Apostle Keith Wesley Hidden Figures

Transcription

1 Apostle Keith Wesley Hidden Figures THE HOLY SPIRIT IS A REVEALER OF HIDDEN THINGS... THINGS INCLUDE... GOD'S ETERNAL PLANS & PURPOSES... (1 Corinthians 2:7... But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: ) PEOPLE GOD USES (1 Samuel 16: And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he. ) HIS PERSON... (1 Samuel 3:7... Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet revealed unto him. 1 Samuel 3:21... And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh: for the Lord revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the Lord. HIS PROVISIONS & FINANCES... (Isaiah 45:3... And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. ) HIS WORD... (Psalms 119:18... Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. ) THE RELEASE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL REVEAL GOD S WILL FOR OUR LIVES.

2 MANY TIMES WE DON'T DO GOD'S WILL BECAUSE WE DON'T SEE GOD'S WILL! IT'S HIDDEN, SO SOMETIMES ARE THE PEOPLE GOD USES AND WILL USE TO ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSES. AN EXAMPLE OF THIS IS FOUND IN THE BOOK OF ACTS... Acts 4:13... Now when they saw the boldness and unfettered eloquence of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and untrained in the schools [common men with no educational advantages], they marveled; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. AMPC (They were hidden in an upper room for 10 days but now they were revealed as changed and empowered!) TO BE HIDDEN MEANS TO BE CONCEALED; PUT OUT OF VIEW; SECRET; NOT KNOWN; MYSTERIOUS; NOT OBVIOUS TO THE UNDERSTANDING. GOD MANY TIMES USES THE LEAST OF MEN AND WOMEN TO DO SOME OF HIS GREATEST WORK! A RECENT MOVIE IS TITLED THE SAME AS TODAY'S MESSAGE... "HIDDEN FIGURES"...IT WAS SET IN THE 1960's AND IT WAS THE TIME WHEN WE WERE TRYING TO PUT A MAN INTO SPACE. HISTORY ONLY TOLD US THAT ONE RACE OF PEOPLE ACCOMPLISHED THAT FEAT. HOWEVER, THERE WERE 3 HIDDEN FIGURES THAT HAD THE REVELATIONS THAT TRULY PUSHED THE FINAL ACCOMPLISHMENT OF IT. THOSE FINAL CALCULATIONS AND COMPUTER TABULATIONS WERE HIDDEN FROM THOSE WHO TOOK THE CREDIT BUT NOT FROM THESE 3 BLACK WOMEN...WHY? BECAUSE GOD GAVE IT TO THEM. THESE HIDDEN FIGURES WERE THREE BLACK WOMEN WHO NOT ONLY HAD EXTRAORDINARY ABILITIES BUT HAD EXTRAORDINARY FAITH TO BELIEVE

3 THAT THEY COULD DO AND BE WHAT GOD GIFTED THEM TO BE AMONG THE HUMAN RACE IN SPITE OF THE RACISM THAT PREVAILED AT THAT TIME! HERE ARE A COUPLE OF CLIPS THAT SHOW US WHAT EMPOWERMENT GOD CAN GIVE TO HIDDEN FIGURES! BLACK HISTORY MONTH IS SIMPLY A WAY GOD HAS PROVIDED TO BRING EQUITY TO A NATION THAT SIMPLY CUT OFF THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF AN ENTIRE RACE OF PEOPLE AND TO GIVE US THE REVELATION THAT HE WORKS IN THE MIDST OF "HIDDEN FIGURES" THAT SOMETIMES DON'T GET RECOGNIZED OR GET ANY CREDIT FOR WHAT THEY DO. GOD ALSO SPOKE TO THIS TRUTH IN SCRIPTURE... Psalms 68:31... Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Psalms 68:31... Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall hasten to stretch out her hands [with the offerings of submission] to God. AMPC GOD MADE ALL OF MANKIND AFTER HIS IMAGE AND HIS LIKENESS IN THEIR SPIRIT AND SOUL. GOD ALSO MADE ALL THE VARIETY OF PEOPLE GROUPS THAT ARE MARKED OUTWARDLY BY THE DIFFERENT HUES OF SKIN WE POSSESS. REMEMBER IN THE BEGINNING IT WAS GOD IN CHRIST WHO CREATED THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND IT WAS THE HOLY SPIRIT THAT BROODED OVER THE FACE OF THE DEEP AND GOD SAID LET THERE BE LIGHT. IN HIS LIGHT, ALL OF CREATION S VARIETY WAS IN SEED FORM.

4 John 1:3... All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. THE WHOLE SPECTRUM OF DIFFERENT SPECIES WAS THERE...ALL THE DIFFERENT VEGETATION WAS THERE, ALL THE DIFFERENT REPTILES, ALL THE DIFFERENT MAMMALS, ALL THE DIFFERENT BIRDS, AND MAN WITH THE VARIOUS DIFFERENT FEATURES AND STATURES AND SKIN COLORS. YOU SEE THERE ARE DIFFERENCES AMONG US YET IT S THE SAME GOD WHO CREATED US ALL. TODAY WE HONOR BLACK HISTORY NOT TO DIVIDE US AS BELIEVERS BUT TO UNITE US. WE MUST THEN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND FROM GOD S PERSPECTIVE WHEN WE HONOR AND APPRECIATE HOW HE MADE US WE ARE HONORING HIM AS THE CREATOR OF ALL MANKIND! NOW THE HOLY SPIRIT IS RELEASING A LOVE FOR ALL OF GOD S PEOPLE. BECAUSE A TRUE MOVE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AMONG SAVED PEOPLE IS THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THOSE INJUSTICES AND IN EQUITIES THAT CAUSE THE BODY OF CHRIST TO BE DIVIDED. A TRUE MOVE OF GOD THEN WILL BE MULTI-ETHNIC, MEANING THAT GOD LOVES EVERY RACE, AND EVERY RACE OF PEOPLE IS INCLUDED BECAUSE HE CREATED THEM. IT IS THE REMOVAL OF THE BARRIERS THAT DIVIDE US BY LEARNING TO HAVE HOLY GHOST RESPECT FOR ALL GOD S PEOPLE. YET WE FIND THAT EVEN IN THE BODY OF CHRIST A DIFFERENCE HAS BEEN MADE OVER THE YEARS OF WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE BLACK CHURCH,THE WHITE CHURCH, THE KOREAN CHURCH AND SO FORTH. IN SO DOING, WE HAVE MISSED A WEALTH OF RICHNESS BECAUSE ONE RACE HAS BEEN ESTEEMED SUPERIOR TO THE OTHER.

5 THE OLDEST BLACK DENOMINATION, THE A.M.E. CHURCH, WOULD NEVER HAD BEEN STARTED HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THE FACT THAT WHITE METHODIST DID NOT WANT THEM INCLUDED. (The AME Church grew out of the Free African Society (FAS), which Richard Allen, Absalom Jones, and other free blacks established in Philadelphia in They left St. George's Methodist Episcopal Church because of discrimination.) IT HAS BECOME AN ONGOING SITUATION THAT EXISTS EVEN TODAY WHERE THE BLACK RACE THAT ARE IN THE CHURCH ARE CALLED INFERIOR AND NOT LOOKED UPON AS CONTRIBUTING ANYTHING THAT ADVANCES THE KINGDOM OF GOD. HOWEVER, BIBLICALLY, THAT IS NOT TRUE. WE MAY BE HIDDEN FIGURES IN THE AMERICAN CHURCH IN THE SENSE THAT WE ARE DISCOUNTED BUT GOD NEVER DISCOUNTS ANY OF HIS PEOPLE...AND GOD HAS NO PROBLEM TALKING ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES OF ALL HIS PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE! FOR EXAMPLE, IF A MAN OR WOMAN WAS OF BLACK DESCENT IN SCRIPTURE IT IS SAID THAT THEY WERE, AND TOLD WHAT THEY DID AND HOW THEY CONTRIBUTED TO THE BIBLE'S REDEMPTIVE NARRATIVE! The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the COLOR of the Ethiopians skin... Jeremiah 13:23... Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil. WE MUST AGREE WITH GOD AND STOP HAVING PROBLEMS WITH SAYING WHAT THE COLOR OF A MAN S SKIN IS! OUR PRIMARY ISSUE SHOULD BE WITH WHETHER A MAN OR WOMAN IS SAVED OR UNSAVED.

6 IF WE ARE SAVED THAT BECOMES OUR ETERNAL IDENTITY, AFTER THAT WE BECOME CHRISTIANS FIRST WHO HAPPEN TO BE BLACK OR WHITE OR RED, OR YELLOW. OUR IDENTITY IS CHRISTIAN BUT WHILE ON EARTH WE ARE HOUSED IN GOD S VARIOUS HUES OF SKIN TONE! PHYSICALLY, Skin color is due primarily to the presence of a pigment called melanin, which is controlled by at least 6 genes. Both light and dark complexioned people have melanin. However, two forms are produced--pheomelanin, which is red to yellow in color, and eumelanin, which is dark brown to black. GOD MADE THIS DISTINCTION AND IT IS TO BE APPRECIATED AND NOT A POINT OF COMPARISON OR CONTENTION AS TO WHICH IS BETTER OR WORSE! SO WE ARE CHRISTIANS FIRST THAT ARE BLACK OR WHITE OR RED OR YELLOW. GOD HOWEVER, IS RESTORING THE HIDDEN FIGURES IN THE BODY OF CHRIST THAT HAVE BEEN OVERLOOKED AND LEFT OUT SIMPLY BECAUSE OF THEIR SKIN COLOUR. Galatians 3: For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. GOD SAYS THAT HE IS REDEEMING ALL MANKIND...AND WE ARE TO SHOW NO DISTINCTIONS IN RECEIVING ONE ANOTHER. IT IS THE FALLEN MAN THAT MAKES LIKE ONE IS SUPERIOR TO ANOTHER SEGMENTING AND SEGREGATING THE BODY OF CHRIST. GOD HOWEVER IS A GOD OF EQUITY, JUST AND RIGHT IS HE, AND HE SHOWS THAT BIBLICALLY

7 SPEAKING HIS REDEMPTION HAS WORKED AND IS AT WORK IN DARKER SKINNED PEOPLE TOO. Psalms 68:31... Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. THIS WAS A PROPHETIC DECLARATION THAT GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD...THAT IS EVERY PEOPLE GROUP...THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOSOEVER WOULD BELIEVE IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. GOD HAD IN HIS MIND SOME "HIDDEN FIGURES" TO SAVE THAT WERE BLACK... Acts 8: And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou

8 mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. HERE ARE A FEW OF THE HIDDEN FIGURES IN SCRIPTURE...THAT HAD GREAT IMPACT IN THE HISTORY OF ISRAEL AND THE CHURCH... Asenath, wife of Joseph son of Jacob Genesis 41:45... And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath paneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti phera priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Genesis 46:20... And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Poti phera priest of On bare unto him. Asenath was the daughter of an African priest, who named her after a Black goddess who the Greeks renamed Minerva. Asenath was a native of Africa and all of her in-laws were Jewish. She met her in-laws when her husband, Joseph, summoned all the Jews in the known world to Africa to weather a famine. Zipporah Moses, who wrote the first five books of the Bible, married an Ethiopian woman, Zipporah, and was persecuted for it. He and his family almost lost their lives because she was African and because of her Ethiopic religious roots.

9 Numbers 12:1... And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. God judged them for this act of rejection because of her race. Tirhakah, king of Ethiopia, waged war against (King) Sennacherib, (of Assyria), during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah 2 Kings 19: So Rab shakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria warring against Libnah: for he had heard that he was departed from Lachish. And when he heard say of Tirhakah king of Ethiopia, Behold, he is come out to fight against thee: he sent messengers again unto Hezekiah, saying, Also this is recorded in Isaiah 37:9...) Tirhakah king of Ethiopia drove him from his intention of destroying Jerusalem and deporting its inhabitants. God used this African king to protect the Jews, his chosen people. EBED-MELECH...AN ETHIOPIAN, SERVANT TO KING ZEDEKIAH, WAS AN INTERCESSOR, A LEADER OF MEN, AND MOST IMPORTANTLY A PROTECTOR GOD S PROPHET. HE WAS A HIDDEN FIGURE OF COLOR! Jeremiah 38: Now when Ebed melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; Ebed melech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king, saying, My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebed melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. So Ebed melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And

10 Ebed melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. Jeremiah 39: Now the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebed melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord. Simon of Cyrene, (A city in Northern Africa) Mark 15:21... And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross. Simon of Cyrene had the cross of the Son of God slammed on his back by a European Roman guard and was forced to carry the cross of humanity s sin and shame the rest of the way up Golgotha's hill to the crucifixion. God used this man. This "HIDDEN FIGURE" from Cyrene, a Black Country, to aid the Son of God in the redemption of the whole world. He was a hidden figure that God acknowledged as a valuable piece of the churches future teaching us that we all have a cross to bear. Simon the Canaanite He was the only obviously Black original apostle of Jesus Christ. He converted to the Nation of Israel to become a Jew through the receiving of

11 the rite of circumcision. Matthew 10: Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. Queen of Sheba 1 Kings 10: And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard. The first use in the Bible of the word queen refers to a Black woman. Her name is alleged to be Makeda, but the Scriptures refer to her as the Queen of Sheba or the Queen of the South. Her fame was such that 2,000 years after her death, our Lord Jesus Christ mentioned her long trip and referred to her challenge of Solomon s wisdom, which led to a love affair with the wise Jewish king. THE CHURCH AT ANTIOCH...

12 ONE OF THE GREATEST ASSEMBLIES OF THE EARLY CHURCH WAS ANTIOCH. IT WAS A CHURCH RICH IN ALL FACETS OF GOD S GIFTINGS. THEY HAD GREAT EVANGELISM, THEY HAD GREAT TEACHING, THEY HAD A PROPHETIC GRACE, THEY HAD GREAT PASTORS, AND THE HAD APOSTOLIC THRUST. IT WAS THE HOME CHURCH OF THE APOSTLE PAUL. ALL OF THESE THINGS WERE THERE AND WERE GREAT BUT THE TRUE STRENGTH WAS IN THE ACTIVATION OF THE "HIDDEN FIGURES" AMONG THEM. THEY WERE A MULTIETHNIC CHURCH THAT HONORED THE GOD IN EVERY MAN. SO GOD USED THEM GREATLY IN EXPANDING THE GOSPEL INTO REGION THAT WERE YET UNREACHED. Acts 13: Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, (black), and Lucius of Cyrene,(African city), and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. IT IS THE "HIDDEN FIGURES" THAT GOD WILL USE IN HIS ENDTIME CHURCH. HIDDEN FIGURES THAT ARE BEING SHAKEN AND STIRRED, HIDDEN FIGURES THAT ARE BEING FILLED AND EMPOWERED, HIDDEN FIGURES THAT ARE CONCEALED BUT WILL BE REVEALED AND ACTIVATED BY THE HOLY GHOST FOR GOD S WILL TO BE DONE AND HIS KINGDOM TO COME. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS BEING RELEASED TO RESTORE GOD S CHURCH TO STRENGTH... TO BRING BLACKS, WHITES, RED, AND YELLOW SAINTS TOGETHER.

13 THE APOSTLE JOHN SAW THE CULMINATION OF GOD S INTENTION FOR US. HE NEVER SAID WE ARE NOT TO HAVE DISTINCTION FROM WHAT HE CREATED US TO BE BUT SAID WE ALL NEEDED TO BE SAVED AND TO COME TOGETHER AND SERVE HIM. Revelation 7:4, And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. THESE ARE THE TRUE ULTIMATE HIDDEN FIGURES...THE ONES WHO WILL STAND BEFORE JESUS AS ONE, YET WITH THEIR MULTI-ETHIC, MULTI- CULTURAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF HOW GOD CREATED THEM AND THEY WILL BE SHOUTING ALONG WITH THE JEWISH BELIEVERS, SALVATION TO OUR GOD! LORD RELEASE THE HIDDEN FIGURES AMONG US...THOSE WHO ARE HERE BUT NOT YET REVEALED BUT HAVE GREAT GIFTING AND GRACE FOR YOUR PURPOSES TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. HOLY SPIRIT SPEAK, IDENTIFY, ACTIVATE, AND EMPOWER THE HIDDEN FIGURES TO BE DETERMINED TO FINISH THEIR COURSE AND KEEP THE FAITH! MAY YOUR GRACE BE SUFFICIENT FOR US LORD...