Rel.D. Colvin Blanford - God First For A Better Life

FOR A BETTER LIFE

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLES FOR BETTER LIVING

COLVIN BLANFORD, REL.D.

Copyright 2021 Colvin Blanford

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

Published by Equip Press, Colorado Springs, CO

Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

First Edition: 2021
God First / Colvin Blanford
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-951304-54-6
eBook ISBN: 978-1-951304-55-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021902336

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A fter acknowledging Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, it was a blessing to be baptized on Easter Sunday morning 1945, at 5 a.m., at the Olive Grove Baptist Church in Kemp, Texas. It was a blessing to continue my spiritual nurture and growth at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Terrell, Texas, and at historic Third Baptist Church in San Francisco.

I am grateful to all of my relatives, friends and colleagues who have touched and have had an impact on my life.

I am grateful to have had the opportunity and privilege to serve as pastor of First Baptist Church, Gary, Indiana and to have had the honor and privilege of being the organizing pastor of Cosmopolitan Baptist Church in San Francisco, California; Christ Baptist Church, Gary, Indiana; Christ Baptist Church, Chicago, Illinois; and New Life Christian Fellowships International, Mesa, Arizona.

It has also been an honor and privilege to serve as adjunct professor, affiliate professor, associate professor teaching in the areas of Black church studies, preaching, and social ethics, as director of Black church studies and as a member of the Board of Trustees at Northern Seminary.

DEDICATION

This book of sermons is dedicated to my devoted wife, Margaret Ann Blanford and to my deceased parents, John Hardee Blanford (1907-1980) and Hattie Ellen Blanford (1908-1993).

PREFACE

I n August 2018, I was blessed to preach at Christ Baptist Church in Gary. After the services, we were being greeted by our many friends and former members. One of them asked me how I was doing and I told her: Im blessed and highly favored!

She proceeded to tell me that in the Bible only Mary was referred to as being highly favored. I graciously acknowledge that the angel did tell Mary that she had been highly favored. And proceeded to say to her: I cannot speak for anyone else, but I know beyond the shadow of any doubt that I have not only been blessed by the Lord but I have also been highly favored.

I have been blessed with salvation. I have been blessed to have the privilege to preach and teach the gospel and to help make disciples for Jesus Christ. I have been blessed to plant churches. I was blessed to be mentored by my pastor, the late Dr. F.D. Haynes, Sr. and to have had the privilege and opportunity to mentor other pastors.

I have been blessed with a loving wife and with a loving family and with many devoted friends and colleagues. I have been blessed in more ways that I can possibly mention.

But I have also been highly favored.

In September 1976, I was told that I had six to eighteen months to live and that if I had surgery there was a 50-50 chance that I would not survive. I was told that if I did survive, I could possibly live the rest of my live in a vegetative state.

So surgery was not an option. I thanked God for the time he had given me and for whatever time I would have.

My wife, Margaret, went to the Lord in prayer. She told the Lord that our two sons needed a father to raise them. So she asked the Lord to take her and leave me to raise our two sons.

The next month, when I went to the hospital for my check up, some more x-rays were taken. When my doctor looked at them, he had a strange look on his face. He said to me: Pastor, (and I was his pastor) look at this. I looked and had no idea what I was looking at or what the x-rays meant. Then he placed the x-rays that were taken the previous month beside these x-rays. Immediately, I noticed that the lines that were on the first set of x-rays were not on the ones just taken. MIRACULOUSLY, the lines that were there the month before were gone and my death sentence had been lifted!

As I look back on that experience (and other experiences) I realize that I have not just been blessed by the Lord but I have also been HIGHLY FAVORED!

One Friday night in the summer of 1954, I was watching The Friday Night Fights. During a commercial, I went to the kitchen to get some refreshments. As I stood at the kitchen sink, all of a sudden, I felt this overwhelming sensation that God was calling me to preach. I was stunned and terrified. As this indescribable sensation overwhelmed me, I began to cry uncontrollably and I cried out: No, Lord! Not that! Ill do anything you want me to do. But, not that.

During the next two years, I ran from that calling. I didnt mind serving the Lord in some way, but I definitely didnt want to preach. But the call did not go away.

Several months before graduating from high school in June 1956, I got fed up with this feeling that God was calling me to preach. So I decided to challenge God. One day, I got so fed up that I told God: If you really want me to preach, give me a title and text.

I said this defiantly and immediately became terrified because I had insulted God. For a period of time, God was silent and I was scared.

After a while, a verse of scripture kept running through my mind several times a day. Id be trying to think about or do something else and that verse kept being repeated in my mind over and over again. That verse was: I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. To the Jew first and also to the Greek.

I had no idea where to find that scripture, so I ask my pastor, Dr. F. D. Hayes, Sr. He told me that it was in Romans 1:16. Then the title came to me: Theres Power in Gods Word.

Pastor Haynes scheduled me to preach my first sermon at the evening service on Fathers Day 1956. My text was Romans 1:16. My sermon title was Theres Power in Gods Word.

Since that time, I have been blessed to preach (or at least, try to preach) some five thousand sermons. After a lot of prodding from Dr. J. Alfred Smith Sr. I submitted a manuscript for the book he was editing in 1976 on Outstanding Black Sermons. The manuscript was accepted and the sermon was published.

Over the years, people have asked me about publishing some of my sermons. I didnt think seriously about doing so until fairly recently. After much prayer, I believe the Lord is leading me to do so at this time.

As I was preparing to undertake this project, I was reminded of something that Dr. Caesar Clark said many years ago. He was preaching a city-wide revival at the Oakland auditorium in Oakland, California. Each night people were praising him for the sermon he preached. One night he told them: No man has it all . God has given to each man just a portion.