Turning Points in Ministry: Thinking Aloud

By Blanche Clipper Hudson

Turning Points in Ministry: Thinking Aloud is a compilation of Dr. Hudson’s sermons written between 1995-2015, focusing on the different seasons of ministry from the early years to the challenges of interim ministry to the barren seasons of ministry. These sermons represent both the challenges and the victories of the minister’s different seasons of waiting for change and listening for God.

Through the barren seasons, she learns that there is a purpose for barrenness. She also learns during the barren seasons (waiting and listening for God) that He develops our spiritual gifts and prepares us for far greater opportunities for service in ministry at the next turning points.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664234895

Blanche Clipper Hudson

Blanche Clipper Hudson is an ordained Baptist minister with over 25 years in ministry. She served as Appointed Interim Pastor for three Ameerican Baptist Churches/USA in New York: First Baptist in Saratoga Springs: First Baptist in Norwich and First Baptist in White Plains. Dr. Hudson is a writer and author. Her first book, BARRENNESS: Journey to God's Divine Provision, was published by Westbow Press in 2015 and her second book, TURNING POINTS IN MINISTRY; Thinking Aloud, a compilation of fifty of her sermons, was published by Westbow Press in 2021. She is also the co-editor of REUNION REVIVAL: Rediscovering Faith, Family and Community with Jesus (Leader's Guide)was published by Urban Ministries, Inc. in 2013.

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MEDITATION NOTES ON READING FROM PSALM 23

Fresh water restores my soul.

The sermons I hear are fresh waters.

Lectures from Dr. Kinney are fresh waters.

Church and seminary are pools I drink from.

Books by Dr. Howard Thurman provide

fresh waters to drink from.

I drink from these pools to quench my spiritual thirst,

my thirst for knowledge.

My spiritual hunger is fed from these fresh waters.

The Good Shepherd leads me to the right pools:

church, seminary, and books.

Fresh water restores my soul.¹

INTRODUCTION TO PART 1

The Early Years of Ministry - 1995-1999 - opens with Meditation Notes on Reading from Psalm 23. This psalm has a plan of our Shepherd’s love and provision for us. The Good Shepherd provides for our physical and spiritual needs, and He guides us as He leads us through unseen dangers. And when we are tired or need healing, His plan is to restore, refresh, and regenerate us. It is my prayer that the sermons in this volume, parts 1 through 4, give the reader some assurance of our Shepherd’s love, protection, provision, and grace.

The sermons in Part 1 contain sermons written while attending Virginia Union University (Richmond, Virginia) and Howard University School of Divinity (Washington, DC). These sermons - Laddering Your Faith, Fitting the Pieces Together, What Happened to Onesimus? and The Meaning of Forgiveness- represent my early years of ministry. They were preached to the congregation at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Washington, DC, where I was licensed, ordained, and served as an associate minister.

Our pastor, Dr. H. Beecher Hicks Jr., provided many opportunities for the associate ministers to preach. We were invited to preach for the prayer and praise worship service on Tuesday nights following prayer meetings, noon services during Vacation Bible School in the summer, and midweek services for senior citizens year-round. Upon an invitation from Dr. Hicks, an associate minister also preached for the Sunday early service at eight o’clock in the morning. These preaching assignments and opportunities provided practice not only in writing sermons but also in learning how to deliver them. Much prayer and preparation are needed for both. Fellow associates, congregants, family, and friends gave encouraging feedback to the neophyte preacher. Metropolitan Baptist Church was indeed a School for Prophets.

I am appreciative of Dr. Hicks and my Metropolitan Church family for the many years of encouragement and opportunities they provided in helping me to develop not only my preaching, but ministry service to the body of Christ through visitations, meetings, and fellowship.

May this compilation of sermons be an extension of my ministry. And as you hold this book of sermons in your hands or read them online, may the messages of God’s divine provision of grace and love fill your heart and mind with the love of Christ. Be blessed.

CHAPTER 1

Step by Step

I look to the hills.

Psalm 121:1 (CEV)

LADDERING YOUR FAITH

²

Genesis 28:10–22

We are going to look at a wanderer, the son of Isaac and Rebekah. He is the younger twin brother of Esau. His name is Jacob. We see Jacob fleeing from Esau because he tricked Esau out of the blessing that was meant for Esau. Esau discovered that Jacob tricked him, and he was angry and looking to kill him. Jacob had some help in tricking Esau. His mother planned the scheme, and she decided Jacob should go off for a few days until things cooled off a little. Then she planned to bring him back home. Rebekah said to Jacob, Go seek a wife from your Uncle Laban’s daughters and stay there for a while until your brother’s fury turns away (Genesis 27:44). Jacob listened to Rebekah’s advice. He left Beersheba and started on his trek to Haran, where his uncle lived.

From a sparse, grassy land in Beersheba, after he traveled about sixty miles southward to a land of vegetation called Luz, this weary wanderer was overtaken by sunset before he reached his destination in Haran. He arrived at a certain place, stayed there for the night, fell asleep, and had a dream. Sleep is what we welcome at the end of the day. Sleep gives us rest for a day’s work. Sleep rejuvenates us. Sometimes we sleep so soundly that we cannot hear when something is going on right around us. First Samuel 26:12, says, So David took the spear that was at Saul’s head and the water jar, and they went away. No one saw it, or knew it, nor did anyone awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them. Remember that Elijah fell asleep under the broom tree, and an angel touched him, woke him up, and told him to eat (1 Kings 19:5). Sometimes sleep provides a way of escape from the troubles we face when we are awake.

Can you relate to Jacob? Have you ever tried to flee from someone who wanted to take your life? Have you run away from something and just wandered around, going somewhere but never really reaching your destination? Maybe you have been wandering in darkness, year in and year out, looking for success and happiness in all the wrong places and the wrong things. Perhaps you are hooked up with the wrong person or wrong crowd and going in the wrong direction in life.

Despite our sins, God comes to us just when we need Him most. Jacob was not only a wanderer; he was a guilty, burdened, and remorseful fugitive running away from his brother, who wanted to kill him. This is the brother he tricked out of his blessing. Although Jacob’s sin was evil, his sin wasn’t about money or worldly things. Jacob wanted something more than that. He and his mother used deceitful ways to gain the blessings meant for Esau because Jacob had a desire for spiritual things. Esau’s birthright represented the headship of the family in its covenant relationship with God. And Jacob knew there was a higher righteousness, to which he was accountable. In his desperate situation, Jacob had a desire to get in touch with the God of his fathers. Jacob carried with him heavy baggage called deceit and despair, yet he had a desire for spiritual things.

This weary, burdened wanderer was overtaken by sunset before he reached his destination. He took a stone for a pillow, and then he fell asleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it (Genesis 28:12).

A ladder is a series of steps grouped to make a staircase. The Hebrew word for ladder is sullam, which means staircase. In 1 Kings 6:8, there was a winding staircase in the house King Solomon had built for the Lord. King Solomon didn’t use hammers, chisels, or iron tools in building the temple. The staircase led up to the middle level and from there to the third level. Today many buildings have ladders or stairways that wind up to the next level. When I was a teenager, one of my girlfriends and I visited the Washington Monument in Washington, DC. We took the elevator to the top. I decided to walk down the winding staircase of this very tall building. I cannot tell you how long it took, but my legs were very tired when I reached the bottom. This building has the most steps I have ever walked down in my life: 897.

Picture yourself lying at the base of the Washington Monument, looking up, and seeing only winding stairs. The height of this building is 555 feet plus another five and one-eighth inches. Use your imagination and see this building without the brick structure. There is nothing but a group of steps winding up into the sky. What a picture! Stairs as far as you can see!

God is an excellent teacher. He used visuals to get Jacob’s attention. Look at this graphic organizer Jacob was focused on: angels going up and down the ladder. Some commentaries say stairs or steps were symbolic of getting ones attention. Stairs were used as places to make prayers or announcements. God had Jacob’s attention. Picture that ladder transformed into a shiny, spiraling staircase with white-robed angels ascending and descending—messengers of God carrying prayers up to heaven while others were coming down with the answers. Jacob got a glimpse of glory when he saw the top of the ladder reaching into heaven with the white-robed, angelic figures moving up and down the spiral staircase while carrying your prayers and mine up to God and God dispatching answers from heaven with these celestial beings. This vision got Jacob’s attention.

The Divine One, our Creator, the Alpha and Omega, Jehovah God came and stood beside Jacob and made this announcement: I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give you and to your offspring (Genesis 28:13). God not only repeated the covenant He had made with Abraham and Isaac but also included Jacob, the wanderer. God told Jacob, And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north and to the south: (Genesis 28:14). God pronounced posterity to the wandering Jacob. Jacob didn’t need to wander anymore. We don’t need to wander around anymore because we are under that same promise: the covenant God made with Abraham and his descendants. Jacob could stop wandering; you and I can stop wandering because we have a God who promises to be with us wherever we go.

Has God ever come and stood by your side when you were going through the darkest time in your life? That time when you didn’t know how you were going to pay your bills? That time when the doctor gave you the news about cancer? That time when you were down to your last dime, didn’t have any money in the bank, and didn’t have a job to receive a paycheck? I am a witness that God will come to you just when you need Him most. All you have do is call on Him, and He will make a way for you. God’s promises are true. He spoke these words to me: Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10). I was struggling and trying to make it without God’s help or guidance. We are all just like Jacob. We need a vision of the Holy One to come and stand beside us and tell us it is going to be all right because He is our God.

In all his deceitful and scheming ways, Jacob at least had a desire for spiritual things. Despite all he had done to his twin brother, Esau, and his father, Isaac, his communication between earth and heaven wasn’t broken. God showed up and told Jacob He would never leave him or forsake him. Jacob awakened from his dream, looked around, and said, Surely, the LORD is in this place and I knew it not (Genesis 28:16).

The omnipresence of God is everywhere. The psalmist says, If I ascend to heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me; and your right hand shall hold me fast (Psalm 139:8-10).

Jacob didn’t know that the certain place where he had stopped for the night was holy ground. He was fearful because he realized in his ignorance that he had treated this sacred place as common ground. Then he recognized that this special place, which he named Bethel, meant a sanctuary. Bethel became a sanctuary for Jacob because God had met him there. A sanctuary is a holy place where mortal man has an encounter with the Divine One, Jesus. The Christ is the ladder, the gateway to heaven, by which we communicate with God the Father. Jacob vowed to dedicate a tithe of all he had in the event of his safe return. When God gets your heart, you are willing to surrender and consecrate your life to Him. Frances Ridley Havergal wrote a beautiful hymn (Take My Life, and Let It Be) five years before her death. It is in verse three that Havergal says,

Take my will, and make it Thine, It shall be no longer mine;

Take my heart, it is Thine own; It shall be Thy royal throne,

It shall be Thy royal throne.³

God provided a link from earth to heaven that gives us a way of communicating with Him; Christ is our ladder. He is the link. Jacob went to sleep with his head on the stone pillow. His stone became a consecrated pillar, but the ladder became his link to his faith in God. The ladder was a symbol of hope of his prayers being answered. Jacob saw the celestial beings going up and down, carrying his prayers up to God, God dispatching the answers, and angels bringing the answer down the spiraling staircase.

There is a message for us in a spiritual song about climbing Jacob’s ladder and increasing our faith in the One who answers our prayers. Jesus is that ladder. And we are laddering our faith in Him.

We are climbing Jacob’s ladder.

We are climbing Jacob’s ladder.

Soldiers of the cross.

Soldiers of the cross.⁴

Build your faith in the One who answers your prayers. We are soldiers of the cross, and we must keep on fighting, because there is someone who needs to know about the One we put our trust in who can fight our battles. God answers our prayers, and Christ is the ladder of faith.

A FOUNTAIN OF LOVE: I THIRST

John 19:28

Jesus had accomplished the task, and now in this one last sign to the unbelievers to show His humanity, He said, I thirst. Jesus wanted to show the fullest proof of His being the Messiah by making everything that had been written about Him by the prophets to be complete and fulfilled in Him. The prophet Isaiah said, He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). Jesus willingly submitted to suffering. Even though Jesus had performed many miracles in the presence of the disciples, they didn’t believe Jesus was the Divine One wrapped in human flesh. In His humanity, He was like us. He suffered pain and got thirsty. In His divinity, Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to Him (John 18:4).

There were four causes for Jesus being thirsty.

1. Jesus was tired. He had carried His cross to Golgotha, and He had been beaten with a whip, which had pieces of metal attached to it that tore His skin.

2. He had lost blood from His wounds, and He was weak and thirsty. Without blood the body becomes weak. Jesus was divine, and He was fully human, and He bled.

3. Jesus was grief-stricken. He suffered the denial of those close to Him, the disciples. Peter had denied Him, and Judas had betrayed Him. His closest friends didn’t give Him support at this time of His life.

4. The heat of the day was another cause for being thirsty. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified Jesus. At three o’clock in the late afternoon, when the sun was high in the sky the hottest time of day - He hung on the cross.

How did Jesus respond to His thirst? Our suffering, thirsty Savior cried out, I thirst (John 19:38 KJV). Even though they offered him sour wine mixed with myrrh to satisfy His thirst, Jesus refused to drink it after He had tasted it because it was mingled with gall, a tranquilizing drug. It was a custom to administer a stupefying portion mixed with vinegar to condemned persons to help alleviate their suffering. Proverbs 31:4 says a king shouldn’t drink wine or have a craving for alcohol. Proverbs 31:5 tells us, It is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to desire strong drink; or else they will drink, and forget what has been decreed, and will pervert the rights of all the afflicted. So our suffering Savior, our King of Kings, saw us at the foot of the cross in need of a savior, and He didn’t allow His suffering or thirst to forget us those whom He had come to save. Our King wouldn’t come down from the cross, and He wouldn’t let anything dull His senses.

When you thirst, what do you turn to? Is it drugs or alcohol? When you are tired from carrying your cross, feel whipped with financial burdens, or are grief stricken from loss of friendships or after being betrayed by those you trust and love, what do you turn to? God offers us hope in times of distress in the saving work of His Son, Jesus the Christ. God offers us a refreshing spring of joy when we come to Him through His Son, who died on the cross, that we might live. God offers us comfort when we lose a friend from betrayal or denial. His Son, Jesus the Christ, knows how we feel because He suffered and died on the cross without those who had been close to Him. God offers us the love of His Son, Jesus the Christ, who fills us repeatedly from His fountain of love.

Fountains have intrigued me since I was a teenager. In Washington, D.C, there are many fountains throughout the city. What fascinates me is the rhythm of these fountains. One day, while waiting at a stoplight, I noticed one fountain on Constitution Avenue. The spray starts out small, and then it shoots up a little higher and falls. But the next spray goes even higher than the last one. I thought about how the Holy Spirit fills us. Each time it gets a little higher than the last time, and it keeps on filling us repeatedly.

Jesus died on the cross and didn’t drink to quench His thirst, but He gives us His Spirit freely to drink from whenever we are tired, grief stricken, weary, or sad. He fills us repeatedly from His fountain of love. God gave us His only Son, Jesus the Christ, so all who are thirsty might come to the fountain, drink, and thirst no more. Jesus told the thirsty Samaritan woman whom He met at the well that He had living water to quench her thirst, like a fountain springing up. Jesus invites us to come to this fountain and be filled from the fountain that keeps springing up repeatedly inside us.

FITTING THE PIECES TOGETHER

Jonah 4:1-11

How do you put a puzzle together? You work on the corners first. Everyone knows that. All the pieces that have straight edges on one side can be fitted together to make a frame that holds the whole puzzle together. Sometimes we must look a long time to find those odds pieces that go in the middle because they have different colors, shapes, and patterns, making it hard to fit in the middle. That is why it is called a puzzle.

When we need help with the puzzle, we look at the box top or picture to see where to fit those little, odd-shaped pieces. We gather a group of like colors and patterns in one pile and work on one section at a time. Then we see where to move it in the frame we made. And we feel good and smile when we find that first section. That discovery encourages us to keep on working on the puzzle.

In the Old Testament, Jonah was a prophet who supported the Northern Kingdom (Israel). God told Jonah to go to the east, to a major city in Nineveh. This city had conquered the Northern Kingdom about thirty-five to forty years before. Nineveh was a place that had a reputation for being a bad place, and Jonah didn’t want to go there. But God said to Jonah, Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you (Jonah 3:2).

Why would God send Jonah to a place where he knew Jonah didn’t want to go? Have your parents or teachers ever told you to go someplace you didn’t want to go? Why would they do that to you?

God knows everything in our hearts. Why would He send Jonah to Nineveh? Did you ever get a teacher in September and say, She [or he] is just too hard. He gives too much homework. Or She will not let us go outside for recess every day? And you ask your parents to get you transferred to another room, but the principal won’t move you. The principal says, Let’s just wait and see how they do for a few weeks. You see, the principal knows that the teacher you were assigned to will help you fit some of the pieces together in your life - pieces like learning problem solving in math or how to resolve conflicts. You might need the kind of discipline only that teacher knows best. You might even need to look at yourself in a different way, and that teacher you were assigned to will help you strengthen your weak areas.

Did you ever hear someone say, They got it all together? Jonah didn’t have it all together. He ran away and got on a ship going in the opposite direction of where God had sent him. While on the boat, he fell asleep, and a great wind blew. The sailors woke Jonah up and asked him, Why has all this trouble come upon our ship? Who are you, and where do you come from?

Jonah said, I am a Hebrew, he replied. I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea, and the dry land (Jonah 1:9). Although Jonah was disobeying God, he told them the truth. Our God is a forgiving God, and He gave Jonah a second chance. You have heard how the sailors threw Jonah overboard, and a big fish swallowed Jonah, then vomited him up after three days.

Jonah went to Nineveh and delivered the message from God. He told them that in days, Nineveh would be overthrown. The people believed God, were sorry for their sins, and repented. But Jonah got angry with God when the people turned away from doing evil things. Jonah was so angry with God that he went out of the city and sat down to see what would become of Nineveh.

While he sat there, God made a bush to cover Jonah’s head and give him some protection. God was still trying to help Jonah fit the pieces together in his life. God continues to care for us, even when we don’t care for ourselves. God protects us from danger. Jonah also got angry about the bush. God was trying to show Jonah how to care for others and be concerned about someone other than himself.

This summer you may learn to listen and follow directions from a teenage helper. You may learn to lead devotions and prayer from your teachers. You may learn to resolve a conflict without raising your voice, crying about it, or getting angry. You may come to accept Christ as your Savior, the One we look to when we are trying to fit the pieces of our life together.

Our lives are a puzzle, and we need to fit the pieces together. There may be family members we learn to get along with - maybe your sisters or brothers. The more we look at the life of Christ, the more we learn how to fit the pieces together. We work on one or two sections at a time until we fit them into the frame of our personalities.

Remember, God is a forgiving God; He gives us second chances. He continues to provide us with opportunities to work on ourselves. God is concerned about you. He was concerned about the great city of Nineveh, even though Jonah didn’t want to go to those people. God was also concerned about the animals in the city of Nineveh. And the people of Nineveh repented of their evil ways.

Won’t you accept Christ and let Him fit the pieces of your life together?

A SITE FOR THE TEMPLE

1 Chronicles 21:18, 28; 22:1

The place you choose as a site for building a home has some symbolic meaning. Some people choose land near their birthplace, which reminds them of their childhood. Some choose land for its location near the water. Others may want a site because the