[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 18648-18649]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     ROCK SPRINGS CHURCH DEDICATION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MAC COLLINS

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 15, 2004

  Mr. COLLINS. Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to Dr. Benny Tate and 
the Rock Springs Congregational Methodist Church in Milner, Georgia.
  Rock Springs dedicated a new sanctuary on August 15, 2004 with a 
seating capacity of 1,100. What makes this dedication so special is 
that Rock Springs is a rural church in Middle Georgia which in 1989 had 
an average attendance of less than 100. But as Dr. Benny Tate explains 
in his dedication sermon, ``The Favor of God'' is on Rock Springs 
Church.
  In a day and age when more and more people are moving away from the 
founding principles of our nation and turning to secularism, I commend 
Dr. Tate and the congregation of Rock Springs Congregational Methodist 
Church for continuing to seek the lost, and walking in the Favor of 
God.
  Without objection, I would like to enter into the Record Dr. Tate's 
sermon, ``Walking in the FOG (Favor of God).''

     Rock Springs Church--New Building Dedication, August 15, 2004


           Dr. Benny Tate--Walking in the FOG (Favor of God)

       It is great to be in the Lord's house today and we 
     appreciate you being here for our dedication service. It is 
     an honor and privilege to have each and every one of you in 
     attendance.
       I invite you today to take your Bible if you would to the 
     book of Acts chapter 2, verse 38 through 47. ``Then Peter 
     said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in 
     the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye 
     shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is 
     unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, 
     even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many 
     other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save 
     yourselves from this untoward generation. Then they that 
     gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day 
     there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And 
     they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and 
     fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And 
     fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were 
     done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, 
     and had all things common; And sold their possessions and 
     goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And 
     they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and 
     breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with 
     gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having 
     favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church 
     daily such as should be saved.''
       I want you to notice verse 47. The scripture says ``and 
     having favour with all the people.'' I have been preaching a 
     series of messages entitled `Walking in the Fog.' An acrostic 
     for the word Fog is the Favor of God. Today I want to talk to 
     you about the favor of God on a church. It is amazing what 
     happens when God's favor rests on a place. It is amazing what 
     happened when the favor of God was on the early church. I 
     think it is amazing now what happens when God's favor is on a 
     church.
       We need to understand the favor of God. We need to 
     understand the prerequisites to the favor of God. Many times 
     we don't understand the favor of God. Why it is seemingly 
     God's blessing is on one place and God's blessing is not on 
     another place. Why does God choose to give favor as he did 
     here in the second chapter of the book of Acts and maybe 
     seemingly the favor of God is not on another place? I want to 
     you give some pre requisites to the favor of God.
       The first ingredient to the favor of God is to have a 
     dream. We can have a lot of debates about God's spirit. Acts 
     chapter 2, one of the indicators of being filled with God's 
     spirit is young men shall see visions and old men shall dream 
     dreams. It is so important that every church has a dream. It 
     is so important that our church many years ago had a dream.
       Philippians 2:13 says, ``For it is God which worketh in you 
     both to will and to do of his good pleasure.'' The Bible says 
     in Proverbs 29:18, ``Where there is no vision, the people 
     perish.'' It is imperative; it is vital we have a dream.
       I know scores of people in their personal lives, in their 
     spiritual lives, in their occupational lives, that are stone 
     blind. They don't have a dream! For the favor of God to rest 
     on a place, we must have a dream. Not only getting a dream 
     but also keeping a dream. Three Hundred Eighty years ago, a 
     group of pilgrims had the courage, the tenacity, the 
     adventurous spirit to cross land and sea to come to a land 
     where they could have freedom, and worship God in spirit and 
     in truth. The first year they were here these 102 pilgrims 
     established a town. The second year they established a town 
     council. The third year the town council proposed building a 
     road out into the wilderness five miles. The fourth year, the 
     people tried to impeach the town council because they said 
     the road five miles out into the wilderness was a waste of 
     funds. A few years before they could see across the ocean, 
     but now they could not see five miles out into the 
     wilderness!
       It is so important that we get a dream. It is so important 
     that we keep a dream. H. B. London of Focus on the Family, 
     who is the Pastor to pastors, said, ``Congregations, allow 
     your pastors to dream.'' I am so grateful that I can say with 
     affirmation, after being here working on my fifteenth year, 
     the wonderful people at Rock Springs Church have always 
     allowed me to dream. It may be insane to live life with a 
     dream but it is madness to live life without one. What 
     brought the favor of God on this place? It was because they 
     had a dream.
       They had dedication. Acts 2:42 says, ``and they continued 
     stedfastly;'' dedication. Today is a culmination. We started 
     in 1852 when a group of men, one of them being Absolum 
     Ogletree, had the courage to leave an established 
     denomination and walk out and tread new waters. They formed a 
     denomination, the Congregational Methodist Church; Rock 
     Springs Church being one of the charter churches. It took 
     dedication for a handful of people on July 5, 1979 to watch 
     their building burn to the ground. It took dedication for 
     those people to say, ``Our building may have burned, but the 
     church is still here, and we'll build back.'' What brings the 
     favor of God? Ladies and gentlemen, it is not only a dream, 
     but also dedication to the dream.
       The third ingredient to the favor of God is a ``desire to 
     reach others.'' It is woven in the scriptures in verse 38 and 
     39. ``For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and 
     to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God 
     shall call.'' See it would have been easy folks, to stay 
     where we were. It would have been comfortable to stay where 
     we were. I even said one time, ``We don't have to do all 
     this, we don't have to go through all this effort, we don't 
     have to give all this money--all we have to do is put on the 
     marquis out front, Go to hell, we're full!'' But God did not 
     call us to comfort, God called us to a cross. See ladies and 
     gentlemen, Rock Springs Church realizes, it is not about us, 
     it's about them What brings the favor of God is when we get 
     our eyes off ourselves and realize it's not about what we 
     want, it's about reaching men, women, boys and girls for 
     Jesus Christ!
       A young lady in our church gave me this: I remember the 
     night during the sanctuary-building program when we made our 
     pledges. I wondered how we would ever be able to give that 
     much. Not equal gifts, but equal sacrifices, and we did. Then 
     I remember the ground breaking when the preacher said, 
     ``We've never been this way before,'' and we all felt a sense 
     of awe about what was becoming. I am overwhelmed by my 
     feelings as I look throughout this sanctuary. Life has been 
     breathed into this place by God Himself. For it is God who 
     has ordained this place and God who built it. He could have 
     used anyone, anywhere, but we were willing. Blessed are we 
     His people who are chosen for such a time as this. Our blood, 
     sweat, tears and prayers are in this building and oh, how 
     small a cost. When I look at this sanctuary, I see the faces 
     of my children growing up in the light of truth. The children 
     I pray for daily. My youngest daughter will be saved and 
     baptized in this building. I see the faces of my family 
     members yet to be saved. My tears will stain the altar for 
     them. I see the faces of those gone on. The sacrifices that 
     brought us to this place. Truly their prayers built the 
     foundation of this building. There once was a plum tree in 
     the field next to the little church on Rock Springs Road. Now 
     there is a new fruit tree growing of wood, brick, mortar and 
     steel. Its branches shall never stop reaching forth, its 
     fruit will always be in season, and it will last throughout 
     all the generations.
       For the favor of God, there has to be a desire to reach 
     others.

[[Page 18649]]

       The fourth and final ingredient is they demonstrated love 
     toward each other. In verse 45 and verse 46 they literally 
     sold their possessions because they cared about each other. A 
     bell is not a bell till you ring it, a song is not a song 
     till you sing it, love is not put in your heart to stay, and 
     love is not love till you give it away. Our church loves one 
     another. We love one another. When we weep, we weep together. 
     When we rejoice, we rejoice together. People don't care how 
     much you know until they know how much you care. When we 
     genuinely love one another like we love one another, that 
     brings the favor of God and people are drawn to that!
       The last prerequisite for the favor of God is to depend on 
     supernatural power. It is in verse 43, the Bible says, ``And 
     fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were 
     done by the apostles.'' President Lyndon Johnson used to tell 
     the story about a preacher who got up one Sunday morning and 
     said, ``This morning as I was getting ready for church, my 
     dog ate my sermon notes. Today, I'll have to rely on the Holy 
     Spirit, but I promise next week, I'll do better.'' We ought 
     to be relying on the Holy Spirit every week and on the 
     supernatural power of God. Last night was my first prayer 
     service in here. I've been praying in the old sanctuary. I 
     was praying a while back, and I wouldn't offend the Lord for 
     anything, but I was somewhat overwhelmed and I said, ``Lord, 
     this sanctuary is so small and in just a few weeks we are 
     going to go over there in that big one. Lord, I don't know 
     how I am going to fill it.'' God spoke to me. People say, 
     ``How do you know it is God?'' Well, if He ever speaks to 
     you, you won't have to ask me that again. God said, ``You 
     didn't fill the one you're in now.'' It is God's house. It is 
     not my responsibility to fill it, it's God's responsibility 
     to fill it and it looks like He is doing a pretty good job! 
     See, the early church depended on the supernatural.
       I close with this story. There was a little church up in 
     Savannah, Tennessee getting ready for dedication day. The 
     pastor looked over at his son about six weeks from dedication 
     and said, ``Son, I want you to write a song for dedication.'' 
     The night before the dedication service, the father looked 
     over at his nineteen year old son Jaron and said, ``Jaron, 
     have you written that song yet for dedication?'' He said, 
     ``No, dad, but I am getting ready to sit down at the piano 
     and I am going to write that song.'' Jaron said he sat down 
     at the piano and said to himself, ``What do I want to 
     experience when I come into this place for the very first 
     time?'' He said, ``God gave me these words. As I walked 
     through the door I sensed His presence, and I knew this was 
     the place where love abounds. For this is the temple, Jehovah 
     God abides here, we are standing in His presence on holy 
     ground.'' When I read Jaron Davis's answer, it so parallels 
     how I feel today--``It blows me away that God will take a 
     little country boy from the foothills of Tennessee and let 
     him write a song as a teenager that would have the effect and 
     impact that this one has had. It just kind of proves that 
     little is much when God is in it.''
     There is no joy in easy sailing, when skies are clear and 
           blue,
     Nor is there joy in doing things, that anyone can do,
     But there is some satisfaction, that's mighty sweet to take,
     When you reach a destination, mama, I never thought I'd make.

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