Keion Henderson - The Revelation of Relationship

I want to talk about the revelation of relationships; that’s what I want to discuss- the revelation of relationships. Thank you so much. When I was a younger minister-and I don’t say «young minister» anymore because I’m inching up on that forty-child mark- I want to thank God publicly right now for the extraordinarily gifted man of God who taught me at the Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church in Gary, Indiana. His name was Dr. Caitlin Brooks Jr. Man, he was anointed! He could exegete a text like nobody’s business. He even wrote commentaries on the books of Ephesians and Romans — not a self -help book, not a book you’d find on the shelves for life interests, but an actual commentary that was properly conjugated and exegeted. He was an extraordinary man of God. Not only was he powerful in the Word and exegesis, but he was also extremely anointed. I mean, when Dr. Brooks would preach, he could turn a church upside down every time he delivered the Word of God. I remember being trained by him; I carried his books and Bibles. Back then, he used to drink Gatorade from a glass, and I remember sometimes pouring that for him. Some of you may not remember this because now we preach in T-shirts and jeans, but back then, preachers wore robes — with that robe featuring the cross on the back. You remember? The garments had stuff on the shoulders, and sometimes they had tassels and all that kind of stuff. Let me tell you, whenever that preacher preached well, and he came down, he wore a cape that matched that robe. They would come and put that cape on him, with a gold chain that you would adjust, and if you had a good nurse, she would tuck a towel underneath his neck. That was because he could catch cold; old preachers wouldn’t go outside without a hat either. Oh man, he was a northerner; he drank tea while he preached. That’s probably why I drink it now. He extended the right hand of fellowship to those who joined the church; he laid hands on babies, prayed for the sick, and performed weddings. He was an extraordinary man of God. He taught me how to preach and gave me my first opportunity to preach in July of 1995, standing on his stage at the Tree of Life Missionary Baptist Church-1111 West 11th Avenue, 2323 West 11th Avenue was the address. He allowed me to stand on that stage and preach for ten minutes before him. In the 80s, he had over a thousand people in church and five different locations! He was a magnificent man of God, and we had the greatest relationship. He was a mentor; he would pour into you, pray for you, be wise, kind, and loving. Unfortunately, I missed half of everything he tried to teach me because he was also my father. I did not know he was my father until I was 12 years old, and here I was trying to battle between learning from him and overcoming myself. I was stuck in the conundrum of learning from a man of God versus taking the advice of my own conscience. I was so upset with him for not being the father I wanted that I missed the lessons of the teacher. Don’t miss this! I’m trying to help somebody in this place today because often we miss the lesson due to a problem with the professor. We overlook what God is trying to teach us because we have some sort of issue with the vessel He uses to deliver the message. Here I was, battling between honoring my father and learning from my minister. I struggled because the sermons he preached in the pulpit were so powerful, but because of my personal experience, I was missing the message. I wonder how many people like me miss the message because they have an issue with the messenger. They miss what God is trying to say because they don’t agree with whom He’s using to say it. Help me, Holy Ghost! Here I am, struggling with this, because on one hand, he trained me, but on the other hand, he failed me. I was stuck between two opinions, unaware that a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. I didn’t know whether to love him or be upset with him; I didn’t know whether to care for him or pray for him. I didn’t know if he was right or wrong. Even though he was right, something felt wrong inside of me, and I was missing what God was trying to tell me because I didn’t understand the revelation of relationships. I didn’t realize that sometimes God will serve you through broken vessels. I didn’t recognize that the vessel didn’t have to be perfect for it to be purposeful. Help me, Holy Ghost!