TURNING POINTS IN MINISTRY: Thinking Aloud

By Blanche Clipper Hudson

This book is a compilation of fifty sermons that the author selected that focus on the different seasons of ministry, spanning several years, from 1995-1999. From her volume of sermons, she selected fifty sermons that represent the minister's spiritual growth and development in ministering to diverse congregations.

The sermon t

• Language: English
• Publisher: Westwood Books Publishing
• Release date: Oct 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888877227

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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Copyright © 2023 by Blanche Clipper Hudson.

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This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (CEV) are from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

Scripture marked (KJV) taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are taken from THE MESSAGE, copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries.

I dedicate this book to the three congregations in New York (First Baptist Church, Saratoga Springs; First Baptist Church, Norwich; and First Baptist Church, White Plains) where I served as Interim Pastor. I was honored and grateful for the opportunity to witness the grace of God in your cities, where together we served the people of your churches and surrounding communities. I was truly blessed during the year I served as your Interim Pastor. To God be the glory for the things He has done.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

PART 1: EARLY YEARS OF MINISTRY (1995-1999)

Meditation Notes on Reading from Psalm 

Introduction To Part 

Chapter 1:Step by Step

Laddering Your Faith

A Fountain of Love: I Thirst

Fitting the Pieces Together

A Site for the Temple

Chapter 2:Faith, Hope, and Love

The Significance of a Number

What Happened to Onesimus?

The Meaning of Forgiveness

Let Us

PART 2: INTERIM MINISTRY YEARS (1999-2005)

Introduction to Part 2

Chapter 3:Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice

A Peaceful Place

A New Beginning, a New Era

Obey God and Watch the Blessings

What Kind of Tree are You?

Chapter 4:Marching to Zion

Meditation on Unity

Called, Challenged, and Committed: The Community of Cs

A Prophetic Hymn

This is Sarah’s Story

Chapter 5:Bloom Where You’re Planted

Virtue and Beauty

There’s a Famine in the Land

God’s Will

Stir Up the Gift

Stretching Out of Shape

Chapter 6:Traveling Mercies

The Miracle of Crossing on Dry Ground

Kairos Time

A Radical Newness

A Celebration of Work

Chapter 7:This Is the Day

On the Way

Climbing Up the Mountain

Spring Has Sprung - Message from the Interim Pastor

In Due Season

Chapter 8:Prayer and Praise

A Place of Destiny

Divine Deliverance

Grace and Peace

PART 3: TURNING POINTS: NEW SEASON (2006 - 2010)

Introduction to Part 3

Chapter 9:Turning, Turning, Turning

Shalom

For this Reason

A Turning Point

Chapter 10:Building the Temple

He Winked at Me

Keeping Passion and Purpose in Perspective

Let Him See Your Heart

From Transformation to Jubilation

Chapter 11:Total Praise

From Struggling to Surrendering: Let Go and Let God

Total Praise

Lessons We Learn in A Storm

The Favor of God

Waiting and Listening for The Sound - The Mulberry Tree Sermon

PART 4: DEVELOPING AND PUBLISHING A BOOK (2011–2015)

Introduction to Part 4

Chapter 12:Trust and Obey

Between Promise and Provision

A Call to Repentance

Barren for a Purpose: Fruitful in Your Season

Chapter 13:Hallelujah!

Be Encouraged

Praying With Confidence and Assurance: God’s Provision, Protection, and Preservation Plans

Bridging The Gap

Endnotes

Study Questions for Journal Writing or Poetry and Small Groups 

Suggested Reading

PREFACE

Before the national announcement in March 2020 that our nation and the world were in a lockdown because of a pandemic due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), God inspired me in mid-February 2020 to compile my sermons into a book. I made a notation on my desk calendar and circled February 17 to start compiling my sermons.

Most of the sermons were stored on my computer and others from the early years were in folders. I began searching through folders from the starting years of ministry, reviewing sermons stored on my computer, and sorting them into several piles. By the end of March, I had gathered over seventy sermons I was considering for the book. After the sorting, I began collecting the sermons into four different parts. I gave them the following subtitles:

Part 1: Early Years

Part 2: Interim Ministry Years

Part 3: Turning Points in Ministry

Part 4: Developing and Publishing My Book

These subtitles mirrored the different seasons of my ministry. I selected fifty sermons from the original seventy to represent both the trials and triumphs I had experienced throughout the years, 1995-2015.

After labeling the four groups of sermons, I began editing and rearranging the groups, and I listed them in chronological order corresponding to the dates they had been preached. Since each segment represented different years of ministry, I wrote an introduction for each part, describing the challenges, struggles, and victories during those years.

The work of compiling sermons kept me busy reading and rereading and editing them. The psalmist says, Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10 KJV). This gathering of sermons forms the order of my preaching ministry from the early years through uncertain seasons to turning points and to publishing my first book. Throughout every season, God gave me wisdom, direction, protection, and His love. So, during the quarantine, I stayed in place and listened to what He was directing me to do - compile a book of my sermons.

At the same time, I wanted to be an informed senior citizen during the pandemic, so I watched the news on CNN and NBC about COVID-19, to learn about the CDC guidelines for protection. Rereading my sermons uplifted my spirit after hearing the daily news about the perils of the pandemic. Praise God from whom all blessings come! I am reminded again of my favorite scripture, For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Turning Points in Ministry: Thinking Aloud has been greatly helped to completion and submission to the publisher by the computer and organizational skills of my granddaughter, Kiana Wilson, whose technical ability also enhanced the presentation of my compilation of sermons. I am also grateful for the work of my son-in-law, Robert Wilson, for transferring the footnotes from the document into the finished work of the notes section at the end of this book. And I am incredibly grateful to my daughter, Sheila and Robert Wilson, for reviewing and editing the introduction and preface pages. Both provided clarity and keen insight into the mechanics of writing. Many thanks to the Wilson family!

I am especially thankful for my friend Dr. Cheryl Price, who has strongly supported my ministry throughout the years. She helped me to decide on the title for this book. I am so grateful for her support and friendship.

I am deeply grateful for the love and favor the First Baptist Churches (Saratoga Springs, Norwich, and White Plains) have shown me during the years I served them. Their invitation to serve as their interim pastor gave me the great honor and privilege of preaching these sermons. I thank them for their prayers. And to other congregations who invited me as a guest preacher, I thank them for the opportunities to proclaim the sermonic messages in this book.

I am very thankful to my pastor, Dr. H. Beecher Hicks, Jr., for his leadership. He provided guidance and many opportunities for the associate ministers team I was a part of to hone their preaching and worship skills at Metropolitan Baptist Church through weekly prayer and praise services and monthly associate ministers’ meetings.

PART 1

Early Years of Ministry

(1995-1999)

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 water to drink from.

I drink from these pools to quench my spiritual thirst,

my thirst for knowledge.

My spiritual hunger is fed by 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 FAITH²

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 the 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? At 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 to 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 at 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