaks of a young man who was paralyzed and could not get to Jesus because of the press so his friends took him on top of the roof and began to tear away at the roof until they could get to Jesus. Sometimes you have to tear away some things to hear God. There is something about being in the press that will cause Jesus to take notice of you. I believe this great man of God has had to press through sleepless nights through some sick days through hurt and tragedy, disappointments and pain, press through tear- stained eyes. There have been days when he did not feel like preaching but he had to preach anyhow, days when he did have the strength to pray but had to pray anyway. Nights, when he had to get out of his bed when he was sick. To go visit the sick bed of another. Days when it looked like the problem was solved only to have it come back again. But if he had to testify today, I believe he would say God has been good to me, and God has been a friend like no other, HIS grace has kept me and his mercy has held me. When I though I couldn’t get up and go another step he lifted me and when I couldn’t lift my head, he was a ray of sunshine. When my eyes burned with tears, he dried my tears. The song writer said it best, when I look back over my life, and I think things over.
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Thank God For Pastor
I can truly say that I’ve been blessed, I got a testimony. There is something about being in the press and pressing your way through. That will separate those who don’t know from those who know. Those who have not stood in the fire from those, who have the walked thru the flames. Trouble will separate the weak from the strong.
To be in the press is to be under pressure and to be challenged on every turn. Job found himself in the press, he said for the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me. It is the press that will make you call on the name of Jesus. The press brings power and with it perseverance. I tend to believe like the woman with the issue of blood
that Pastor Tommy said Lord if I can just get close to you if I can make it to the house of the Lord and touch my Jesus everything will be ok. There is something about the Pastor, he is a leaning post when trouble is pressing you down. He is a listening ear when no one else will listen he is a source of encouragement and a pillar of the community. The preacher does not speak like everyone else, you say I am going thru he says you are on your way out. You say I’m sick he says this too shall pass. You say I can’t make it, the preacher says when you are weak God is strong. The Pastor is always talking about what God has to say. When people say what they can’t do, the Pastor says all things are possible thru Christ Jesus who strengthens us. Walk with me as we examine this text. Paul clearly said, how they can hear without a preacher. Contrary to popular belief. The preacher is not just a man just like everybody else. He is an anointed vessel of God and messenger from God, your Pastor is a messenger sent from God to World Wide Fellowship Ministries Church of God therefore, He represents God here on earth and he represents God’s way of doing Kingdom business. Paul makes the point very clear he says without a preacher, the church, the saints cannot hear the word of God. Then he writes except they be sent. In other words You did not choose your Pastor; your pastor is sent to this Church by God, The Lord told Jeremiah before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee and before thou came forth out of the womb, I sanctified you and ordained you a prophet unto the nations. In other words Pastor Tommy you were sent here for such a time as this. There was need of this Pastor at this church, God has gifted this preacher, this great man of God for this Church. Paul writes in 1 Timothy 5:17-18 to 17 The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and
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Thank God For Pastor
teaching. 18 For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,”[a] and “The worker deserves his wages.
In other words love your pastor he is worthy of every accolade you can give him he is worthy of double honor, what you make happen for him, God will make happen for you. Jesus said whoever shall receive a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. Hebrews 13:17 says your pastor watches over your soul as he must give an account for it. Your pastor has to give an account for your soul he prays when you can’t pray he fast when you cannot fast he seeks God for you when you are sleep Thank God for the Pastor God’s blessings are in his mouth, The record of 1 kings 17:13 records that the prophet Elijah was sent to a widow woman who was in need she needed a word from the Lord is there anybody here who has ever needed a word.… from the Lord she was down to her last and couldn’t find a way out, but I heard Elijah say there is a word from the Lord he said feed the man of God. And watch what God will do for you….thank God for the preacher thank God for his word…Elijah said the barrel of meal shall not waste. neither shall the bottle of oil spoil, trust in the Lord he will he will make a way out of no way, Yes he will, anybody ever had to wait on the Lord, no family, no friends and nowhere to turn to but God, anybody here ever prayed and waited and nothing ever happened. You found yourself like Hezekiah having to turn your face to the wall yeah asking the Lord what have I done wrong but in the midst of your trouble there was a word from the Lord…..He will send a man of, when he got ready to start the human race he used a man named Adam…..when he got ready to move his people and give them traveling mercies he called a man named Abraham, when he wanted to show his mercy and deliver his people he called a man named Moses….when he wanted to turn a boy into King he called a man named David….When he needed a preacher he called a man named Solomon… when he needed a weeping prophet he called a preacher by the name of Jeremiah….When he wanted to save his people he sent his son Jesus Christ the lily of the valley, his son Jesus the rock in a weary land a bridge over troubled water, the chief Shepard, the great I am, the first and the Last, But when God got ready to lead his people here at World Wide Fellowship Ministries Church of God he sent a man of God named Tommy Smith to build this house. Thank God for Pastor Tommy Smith and First Lady Arlean Smith. “Let us Stand Alter Call and Closing remarks, Benediction
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