Pastor Russell Continues His Sermon Series on the Book of Nehemiah. "Get Out of the Rut You are In!"

Sermon: “Transitions.”

May 5-7, 1864: “The Battle of the Wilderness,” Lee versus Grant, an inconclusive confrontation.

PASTOR CONTINUES SERIES “REBUILDING THE RUINS”

Lead Pastor Fredrick Russell continued his series of sermons based on the Book of Nehemiah at Berean Seventh-day Adventist Church this Sabbath. He told the congregation that he hoped that the subject matter of his talks would be useful to us. Today’s information proved to be extremely useful. You have important things to do, so I will not waste any more of your time. Here, as usual, is a link to the ENTIRE SERVICE. Pastor Russell’s sermon begins at time marker 1:50:40. The presentation of honors to two distinguished women starts at around time marker 54:36. Dexterous Natalie Raggins provides some relatively unprecedented (for worship services, that is) keyboard variations as background to the collection at time marker 1:24:10.

SABBATH SERMON ON THE THEME OF “TRANSITIONS”

A very colorful variation on the chart that Pastor Russell included in our teaching notes, culled from the website of William Bridges & Associates.

As noted way up yonder, at the top of this post, today’s sermon at Berean was installment #4 in the “Rebuilding the Ruins” series, based on the Book of Nehemiah. The verbal threats that Nehemiah’s opposition directed toward him were the subject of last week’s sermon. This week’s sermon described an escalation of hostilities. A secondary topic was the weariness and discouragement of some of the workers involved in the repair of Jerusalem’s broken-down walls. There exists a common thread between Nehemiah’s effort to restore Jerusalem and a soon-to-be-implemented effort at Berean to engage in some urgent upgrades to it’s deteriorating facility. Discussion of this proposed operation, however, was secondary to some universally applicable lessons that the Book of Nehemiah contains. I am in a rut at present, and Pastor Russell’s remarks seemed to be specifically targeted toward pulling me (or anyone similarly beset) out of it.

The sermon started out with a reference to Siegfried and Roy. As we all know, Roy got just a little too comfortable around his cats. He forgot that a “tiger is always a tiger” (he cannot change his stripes). The kind of opposition that Nehemiah faced during his rebuilding effort was “tiger” opposition. In your life, the pastor observed, some opposition will just not die. As David was running from his son Absalom, Shimei (link is to my song, Sorry!) came out of nowhere and started lobbing rocks at David. All of us have a Shemei in our life. Nehemiah had 3 or 4. These enemies initially tried to “talk” down Nehemiah’s intentions. Pastor Russell urged us to ascertain as to whether criticism is redemptive or vindictive. If the tenor of the critique is not of Christ, we should reject it. The pastor told us that the animosity of Nehemiah’s detractors was “demonic.”

The illustration I used for the song “Shemei”

A prelude to Nehemiah’s reaction to anything was to pray, and in Nehemiah 4, verse 9 he does exactly that. Prayer and action are two sides of one coin. Pastor Russell, as he did last week, drafted some elders to act the part of living allegorical figures. One elder played the part of “Prayer,” as another played the part of “Action.” I thought of Michelangelo’s four sculptures in the Medici Chapel. One pair is designated “Night and Day,” and the other “Dawn and Dusk.” They are supposed to represent the complementary states of contemplation and activity we all experience. All bases must be covered, Pastor Russell proclaimed.

A secondary issue arises in verse 10: “The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.” The Jerusalemites had weathered the storm that the enemy had stirred up to try to stop the work, but sometimes the worst opposition comes from within (cartoonist Walt Kelly placed some memorable lines in the mouth of his character Pogo: “We have met the enemy, and he is us”).

Pastor Russell now proceeded to impart a little pragmatic advice. He recalled a seminar that he attended at Pace University in New York, one entitled “Managing Organizational Transitions.” It featured a diagram (the very one that graces the beginning of this summary) by William Bridges & Associates. Pastor Russell explained the meaning of this diagram. “When you start an activity, you have to let go of something,” he said. When transitioning from the old to the new, there is a “neutral zone” that must be crossed. This is the place where most people give up (and just so happens to be where I am at present. It can be compared to the Horse Latitudes, a part of the globe where sailing ships used to get stuck for lack of a breeze). Pastor said that if we find ourseves in the “neutral zone,” the worst thing we can do is to give up. He would repeat this at the close of his remarks.

The exact image I posted last Sabbath. Based on Pastor Russell’s description in today’s sermon, I am now convinced that this is definitely old “Miracle Temple”

In 1996, Pastor Russell was posted to his third church, Miracle Temple, in Baltimore. He had not seen the church before he accepted the appointment. He and his family arrived in Baltimore during a terrific blizzard. They were in their recently acquired minivan (the inspirational tale about the purchase of this minivan may be discovered by clicking this LINK to a Wednesday sermon by Pastor Russell on the topic of “Determining the Will of God”). This section of Baltimore was a war zone. There were no parking lots. The sanctuary of the church was on the second floor. When Pastor Russell delivered his first sermon there, he was not sure as to exactly what he would say. He did not have Luther Washington there (Berean’s beloved Organist) to back him up. The snow was so bad, there were only about 50 people in the congregation. His kids looked at him as if to say, “daddy, what have you done?” The pastor’s office was in a rowhouse next to the church (the sermon was really getting Dickensian now). The windows in it were filthy. There was no window treatment. There were rat droppings on the desk. The pastor hates rats! (So did protagonist Winston in Orwell’s 1984. This fear is a major feature of the book’s plot. A 1971 movie about rats, starring Ernest Borgnine, was called Willard.) Garbage was everywhere in this part of town, The rats did not run down the street. They fearlessly walked. “I can’t do this, God,” the pastor lamented.

The people who were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem were similarly surrounded by rubbish, and were similarly discouraged. They could not see their bright future, nor the success of their endeavor. The pastor, there in Baltimore, likewise could not foresee the amazing growth and prosperity that was in store for Miracle Temple. All he could see were piles of rubbish. He was in the “neutral zone,” where a person can become so discouraged that they simply give up. The “neutral zone” is a great place if you keep looking up. But it is a dangerous place if the only thing that you look at is the rubbish (opposition, problems, challenges). To get away from this area, you must take baby steps.

Here is an aerial view of “Miracle City Church,” successor to “Miracle Temple” in Baltimore. This edifice is largely a result of  Pastor Russell’s effort.

“Should we,” the pastor said, “in the middle of our capital campaign hit a plateau, this would constitute a neutral zone.” He prays that the effort would find its second wind. Perhaps folk who did not give  initially would, at that time, decide to do so after all. Here was the pastor’s pragmatic advice: “If you are in the neutral zone, don’t give up.” A Bible verse that related to the Nehemiah story was quoted, from Isaiah 54:17: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper…” A song featuring this verse was now sung by guest soloist Anthony Wingham (which my unruly mind could not keep from comparing to “When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge, as the two songs are fraternal twins. The structure of the songs hearkens all the way back to Pachelbel’s  Canon).

The pastor resumed his sermon after the musical interlude, asking us to consider where our lives were situated with regard to the transition chart. I stood up with the large group that was in the “neutral zone.” A prayer was offered, one that might swiftly remove us from our wretched and nonproductive situation. I, for one, was praying like crazy! My goal stands no closer to me today than it did four months ago, and I have become an expert at excusing myself for this.
As a postscript, here is a paste from the “Miracle Temple” story that mentions Pastor Russell: “1997 to 2000:

 The church began a congregation wide conversation of the possibility of purchasing property to build a new church for the glory of God. Under the leadership of Pastor Russell we were able to raise enough money to accomplish this goal.” Another paste: “2003:
Pastors Russell and Royes cast vision for our church as we made plans to move into our present home at 100 S. Rock Glen Road.”

Screenshot from a Miracle City Church service. They seem to have a Hillsong kind of vibe going on this place.