First Baptist Church of Highland Park

Rev. Dr. Henry P. Davis III: Hi, I'm Henry Davis, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, Maryland, a Bible-believing, Christ-centered, and Spirit-led congregation. I want to welcome you to our radio broadcast and remember, there's power at the Park.

And in this service, Matthew chapter seven is where we turn our spotlight, picking up the reading at verse number 24 in the New Living Translation, reading through verse number 27. Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on bedrock.

But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash. These are the words of God. You may go to your seats around the building. Verse number 24: Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock.

I want to preach in the guidance of the Holy Spirit this morning: Standing on What God Said. Standing on what God said. Because as God said it, it's already settled. And we thank God that we can stand on what God said. Certainly, we're praying for Ronald Harden and Sharon Harden. Sharon was rushed to the hospital last night, but she is, I understand, doing better today. And we thank God for that. Standing on what God said. Thank God that he's speaking to us.

Jesus is closing what we now call the Sermon on the Mount. He has preached about character, conduct, prayer, forgiveness, generosity, integrity, and trust in God. Now he moves from information to invitation, from listening to living. This is not a soft landing. It's a strong warning. Jesus says anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise. Not applauds it, not highlights it, not shares it, but follows it.

This is what God wants us to do. He wants us to follow His word. It's not that we just respect the word of God. It's more than just believing that God exists. We want Him to be the one who guides us. Guide my feet while I run this race because I don't want my running to be in vain. You don't prove faith with your mouth. You prove it with your foundation. The foundation is anchored.

And so, therefore, you can deal with the winds of societal change, whether it's what's going on yesterday and this last couple of days in Venezuela or whether we're dealing with the government shutdown of 2025 and all of the things that were already predicted and Project 2025. We do not prove our faith with our mouths, but with our foundation. Everyone hears the same word. Everyone faces some kind of storm, whether it's emotional storms, physical, financial, whatever it is, downsizing, rifts that go on.

But not everyone has the ability to stand. That's where we focus our attention in these moments that we share together. Yes, all of us will face challenges, but will we be able to stand through the challenge? Challenges are, in fact, inevitable. And to thank God that the difference is that here we are on what we're standing on. We're standing on a firm foundation. We're standing on what God said.

First thing we're going to look at in our sermon this morning is hearing God is not the same as building on God. Yeah, it's one thing for me to hear, but I need to build on God. Building, building on God. Because we understand only what I do for Christ will last. Many of us, as we enter into 2026, we have tried different things and products, but we can come back this day with the full assurance that God's word still works. The blood still works.

God stands by His word. And so hearing God is not the same as building on God. Secondly, storms are inevitable, collapse is optional. Yes, there will be, you don't have to collapse. You do not have to throw in the towel of defeat because you can come through with your hands up and giving God praise. My shoulders are back. I'm looking to the hills from whence comes my help and know that my help comes from the Lord.

I was mentioning last night in the Saturday message that on New Year's Day, I got a phone call that was inspiring to me because it was a phone call that I got from a 99-year-old by the name of the Reverend Janie Crawford. Janie Crawford called me on New Year's Day and she said, "Pastor," as only she could say it, "I want you to know I was with you all day on yesterday. I want, I listened to every sermon you preached. I watched you and I want you to know that I enjoyed and was blessed by every single message.

And I don't know where you get that energy from. But I know, I just need to tell you that you are some preaching somebody." I'm just saying that because that was inspiring to me that a 99-year-old on New Year's Day picked up the phone, clothed and in her right mind. Matter of fact, I don't know if I mentioned about birthdays this week, because I did mention about this weekend, but we have a member in our church, Sister Vivian Taylor, who will turn 104 this week. 104. 104.

But I need to tell you, I'm standing on what God said. Thank God that You said it. Thank God that You've spoken into my situation. And the third thing is, a church that stands is a church that obeys. I'm thankful, God, that I can stand on what You said. I'm grateful, God, that You are a mighty power, that You can show up and show out. You are the best thing that could ever happen in my life.

We can come this morning and many of us have said, "I got to be in the house of God today. I got to be in the house of God. I don't want to mess around as I start up this year. I want to make sure that I am anchored. I want to make sure that I am standing on the foundation of God." This is not some casual faith that we have to have. It's a faith that has the ability to endure, in persistent faith. It is a faith that is not going to throw in the towel because things don't work out the way you want them to work out.

I thank God that I am standing on the promises and not sitting on the premises. I'm grateful that God can show up and show out. I'm grateful that God can make a way out of no way. I'm grateful that God still can speak encouragement into my life and I'm not going to give up. I'm going to keep on going. I'm going to keep on praising Him. I'm going to keep on lifting up my hands and giving God the praise. That's why we came this morning.

We're not casual about God. We came this morning because we can just reflect upon what He's already done. Aren't you grateful that God has already done it? He's already answered prayer. He's already showed Himself. And here we are in 2026 and we got to praise and we got to get it out. Here we are in 2026 and I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Here we are in 2026, lifting up my hands and opening up my mouth and giving God the glory.

No one else could have done it but the Lord. Only the Lord could have watched over me. Only the Lord could have intercepted my pain and answered my prayer. Only the Lord could have done it. And that's why I come this morning with my hands lifted up. I come this morning giving God the praise. You need to understand that You take a mess and turn it into a miracle. I'm grateful, God, that You can build me up on every leaning side.

I'm grateful, God, that when You show up, You're going to show out. I'm grateful, God, that You could put clapping in my hand and joy in my heart. I'm grateful, God, that You can answer my prayer. I don't know what you come to do, but I've come to praise His name. I got a praise, I got a praise. Thank God for the witness of a Richard Smallwood, but I also thank God for Jesus. Jesus, He is the best thing that could ever happen in your life.

Thank You, God, that You can look past my faults and my flaws, that You can make a way out of no way. I'm thankful, Lord, that I am standing on Your word. That's why we can come week after week and preach the word of God. You don't have to come shaky. You don't have to come nervous, but you can simply come and lift up your hands because somebody's in this room today and you know that God can answer your prayer.

Because you saw what He could do in 2025. And because of what He did in 2025, it gets me ready for 2026. Oh yes, I'm going to love, I love You, Lord, because You first loved me and looked past my faults and everything in my life. Now, the first thing I need to tell you that hearing God is not the same as building on God. That's what that scripture 24 says: Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise.

Jesus draws a sharp but necessary distinction. You can be close to the word and still be far from obedience. Close, but far. You can be in church and on your way to hell. The late Dr. Charles Booth of Columbus, Ohio, said if you're going to go to hell, you at least ought to go first class. Don't mess around if you're going to go there, but don't be in church and dilly-dally and all that. No, you ought to make a decision.

Yeah, there's the difference between knowing and doing. Some folk know what the word says, but they don't do what the word said. In our communities, we've long said just because you know better doesn't mean you do better. There's a whole lot of folks who know better but they don't do better. Many of us grew up knowing how to act in public, how to speak when elders walked in the room, how to act when you went to church, when you got around the church.

There were some things you would do and you wouldn't do it in church. Matter of fact, back in the day, you wouldn't even do some things in front of the church, not even on the church grounds. But then things change and then all of a sudden, because I need to say, when I went to pastor my church in Harlem and I didn't know this experience, but I went into the church and I found out that the church, I mean, this is a church, right?

I mean, I thought this was a church. And I went into the church and then they told me that they had a smoking lounge. Smoking lounge in the church? "Yeah, Reverend, we got a smoking lounge." No, we're not going to promote that kind of negative behavior. Matter of fact, there's a whole, they say, "Reverend, we smoke, why can't we smoke here?" I said, some things we're not going to do in God's house.

So we're going to get rid of that smoking room, but I'm going to put another room down there, and it's going to be a prayer room. Because if you can make time to smoke, you can take some time and pray. Do I have a witness here? Now, I'm not trying because some of the best folk I had, they were smokers. Matter of fact, a man ended up being one of the best trustees I had and I remember the day I told him that he was going to be a trustee.

He was outside of the church on the corner, smoking a cigarette. And I told him, "Man, I need you to be my next treasurer." He flicked that cigarette, said, "Reverend, let's go." Amen. But you have to understand, because you have to realize that God can take you where you are. Come on, somebody. Too many of us, we want to act like everybody's sanitized and everybody's right. Yogi, I know you trying to think about who's who, because you know some of these folk.

But that was a reality. And I said, but we are going to make sure that we're going to anchor in prayer. We're going to anchor in prayer. We knew how to act in public, how to dress for church. But knowing the rules didn't mean we always lived them out. Even though we knew it, it did not mean it made us better. In the same way, Jesus says, hearing the word is exposure. Obeying the word is construction.

It's one thing for me to hear the word of God. It's another thing for me to be built up in the word of God. You don't build a house by admiring the blueprint. You build it by putting in the work, brick by brick. That's why Randy and Joy, when I went up there on the trailer and we meet there on the trailer and we were looking out at our new senior housing, our future senior housing, and I was looking at the work being done.

But you have to understand the work is done by first dealing with the foundation. Thank God that the foundation, a foundation is never seen in good weather. Matter of fact, a foundation is only appreciated when pressure shows up. Do I have a witness here? Hearing is not enough. I've got to build on it. And somebody's here starting off 2026, making sure that I'm anchored in the word of God.

The second thing I got to tell you that storms are inevitable, but collapse is optional. Here it is, right here in that verse, we realize that we're not going to collapse. Our ancestors didn't have the luxury of avoiding storms. Slavery was a storm. Jim Crow was a storm. Redlining was a storm. Mass incarceration was a storm. Pandemics, protests, and poverty were storms. But here's the testimony: we're still here.

Why? Because somewhere deep down, our people were standing on a firm foundation. Prayer they couldn't read but believe. Song they couldn't explain but they trusted. A God they couldn't always see but they never doubted. Storms didn't destroy us, they revealed the strength of what we were standing on. Somebody is here that it's been revealed that I'm standing on a firm foundation. That's why we're not going to give up on God.

Because we've seen what God can do. We've seen what He's done in the past and we appreciate what He's doing right now. But it gives me expectation of what the future is about. The whole storms don't decide your future, your foundation does. And I'm thankful that we can make sure on this first Sunday of the year that I have a firm foundation. I wish I had a witness in here. Somebody understands how God can show up and show out over and over again.

That's the kind of God that we serve right here in verse number 25. Though the rain comes in torrents and floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won't collapse because it is built on a bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish, like a person who builds on a house on sand. When the rains and the floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.

And somebody can celebrate today and this morning and no matter where you are, that God is a great God and greatly to be praised. The third point is a church that stands, yes, is a church that obeys. I'm standing, God. I'm standing. I know the storms are going to come. I know the challenges are going to appear. But I am standing on the word of God. That's why I'm in the house of God to kick off the year, KK.

Because the Black church was never built on convenience. It was built in the brush arbors, in living rooms, in schoolhouses, in basements, in places where we weren't welcome anywhere else. They ran us out in Philadelphia. But I thank God that we are still standing. It stood not because it was popular, but because it was obedient. Matter of fact, we didn't have trained musicians. We didn't have seminary-trained ministers.

But we had somebody who knew about the power of prayer. And when laws said don't gather, the church gathered anyway. Worked hard all day long in the field, but came together in the nighttime. Did not have a luxurious sanctuary. All they had was somewhere to sit down. And in some places in the country, when you come to worship, you can't sit down. Did you know that in Russia, there are no seats in the sanctuary?

So when you come in there, you stand the whole time. And I'm thankful today that God can give you the ability to stand. When society said stay silent, the church prayed louder. Like that man who got healed. Yeah, they said now you've been healed, keep quiet. He said, "No, I can't keep quiet because I was one time down. At one time, I couldn't do this." And he started making all the noise he could.

And I don't need a rock crying out for me. I can cry out for myself. When your resources were low, your faith can still be high. And because the church stood on what God said, the winds couldn't wipe it out. Do I have a witness here? We're standing, we're not standing on trends. We're not standing on what's the latest flavor of the month, but we're standing on the word of God.

My God, some folk will come and they will be flash in the pan. But I thank God for the individuals who can stand. We're not standing on our culture. Yeah, I don't have any problem with Kwanzaa, but I'm not standing on culture. I'm standing on Jesus. And I thank God. We're not standing on personalities. We're standing on the Lord. Do I have a witness here? We've had some personalities who have blessed our lives, but we're here today not because of a personality, not because of Davis, McCord, or Wyatt.

But we're here today because of the word of God. Because even when Davis is not here, I thank God that the Holy Ghost is here. And as long as the Holy Ghost is here, the church can keep on rising. Do I have a witness here? We are standing on what God said. Hallelujah, Jesus ended this sermon with a choice: rock or sand, obedience or collapse, wisdom or regret. And the good news is you still have time to build.

Hallelujah, like our elders who taught us to pray before we understood theology. Thank You, God. Lord, give me a clear mind. Mothers who anointed the doorposts without calling it Exodus. Yes, Lord, that's why you got to go home sometimes with your children and grandchildren. Take you some oil, put it over their door, put it on their line. Grandparents who trust that God would no backup plan.

I'm thankful today. You may not have had much, but you had a solid foundation. That's what we're trying to establish as we start out this year. I want to stand on a solid foundation. Storms don't scare me. I'm standing on prayer. I'm standing on faith. I'm standing on survival. I'm standing on what God said. Do I have a witness here? And that's why we're here today. I will bless the Lord at all times because He's worthy.

I said He's worthy. He put clapping in my hand, He put joy in my heart. Can't nobody, I said, can't nobody do me like the Lord. Ain't He alright? Ain't He alright? Say yes! Say yes! I'm standing on what God said. Not what people say, but I'm standing on what God said. And that's why I go right back to that 24th verse of Matthew chapter seven: Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on a solid rock. Solid.

Not shaky, but a solid rock. And I thank God. I can still remember Emmanuel when they were putting the foundation together in this church. They took time doing it. And we can stand here today because the foundation is secure. And then while we were putting it down, we said we're going to write scriptures. We're going to write prayers. We started downstairs with the children, then we came up in the main sanctuary.

And some folk who put prayers on that floor are now on the other side, but we're standing on that foundation. I'm grateful and Randy, we're going to write some stuff on the foundation up here when we build the Highlands. We're going to do some more writing. And even after we might transition, everybody who moves into the Highlands will know they're moving into a place that was covered in prayer, surrounded with love.

And today, you've come into this church not by accident, but because of God's divine providence. Don't come to the brink of a breakthrough and not break through. Come on all the way through. But even today, somebody can come into right relationship with the Lord. You can step out, step around, come down here and give me your hand, give God your heart. Come on, clap your hands, everybody.

You've been listening to the radio broadcast of the First Baptist Church of Highland Park in Landover, Maryland. If you want to receive a CD or DVD of what you have just heard, please call 301-773-6655 or visit us on the worldwide web, fbhp.org. And remember, there's power at the Park.