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.

We stand if we can as we honor the word of the Lord in turning our attention to Second Timothy chapter 2. Throughout this weekend, I've been lifting two verses, and out of those two verses, God has spoken to us in powerful ways. I'm looking at the New Living Translation of this New Testament text, and here's how it reads: "Endure suffering along with me as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. Soldiers don't get tied up in the affairs of civilian life, for then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them." Amen. You may go to your seats around the building.

I want to come back in our time that we shall look today and really most specifically looking at the B clause of verse number 4: "For then they cannot please the officer who enlisted them." Who are you living to please? That's what we want to talk about in these moments we can share together. Who are you living to please? I say many times that we live our lives not to impress people, but we should be living our lives to be pleasing in the eyesight of God.

And those of you who know that when I live a life that is pleasing in the eyesight of God, I serve a God who is able to navigate me through all situations. Doc Dent, are you trying to gather the children?

Doc Dent: Trying to find parents.

Rev. Dr. Henry P. Davis III: Okay. Well, come on, children. We're going to find your parents. Amen. I see you all. I want to make sure that children will make their way back to parents. Amen. Who are you living to please? Is your life pleasing in the eyesight of God? Matter of fact, one of the sermons I've preached about is having a life that is aligned with the word of God.

An automobile that gets out of alignment, the tires will wear and will wear prematurely. When I'm living a life outside of God, there will be other tells in my life. You might be able to fool your neighbor, your friends, but you can never fool God. Who are you living to please? Is it your family? Your followers? Your fears? Matter of fact, it might even be friends and sometimes fake friends.

Several years ago, a person let me know that they could get me more friends in my social media. I said, "I don't need any more friends. I'm good." Amen. But if you could, because if you get one good friend, Jesus says what a friend we have in Jesus. All our griefs, we realize that many times we've got persons who can be on our page one moment, but off the page the next moment.

One moment they are your biggest cheerleader, they are fanning the flame, they are excited. But then they flip like Mary J. Blige and start engaging in hateration. Look at this reality. Are we looking at others or are we looking to God, author, finisher of our faith? Are we looking at the one who gave you breath this morning? The old deacons would pray that my bed was not my cooling board.

The blood is running warm in my veins. There are still church settings when you come in, they will meet you not with a praise team, but deacons doing devotions. One deacon would read a scripture, another deacon will pray a prayer. And again, it's at that time, and matter of fact, some of those church settings, they will even find out does anybody have a testimony?

You remember how they would look out and then they would say, "I know somebody has a testimony. I know that you did not get here today by accident, but you got here today because of the providence of God." Think about every mountain you've had to climb, every valley you've had to come out of, every challenge that you've had to face.

But then again, that scripture says if God be for you, He's more than the world against you. Paul writes this second letter to Timothy from a prison cell. He writes it in a way that he is not bitter, but bold. He does not allow his circumstances to get in the way of his celebration. He says I may be locked up, but I'm still loyal. I'm still loyal to the one who brought me from a mighty long way.

Paul, you realize one time was Saul on his way down a wrong road, but he ends up on the Damascus Road seeing a light that changes his life. I don't know who I'm talking to in this room, but all of us need to experience light. Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." And so we can look at dark things, dark situations, but we can look at a God who has a bailout policy.

I'm loyal. Why? Because His aim is not the approval of the crowd. It's pleasing the one who enlisted him. DJ Kyle, there was once a song, "How do you move the crowd?" You have to understand the dynamics of crowd moving, and so many of us have been influenced by the crowd. My late mother used to say, "Don't follow the crowd."

Sometimes you've got to stand and you've got to stand alone, but as long as I'm standing on a firm foundation, I realize that God can move in my life. That's the question that echoes through time and into this sanctuary today: who are you living to please? Let me drop three points on you in this worship, and then we'll be ready to try to plan on what we're going to do for Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Mission Impossible watching movies, whatever it is you're going to decide to do. But the point that we're going to make is you've been called and chosen. You're called and you're chosen. You need to realize that everybody's not going to stand behind a pulpit and preach a message. But you need to also know this: some of the strongest sermons are not preached from a pulpit.

Let me say that again. Some of the strongest sermons are not preached from a pulpit but are going to be preached through your life. Matter of fact, I said this in another setting the other day: some people are not going to read the Bible, but they will read you. They'll say, "I know you've been talking all that faith talk and now that you're dealing with a challenge, how do you face that challenge? Do you face it confidently or do you face it with fear?"

The second thing that we're going to talk about in this worship is that pleasing God requires prioritizing God. If you're going to be a follower of God and allow Jesus to be important and critical in your life, God has to be a priority. Worship ought not be something I only do when you feel like it. Because there's some things that you're not going to feel like doing.

I'm glad my mother and father did not get me up on Sunday morning and say, "Do you feel like going to church?" Because if they had asked me how I felt, I would have still been in the bed. Come on, somebody. So it's not about your feeling, it's about your faith. And so we look at how it is that we are able to engage, connect, and be empowered by the word.

The third thing I need to say in this service: there's glory in serving faithfully. We're going to drop it in here today. So you need to realize that there's glory. When your life is lined up with the word of God, there is a countenance, there's a shine that's in your life. This is not something you can fake by going to the makeup counter.

This is not something that you can distract us because you have access to designer stuff. No. This is only something that you're able to get because you've got something on the inside working on the outside. Let's unpack it. Let's peel it back and look at who is it that you are living to please. First thing I mentioned: you've been called and chosen. Called and chosen.

The officer who enlisted them. This verse is something powerful. Soldiers don't just show up. They're called. God didn't stumble across you. He selected you. You're not a biological accident. God has made certain that you would be alive right now. And the reason we are alive has nothing to do with us and everything to do with Him.

A drunk driver could have hit you. A stray bullet could have struck you. There's so many things that could have happened. Matter of fact, all that, but you're here today because no matter what happens on my exterior, my soul is happy. Somebody's in here today, you're dealing with it, you're facing the challenges.

But you need to realize, and I've got good news for you, as Bishop John Bryant said, my good news is that there's something on the inside that the devil can't touch. Let me go hammer on you. You can't touch what God has placed on the inside of you. That's why you've got to keep your eyes on Jesus. It's a powerful verse that God didn't stumble across you, He selected you.

You didn't just sign up. He summoned you. He called you from where you were and called you into where you are today. When a young man is drafted into the military or young woman, it's not an invitation, it's an assignment. That person goes from civilian status to enlisted duty. Everything changes: priority, training, even your identity.

You make sure your shoes are shined. Making sure that you're there for whatever the timing is that they tell you to report. You can't come 5, 10, 15 minutes late. You've got to be on time. And if you're not on time, you will pay the consequences for not being on time. It might be that you've got to do some push-ups.

I'm going to let you know that you made this mistake one time, but you're not going to make the same mistake again. Same is true with your spirituality. When you give your life to Christ, you are no longer living casually. Sermon I preached last night and I said this: God does not need for you to be a soft Christian.

He needs for you to be a Christian with some backbone. I'm going to bend, but I'm not going to break. If I go down, I'm not going to stay down. I'm going to get back up again. I'm going to get back up with strength and power. There was a boxing match years ago between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. George Foreman had come into that fight.

He was undefeated. He was knocking folk out, breaking arms and ribs. And so he was getting ready to deal with Ali. It was in that fight that as the fight went on, Ali caught Foreman with a good punch. Foreman went down. Foreman later tried to say that he was waiting for the ref to get to a certain number so he could get back up again.

And so you've got to realize that sometimes you might have to deal with being knocked down, but don't count you out. Somebody in this room right now, you dealt with a closed door, but don't count you out. You dealt with disappointment, but don't count you out. You went to the funeral: ashes to ashes, dust to dust. But don't count me out.

Don't count me out. Matter of fact, I'm going to utilize this as a training moment. I'm being trained, I'm being developed. Matter of fact, you are not forgotten, you're not an accident, you're not a mistake. You are chosen by the commander of heaven. But being chosen doesn't just come with comfort.

I said in an earlier sermon that many Christians are trying to look for a comfortable Christianity. Sometimes your Christianity and your faith is not going to be comfortable. Sometimes you're going to be the one who is not going to be going to the left, and that's okay. That's okay that you don't follow the crowd.

Folk are going to remember that you were able to stand on Christian principles. I'm talking to every young person in this room. You're going to deal with distraction but not allow those distractions to pull you away from your faith. There's so many things that can try to derail your faith. I'm trying to help every parent in this room because it's not just a curfew that's going to get you straight.

It's going to be realizing that the power of God is that which is center of my life. I was reading last week's New York Times. It says 11.4 million children are living in America today with grandparents. Which leads you to say where have the parents gone? So when they talk about do you know where your children are, matter of fact, the parents are not around.

That's the society in which we now live. But you have to still realize: who are you living to please? Not for my comfort, but comfort also comes with commitment. Because the calling into God, being chosen by God, comes down to my commitment. How committed are you to the cause of Christ? How much do you love Jesus?

And are you able to show that love on a regular basis? Second thing I need to tell you is that pleasing God requires prioritizing God. Make God a priority. Not something you do when you feel like you've got nothing else to do. Every day ought to start in prayer. Every day you ought to be able to thank the Lord.

Thank you, God, for bringing me through another night, bringing me through another week. And when worship comes, I don't need to drag into worship. I can come into worship with excitement. Matter of fact, I brought my fire with me. I brought my joy with me. Matter of fact, the joy that I have, the world did not give it to me, and the world is not going to take it away.

And if you don't want to praise God, I'll praise Him by myself. Hold my music. I've got a praise and I've got to get it out. I've got to let go and let God. Latreece, we've been through too much stuff. We gone through too much stuff. Too many mountains, too many valleys, too many storms, too many. I give it all to you.

Pleasing God requires prioritizing God. They cannot please the officer who enlisted them. Paul makes it plain. You can't please God if you're preoccupied with everything else. You can't please God if your focus, you can't walk in divine purpose while tied up in worldly priorities. Have worldly priorities taken over your divine purpose?

Have worldly priorities? Matter of fact, they're going to be doing, it's the holiday, you know we've got to leave church and you know we've got the liquor store right around the corner. Come on, somebody. And you know we've got drive-through. I'm sure you haven't been in the drive-through. But they've got drive-through and they're going to be liquored up.

They're going to be alcoholic. But all of that's going to go on. You're going to prioritize God. You've got to put that stuff to the side. You've got to say, "I've got my eyes on you, Lord." I'm not going to allow anything to be a deterrent to my spiritual growth. Nothing. You're not going to have me looking to the left or to the right, I'm looking to Jesus.

And you have to, and you've got to, if you're going to walk in divine purpose, you can't be tied to worldly priorities. You're tied to something else, it's going to slow you down. If you want to run on for Jesus, you want to run on free. I don't need something that's entangling me. I want to be tied up with the power of God.

Have you ever tried to tune into two radio stations at the same time? You can't do it. You've got to pick a station. Matter of fact, sometimes when you're traveling, you're listening to one station and then if you get out of distance, then all of a sudden another station starts to blend in. It starts to blend in.

I'm trying to help somebody that somebody already caught it because when you get too far away from God, there can be some other stuff that can start to blend in. That's why you've got to come close. That's why some folk, and I saw you Tank, you came into the church late, boldly, but came right down front.

Because when you come to church, you don't want to sit in the back. You want to sit down front because down front you have no distractions. What I'm trying to do, see I can talk to Tank like that, we've got it like that. Right, Tank? Yeah, he doesn't have any problem with it. But what I'm trying to tell you that when I come to hear the word of God, I want to hear, "What is it, God, you trying to say to me?"

I said in an earlier service sometimes people listen to sermons and they don't listen to it to apply it to themselves. But they listen to it to apply it to somebody else. "Girl, you should have been there this morning. Man, that sermon was for you." No, it was for you because you were there. I know how y'all listening.

"Yeah, you need to play this one back later. You need to go to YouTube, you need to hear what the pastor said for you." No, what did God say to you? Who are you living to please? The same happens when you try to please everybody. Trying to please everybody else, it confuses your calling and it will cloud your clarity.

You are no longer clear when you're trying to please everybody else. Trying to please everybody else is like old-time parties when you used to have old-time parties. They'd have games like musical chairs. They'd have games like bobbing for apples. Come on, somebody. But then one of my favorite was pin the tail on the donkey.

Pin the tail on the donkey, they blindfold you, then they spin you around, and then they say, "Go." And you go and then you put the tail on the nose. I'm not even getting a response from y'all because none of y'all don't know anything about the old-time birthday party. The world wants to confuse you.

The world wants to spin you around. And after the world spins you around, they're going to say, "Go." And they're going to watch you make a fool out of yourself. That's what the devil wants to do. He wants to spin you around and then say, "Go." I want to make sure my life is lined up with the word of God.

Can we talk here? Look, you can't live for likes. You cannot live for social media impact and still follow the Lord. You can't chase both Christ and culture. Who are you chasing? You have to make a decision to chase Jesus. That song says, "Nate, I'm chasing after you." I'm chasing. I'm not just dragging along. I'm chasing after you.

What is it, God, that you want to do in my life? How do you want to use my life to your glory? I'm chasing after you. There ought to be a sense of enthusiasm, excitement. I'm excited about what it is about kingdom possibilities. What is it, God, that you want to do in my life? Who are you living to please?

Matter of fact, sometimes you've got to turn your back on some of that stuff. At some point, you have to choose your commander. I'm choosing Jesus. Jesus is going to be the one who I'm going to choose. What have you placed ahead of God? What is more important than God? Your schedule? Your success? Your relationships?

If God isn't your priority, then He really isn't your God. Come on, come on, come on. That's right. Amen lights. Because that's what it is. If God isn't your priority, then He really isn't your God. Because thank you, baby, I see even the babies out there backing. You've got to make Him God of your life.

I told a group the other day: not just being in church is important. I'm glad that you're in church. But more importantly, Deacon Crabbe, I want you to be in Christ. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground—yeah, some of y'all know to say—is sinking sand. I don't want to be in sinking sand.

I used to watch those old movies when sometimes in the movie some of y'all remember this, Jonathan, because we watch some of the same movies and they would get caught in quicksand. Amen. Quicksand. I never run into quicksand, nor do I need to run into quicksand. But I am saying to somebody in here: I don't want to run into anything that's going to suck me up.

Suck out the joy, suck out the joy that God floated in your life. The joy of the Lord is my strength. That's the glory. And He's not just your convenience. Sometimes God is going to call you to things at inconvenient times. God is not going to always ask you to do something on your schedule.

Sometimes He's going to ask you to get out of your schedule, get on My schedule. But I've got good news for you: once I get on the right on God's schedule, I get on a new blessing plan. Get out of yourself. Turn it over to God. You turn it over to God, you're going to go further than you ever could have gone on your own.

Turn it over to God, and you're going to, not as I preached a sermon a few weeks ago, you're not going to flap, you're going to soar. When you've got Jesus, there's a soaring that's about to take place in your life. I'm grateful that you've got to make Him your priority. When you make Him your priority, something powerful is getting ready to happen.

Once you make that decision. Somebody who's sitting out there right now, and if you were to walk at the end of this sermon when we call people out of darkness into light, you're going to feel some power come over your life. You're not even going to have any idea. Matter of fact, everybody who comes to Jesus, you never have any idea what God has in store for you.

Matter of fact, you come as a babe, but I turn it over to You, God. And once I turn it over to You, You lift me to levels I couldn't get to on my own. Who are you living to please? Here's my third point. Then we're going to get juicy, Nate. We're going to get out some A1 sauce, some mambo sauce, some ketchup and mustard.

We're getting ready to get juicy in here. There's glory in serving faithfully. When you are serving faithfully to God, there's a glory. You sleep better, you walk better, you live better, you look better. There's something about serving the Lord. Matter of fact, the songwriter said it pays to serve Jesus.

Thank you, God, for being so pleasing. Thank you, God, for looking past my faults and seeing my need. Thank you, God, for being so great in my life. Matter of fact, we go after so much stuff. If the infomercial tells you your hair can grow, you can lose weight without changing your appetite or diet, don't even have to exercise, we buy into so much stuff.

Matter of fact, I told my barber in the earlier service, I said there was a product out and it said it can grow hair. He said, "Man, you don't even need to listen to it." I said, "Listen, I've got to at least try it out." He said, "You can try it out all you want." He said, "But it ain't going to happen for you."

What I'm saying is that we can get fooled by so much exterior stuff and we get our eyes off of Jesus. There's glory in serving faithfully. The scripture says the words "please the officer." Paul said, "Please the officer." He's saying make your life count in the eyes of the one who matters most. I want to make my life count.

I don't know how much life I'm going to be given. None of us know how long we're going to be here. But with the time that's given, you want to use it to the glory of God. Whatever it is, I mean, thank God for every day that we are able to get up, able to know that God is God. Thank You, God, for everything we've been able to experience.

Thank You for everybody's life I've been blessed to touch. But we have no control over life. You may never make the headlines. You may never get a trophy. You may never have to walk the red carpet. You may never go viral. But when you serve God with your whole heart, there's glory that this world can't give. Oh, come on, somebody.

The world didn't give it, and the world can't take it away. I've got a joy and I've got a praise. I've got to lift up my hands. I can give God the glory even if I'm off-key. We've got some folk here, they're never going to sing with true praise. They're never going to be in the choir, but you can get up and make a joyful noise unto the Lord.

When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all He's done, I'm rejoicing. Who are you living to please? There's an old story of a missionary who served for decades in Africa. When he returned home, he arrived on the same ship as a national dignitary. The crowds cheered for that celebrity, but no one greeted the missionary.

The missionary got off that ship, and as the missionary got off the ship, whispered, "Lord, I'm tired. I gave You everything. Why is no one here for me?" God whispered back, "The reason why no one is here for you is because you're not home." Somebody missed that. You have to understand that this world is not our home.

Why y'all so slow? Did you all ride on the short bus to school? Were you in the blue room? When I think of the goodness of Jesus and I think about all the Lord—you're not home. We are just passing through. And as I'm passing through this life, somebody ought to know I love Jesus. Come on, Nate, put me in E flat.

We ready to take it to the house. When I think of the goodness of Jesus and all He's done for me, my soul's got to cry out. Hallelujah! I thank God for saving me. Every step that I take, every move that I make, I will bless the Lord at all times. Is there anybody here on a Sunday morning and you don't mind praising God?

Cause when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all that He's done for me, my soul, I said my soul got to cry out hallelujah. You are my beginning, You are my end, You are the best thing that could ever happen in my life because every time I turn around, He keeps on and on and on blessing me. Say yes! Say yes! Yes, yes, yes! Yes!

I've got to live my life pleasing in the eyesight of God. And I thank God that when I live my life lined up with His word, I can feel His glory. I said I can feel His glory. I can feel His glory. I can feel His glory. Thank You, God. Mother for the motherless. Father for the fatherless. Doctor in the sickroom. Lawyer in the courtroom.

I can feel His glory. Who are you living to please? Don't look for heaven's reward in earthly applause. Your faithfulness is not forgotten faith. Your sacrifices are not ever going to be overlooked. And there's glory in staying loyal to God even when nobody else sees it. They might not even appreciate you, but that's all right.

So I ask you again: who are you living to please? Because if you're tired of performing for people, and if you're exhausted trying to impress the crowd, and if your soul is hungry for real purpose, deeper peace, Jesus is calling you today.

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, fbchp.org. And remember, there's power at the park.