Beeson podcast, Episode 437
Robert Smith Jr.
March 26, 2019

Announcer:          Welcome to the Beeson Podcast coming to you from Beeson Divinity School on the campus of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Now your host, Timothy George.

Timothy George:     Welcome to today's Beeson Podcast. Well, today you're going to have the privilege of hearing one of the great preachers of our time, our friend and dearly beloved colleague Dr. Robert Smith, Jr. Dr. Smith holds the Charles T. Carver Baptist Chair of Divinity here at Beeson Divinity School. He's been teaching, preaching for us for many years. He's more than a preacher, more than a teacher of homiletics. He's a friend, he's a pastor, he's a mentor to our whole community, to hundreds of students who have been deeply impacted by his life and his ministry. He's preaching a sermon here which was actually a part of a conference that we did at Beeson, a conference on race and national covenant. Racial reconciliation and national covenant, which we sponsored with the Institute for Religion and Democracy and also, the Institute for Anglican Studies here at Beeson. It was preached in February, 2019 and is titled "I Don't Want No Trouble At The River", a wonderful sermon from the book of Joshua, chapter 22. Let's go to Hodges Chapel and listen today to our dear friend, Dr. Robert Smith, Jr. as he preaches, "I Don't Want No Trouble At The River."

Speaker 3:          Joshua, chapter 22. So, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses. And when they came to the region of the Jordan, that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. And the people of Israel heard it said, "Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built a altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan on the side that belongs to the people of Israel."

Speaker 3:          And when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them. Then, the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the priest, and with him 10 chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel and they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and they said to them, "Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, what is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day in rebellion against the Lord? Have we not had enough of the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves and for which there came a plague on the congregation of the Lord that you, too, must turn away this day from following the Lord and if you too, rebel against the Lord today, then tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel."

Speaker 3:          "But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord's land where the Lord's tabernacle stands and take for yourselves a possession among us. Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord, our God. Did not Achan, the son of Zerah, break faith in the matter of the devoted things and wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his inequity."

Speaker 3:          Then, the people of Reuben, the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, "The Mighty One, God, the Lord. The Mighty One, God, the Lord, he knows and let Israel itself know, if it was in rebellion or breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or, if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself take vengeance."

Speaker 3:          "No, but we did it from fear that in time to come, your children might say to our children, what have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben, and people of Gad, you have no portion in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord, therefore we said, let us now build an altar not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifice but to be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us that we do perform the service of the Lord in His presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings so your children will not say to our children in time to come, you have no portion in the Lord. And we thought if this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifice but to be a witness between us and you. Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering or sacrifice other than the altar of the Lord our God, that stands before his tabernacle."

Speaker 3:          When Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, it was good in their eyes. And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the Priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, "Today we know that the Lord is in our midst because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord."

Speaker 3:          Then Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest and the chiefs returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan to the people of Israel and brought back word to them and the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel and the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar witness for they said it is a witness between us that the Lord is God. The word of the Lord.

Robert Smith Jr:    I know that I run the possibility of being accused of being a naïve Biblicist but I'm going to make this contention anyway. I contend that the stigmata of Jesus Christ empowers by the spirit of God the believer to overcome the stigma of racism. The stigmata of Jesus Christ empowered by the spirit of God enables the believer to overcome the stigma of racism. I'm Trinitarian, I'm going to say it again. I really believe that the stigmata of Jesus Christ empowered by the spirit of God enables the believer to overcome the stigma of racism. If you steal my car on Tuesday, as an unbeliever and get saved on Wednesday, on Thursday, I really believe that you will return my car and return my car with a full tank of gas. Why not after getting saved on a Wednesday, why not return the car on Wednesday? I believe on Wednesday you're justified one time but there needs to be some time for progressive sanctification which is an indefinite period of time between Wednesday and Thursday.

Robert Smith Jr:    So, John Calvin is right when he says, "Good works do not produce salvation. Salvation produces good works." And [inaudible 00:11:27] is right when he says that the indicative precedes or comes before the imperative and that order is not reversible. The indicative, who God has made me in Christ. The imperative, what I am to do as result of being made in Christ and therefore the imperative always finds its resting place on the indicative. I have not given up hope that there will ever be racial reconciliation, I really prefer the term crystal conciliation because races have never been reconciled. Our conciliation must find its place in Jesus Christ himself. There are many that I know that I respect, some gone on to be with Glory, who've seen too much and heard too much and experienced too much have given up on the fact that there can really be a conciliation between races but I think that the only way that's possible is through the voice of the Gospel and to the living out of its message by those who really are Christians.

Robert Smith Jr:    I believe that the church ought to be a Kodak moment for the future state of eternity so that we ought to be reflecting on earth what is already a reality in Heaven. Thy Kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is already done in Heaven. I was in Little Rock, Arkansas the other day and I found out that there was a street that used to be known as Confederate Boulevard but due on the Charleston shootings, the residents asked that the name of the street be changed. The board of directors of Little Rock changed it from Confederate Boulevard to Springer Boulevard, one of the African American medical physicians there in that city. Emmett Till who was murdered 55 years ago, the two men who were acquitted of killing him, from that same courthouse, there has been a metamorphosis. That courthouse is no longer a courthouse, it has become a civil rights museum.

Robert Smith Jr:    I just really do believe that the stigmata of Jesus Christ empowered through the power of the spirit of God enables the believer to overcome the sin of racism and as we stand here today on this 12th day of February, it's President Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Daniel Chester French, who sculpted the Lincoln Memorial, took a cast of his hands and if you look very carefully, his left hand is clenched, suggesting power and strength. His right hand is more relaxed, suggesting compassion and suggesting a meekness and humility. Those hands signed the document the Emancipation Proclamation that declared that slaves would be free. Declared, didn't make them, but declared that they would be free. But there is one who bears a stigmata in his hands, scars there, wounds bare, hands outstretched. One who submitted omnipotence to impotence and became so weak that he could not even carry his cross and then on Friday he died. Weak, he died. Compassion, he died. Meekness, he died. But on Sunday morning, something happened. According to Romans 8 and 11, the same spirit him that raised Jesus from the dead, will quicken our mortal bodies and the spirit of God raised him up and if the spirit of God can raise up a dead Jesus, why can't he change black and white and red and brown-

Robert Smith Jr:    [inaudible 00:16:04] to live in it.

Robert Smith Jr:    I know this sounds naïve but it's the only Gospel that I know to preach. I will live and die knowing that the power of God still works miracles. It is 27th chapter of Numbers. The 12th through the 14th verse that Moses hears of prohibition. You will not lead the people over the Jordan to take possession of the Promised Land because you did not honor me and glorify me before the waters of Meribah Massah for the word. Verses 15 to 23 of Numbers 27. There is the commission and the Lord speaks to Moses and says, "Moses, your successor is right by your side. He's your assistant, he is your aide, he is your minister, he is Joshua."

Robert Smith Jr:    In front of all of Israel, Eleazar and Moses commissioned Joshua to do what Moses would leave as an uncompleted action. Chapter 32 of Numbers. There are three tribes, the full tribe of Reuben, the full tribe of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. They reach a place of hesitation and they say to Moses, "We found our Promised Land on the east side of the Jordan River. There's a lush territory, it's roomy. Bashan, the Gilead area, that's where we want to stay."

Robert Smith Jr:    Moses became irritated at first because he thought that they were trying to renege on participating in the unified effort of all 12 tribes, taken possession of the promised land. But they said, "No, we just want to set up residence here. We are going to leave our families, we're going to leave our livestock animals, we're going to leave the residence here and we're going with the nation of Israel across the Jordan River and we'll fight until the land has been totally defeated in terms of and ridded of and their nations have been destroyed and we have taken possession of it. We will fight until we've defeated the Canaanites and the Amorites and the Perrizites, the Hivites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Jebusites, we're going to fight until that's over."

Robert Smith Jr:    When Moses saw how serious they were, he was, he understand that he were making a covenant of brotherhood. We will join our brothers and fight until victory is won and only then will we return back to our land on the east side of the Jordan River and find renewal with our families. Moses charged them to keep their promise.

Robert Smith Jr:    Joshua chapter 1 verse 1A. God takes and preaches the eulogy of Moses very briefly. Moses my servant is dead. It's his expiration date. Joshua 1 verse B and following. God says to Joshua, "You will execute what Moses did not live long enough to complete. You, therefore, and all of Israel, go over this Jordan and take possession of the land I'm about to give to them, in fact I've already given it to them, no one's going to be able to stand before you. All the days in your life as I was with Moses, so will I be with you." On and on and on and on. Then in chapter 1 verses 12 to 18, these two and a half tribes once again, they have to renew their commitment. They made it under Moses' administration, they have to renew it under Joshua's administration. They do and they said, "We're going to do what we told Moses that we were going to do. We're going to fight in this land until we have taken this under control. Until all the territorial lots and all the territory inheritance has been assigned each tribe and only then will we return back to the land to be with our families. If anyone disobeys your command," verse 18 of Joshua 1, "let that individual be killed."

Robert Smith Jr:    Brings us to chapter 22 of our text, it's a wonderful beginning. These two and a half tribes, now that the territorial lots have been assigned. The battle's been fought. The victory has been won. They're ready to go back home. Joshua gives them a wonderful send off. He gives them animals, livestock. He says, "You've been faithful. You lived up to your covenant of brotherhood. You have fought until victory has been achieved. I'm giving you valuables. I'm giving you equipment. I'm giving you everything that you need so that you can [inaudible 00:21:15] go back home full. I know that you missed birthdays, some of you have children and you were not there for the birth of your children. You missed funerals. You missed significant days but you lived up to your covenant of brotherhood. Now go back. Celebrate!" But a crisis breaks out and the reason for the crisis is in verse 10 and 11 of Joshua chapter 22. "They built an imposing, sizable altar at Geliloth near the river, trouble is brewing at the river. It's such a large monument altar that it can be seen from either side of the river." The thrill as B.B. King would say, is gone. Short lived.

Robert Smith Jr:    The reason for it they built an imposing altar, verse 12, there is a response to it because verse 11 says that when the nine and a half tribes heard that they had built this imposing altar, heard, they decided that they would go to war. They would fight against Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. What a tragedy, what a possible tragedy. That would mean that the half-tribe of Manasseh on the west side of the Jordan and the half-tribe of Manasseh on the east side of the Jordan, they would fight each other. Literally, blood brothers, fighting each other. Nephews, fighting each other. Cousins and uncles, fighting each other. Almost like what took place in the 20th chapter of Judges when the 11 tribes are almost wiped out. The tribe of Benjamin, killing 25100 of them. Brothers fighting each other. We're told that they're brothers, verse 3 of chapter 22, verse 4 calls them brothers, verse 7 calls them brothers, verse 11 calls them brothers. Brothers fighting each other from the same mother. Those who are related, that is the response they want to make war against their brothers.

Robert Smith Jr:    Verses 13 to 21. There is a responsible decision that is rendered. It is Phinehas the son of the reigning if you will, or the one in leadership of the high priesthood whose name was Eleazar, Phinehas is appointed apparently by Joshua to take a person out of each one of the tribes, full tribes, nine of them and one from the half-tribe of Manasseh and lead this delegation to negotiate, to talk, to confront the two and a half tribes about their decision to make this imposing altar.

Robert Smith Jr:    When they arrive, Phinehas says to them, "You have built an altar in an undesignated place." Don't you know that Deuteronomy chapter 12 verse 5 to 7 says that no altar should be built except in a place that has central significance and that place is Shiloh, that's where the altar of sacrifice must be built and here you are rivaling what God has said and establishing an altar outside of Shiloh. It's an undesignated place. You are in effect, uncaring, you're insensitive. Don't you understand that you have put us in a position where God's judgment and wrath could fall down upon us? Don't you remember back in Numbers 25 where the women of Moab seduced the men and turned them to idols? The word tells us in Numbers 25 verse 9 that God killed 24000 of them.

Robert Smith Jr:    Don't you remember at AI when Achan stole that which was devoted to God and to be used in the building of the tabernacle, he stole them and hid them in the tent and as result of that, even though God had said to Moses in Joshua, as I've been with Joshua, as I've been with Moses, I'm going to be with you, no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. 36 men lost their lives at AI and the nation lost a battle and here you are, on the very verge of putting us within the grasp of the judgment of God. You uncaring, you insensitive, you unfaithful. You've been faithful for seven plus years during this military campaign and you almost made it and you come near the Jordan River and you've built this imposing altar to bring judgment upon God that has not been cleared by the divine precincts of Heaven. You unfaithful and then you ungrateful. Look how God has taken care of your families. You haven't been there but he's kept your children, he's kept your wives, he's kept your daughters and your sons. He's kept them alive, he's fed them.

Robert Smith Jr:    Here you are, expressing your gratitude this way? You are ungrateful. But there is now redemption that comes out of this trouble that started brewing at the river. The redemption is found in verses 22 to 29, where the two and a half tribes of Reuben, Gad and Manasseh get a chance to speak for themselves and the leaders say, number one, we know that there's only one designated place to build an altar for sacrifice but we didn't build this altar for sacrifice. We built this altar for remembrance because we know how subject you are to amnesia. We don't want you to write us out of the history. We don't want our children growing up and being told that the nine and a half tribes, those are the tribes that took control of the land and drove the enemies and the two and a half tribes had no part in it, if they believe that they will be subject and susceptible to idolatry. We know how forgetful we are. We remember the time we came out Israel and it was not within three years, a couple years or so, here with Moses gone to a summit meeting on Mount Sinai, and the people became impatient and they had the assistant pass it to Aaron who's the brother of Moses to make a golden calf and they marched around it and they said these are the Gods that brought us out of Egypt.

Robert Smith Jr:    How forgetful you are. We know how forgetful we are, in fact, we are so forgetful that we took and piled up stones, each man from one of the tribes, out of the Jordan River on the eastern side in the city of Gilgal, the headquarters of Israel. We did that because we wanted our children, when they would ask, what do these stones mean? We wanted the stones to have a story so the stones could say, in essence, this is where God brought us over the Jordan River and made a super highway in there that let us walk across it without even getting our feet wet. We want them to know that our God is powerful. We know you get amnesia, and this anticipates what will happen for the Bible says that even during the days of Joshua, they obeyed Joshua and the generation after Joshua, they obeyed the elders. But Judges 2 and 10 tells us that another generation arose that did not know the Lord, nor what he had done for his people. We are doing this so that this altar for remembrance. We'll always remind our people that the children of the two and a half tribes have been written in the history books and they will look at this altar and be reminded of it.

Robert Smith Jr:    We're not building this altar for sacrifice or worship, we're building this altar for remembrance and now we are not insensitive. We know what happened at Peor. We know what happened at AI. We are not unfaithful. We've been faithful, we have kept our covenant of brotherhood even until this very moment. We are not ungrateful, we know it's been the Lord who's brought us all the way through and so they have reflections in verses 30 to 34. In 30 to 31, [inaudible 00:30:00] that's the delegation after listening to the delegation of those who represented the two and a half tribes, that they heard what they said, verse 30. Verse 11, they heard but they heard rumors. They heard perceptions. But when they actually heard from the mouths of the people who knew the facts, the Bible says that they were pleased and that they said the Lord is with us because he kept us from slaughtering ourselves and committing mutual homicide. They heard, they were pleased and they said the Lord is with us.

Robert Smith Jr:    Verses 32 and 33, the Bible says they returned home to Joshua and the other nine and a half tribes of people. They reported what they had heard from the delegation of the two and a half tribes and then in verse number 34, they named the altar a witness between us and God, here it is, that the Lord not was and not will be, but the Lord is God. What is God saying to us regarding this passage as relates to what he's able to do when we're on the very verge of theological, mutual homicide. I think God is saying to us, number one, that we need to participate in a collaboration. Too many monologues, not enough dialogues. Too many diagnoses, not enough prescriptions. We need to come to the place where we, number one, begin to talk about this issue of racism in light of the Gospel of Christ, not socializing the Gospel but gospelising the social and letting the Gospel address it.

Robert Smith Jr:    I'm appalled at Evangelicals sometimes who say there is no such thing as racism if that exists in America. It's a minority philosophy. It's not really real. I want to say that they need to ophthalmological check up and look around and see it. In fact, parts of the church is sick. Parts of the church need to be admitted into God's general hospital where it can undergo a period of redemptive observation and have a redemptive blood transfusion because a sick church cannot minister to a critically ill world. We want to avoid, we have a theology of avoidance, and we want to avoid this. It will go away, every time we talk about it, it just keeps us in a militaristic mindset. No, we need to collaborate and discuss what the blood of Jesus truly does in terms of changing our lives.

Robert Smith Jr:    We have a kind of patio mentality when it comes to addressing this. I grew up in the time, we didn't have a patio. We had a porch. Everyone who came down the street, we knew, we talked, we waved at them. They came up on the porch and had some lemonade. If they needed six eggs, my mama gave them six eggs. If mama needed some milk, they gave my mama milk. It was a porch mentality, we knew each other. But now we have a patio mentality that's closed in and we just have our homey huddle together and as long as we are fine economically, educationally, et cetera, it's all right. We need to leave the patio and go to the porch sometime. I'm not upset about a gated community, my problem is not a gated community but a gated heart where we have bars and won't allow anyone to get to us and we don't want to get to anyone else.

Robert Smith Jr:    I think we need to understand that what we really need is an incarnational approach. Look what Jesus did. The Bible says the word became flesh and blood among us and we beheld his Glory. The Glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. What Jesus really did and I love Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of this in John 1:14. The word became flesh and moved into the neighborhood, moved into the neighborhood. Clarence Jordan and his cotton patch version in Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 19, God was in Christ, reconciling the world [inaudible 00:35:06]. No, God was in Christ, hugging the world back into himself. There's too much space, a handshake? Come here, brother. Oh yeah, you. Yes, sir. You. We call this reconciliation. Too much space. This is what I do on Sunday and when I see you on Monday, I won't speak to you. But when he hugged the world back to himself, he gets some of himself on me, I get some of myself on him, and we experience reconciliation no matter where we are. Easy.

Robert Smith Jr:    Their needs, the gates must come down. I think this is talking about collaboration. We got to talk about it in light of the Gospel. I'm not talking about being a social activist. I'm talking about being a Gospel Christian that deals with social inequities underneath the rule-breaking umbrella of the Gospel. Don't leave the Gospel. The Gospel is the only thing that can change the stigma because of its stigmata in Jesus Christ. I think also that this speaks to us and says to us that we should not compromise our conviction. They talk together, that is the nine and a half delegation and the two and a half tribe together in delegation. They talk together. But there's also this matter of the nine and a half tribe delegation did not compromise their conviction. Their conviction was don't build an altar for sacrifice in an undesignated place and that designated place is Shiloh. When they found out that this was not an altar for sacrifice but one for a memorial, they changed their approach. They didn't compromise the truth of the word.

Robert Smith Jr:    The Bible does not need to be adjusted, the Bible needs to be trusted. Therefore, we need not compromise convictions about scripture. When it comes to the Bible and there is a collision, I'm going with the Bible. When it comes to Capitol Hill and a hill far away and there is a collision, I'm going with the hill far away. When it comes to the flag or the cross and there's a collision, I'm going with cross. When it comes to government or God, and there's a collision, I'm going with God because the government shall be on his shoulders and the Kingdom of this world will become the Kingdoms of our God and he shall reign forever. When it comes to the White House or the right house, I'm going with the right house in my father's house. There are many mansions, don't compromise your conviction.

Robert Smith Jr:    Then, we all need to admit our comparability. It's time to stop playing the blame game. If these two and a half tribes, Reuben, Gad and Manasseh would've said to Joshua upon leaving the celebration and on their way home, if they said to him, "Look, we're going to build this imposing and large altar at the river, it's not for sacrifice but for memorial." There would not have been a problem. But they didn't say that in advance. If the nine and a half delegation under Joshua would have consulted the Lord, the Lord would have informed them beforehand so that they would not have to go and confront their brothers. That was the problem in Joshua 9 verse 14. That's why the rules of the Gibeonites worked. They came dressed as if they were far away, their bread was moldy, the wine sacks were broken. They really were from the next neighborhood but because Joshua 9:14 says they did not consult the Lord, 10, they were tricked and fooled and so both were comparable. The nine and a half tribes and the two and a half tribes, both were at blame.

Robert Smith Jr:    Oh, brothers and sisters, when will we come to the place where we stop blaming each other? When will come to the place where we will say all of us are comparable? All of us need to repent because racism is not a skin problem ultimately, it's a sin problem. It's need, it's need, it's a need, oh Lord. I'm standing in the need of prayer.

Robert Smith Jr:    Let me leave you with this. Now, I'm a black preacher, when I say that it doesn't mean I'm finished. Amen. It means I see the exit. There is a great ball player. His name, Rod Carew, number 29. He played 18 combined seasons for the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels in the American League. He was 18 years an All Star. He was the Rookie of the Year, his initial year in the American League. He won the most valuable player award. He won seven batting championships and was voted in the Hall of Fame. Number 29. In July 2016, while on the golf course, he had a major heart attack. They rushed him to the hospital and after many hours, he survived but his heart was gravely and seriously damaged. He knew that he would not live much longer unless he received a new heart. All the thoughts of someone else having to die in order for you to continue to live, well, in December that same year, there was an NFL ball player, National Football League ball player by the name of Konrad Reuland. He was 29 years of age when he had an aneurism. They took him to the hospital where he remained in a coma, never to come out again.

Robert Smith Jr:    Several days after lying in the bed his mother, Mary Reuland, got in bed and laid on his chest, put her ear on his chest and stayed there all day long because she wanted to memorize his heart beat. She says, "I want to know my baby's heartbeat if I ever have to hear it again." Konrad would die, but he was an organ donor and his heart went to number 29, Rod Carew. It took 13 hours to go through this heart surgery, but it was successful. The rehabilitation took over six months but when he was able to leave the hospital, he made his way over to Konrad Reuland's house, where his mother and father lived, Mary and Ralph Reuland. They were white, he was black. He took his wife with him. Her name was, her name I even cannot remember right now, but keep on living you understand what I'm talking about. She was white. He was greeted by the parents. Her name was Rhonda, greeted by the parents, he came in and the first thing he did was to give a pair of stethoscopes to the mother, Mary Reuland. She took the stethoscope and put it on Rod Carew's chest and when she heard the beating of the heart, tears came out of her eyes because she now understood that a black man was living because a white man gave his life.

Robert Smith Jr:    Two families were brought together over the death of an individual. Well, brothers and sisters, there is a greater story than this. All of us were dead, in trespasses and sin, we were not just anemic and weak, we were dead. But on the dead man's hill on Friday, Jesus who took the stigmata, died on the cross and through the power of the spirit of God enables us to overcome the stain of racism. Got up on Sunday morning with all the power in his hands. Well, thanks be to God. I realize now the greater riches that God has given to me. In fact, God has been so good that I'm already peeping over the battlements of time into the reality of Eternity.

Robert Smith Jr:    Oh, brothers and sisters, when I was a little boy I took a great [inaudible 00:44:36] pride in thinking that I was a great Monopoly artist. I whipped everybody. I took pride in saying my dollars stacked up. Look at all my real estate. Look at all my vehicles. I won game after game and accumulated all kinds of riches. But when the game was over, everything went back into the box. One of these days, whatever you have is going to have to go back into the box. Doesn't make any difference how many essays you write and how many lectures you give. It doesn't make any difference how well known you are. It all goes back in the box and I'm glad today that I've got something that will not go back in the box.

Robert Smith Jr:    Oh yes. I'm going to stand at the river of Jordan one of these days when I [inaudible 00:45:55] fears subside, bear me through the swelling currents and land me on Canaan's side. [inaudible 00:46:06] I shall ever give to thee for one of these days beyond the river, the wicked shall cease from trouble. All beyond the river, the weary shall be at rest. Beyond the river, we shall beat our swords in the plowshares and our spears in the pruning hooks. Beyond the river, there is a river that's crystal like a sea of glass. Beyond the river we shall bow down and give him praise. Songs of praises. Glory. Praise be to the Lamb of God because the stigmata of Jesus Christ empowered by the spirit of God enables the believer to overcome the stigma of racism. Until on that day, people from every nation, tribe, [inaudible 00:47:17] shall bow down together to praise our God in the power of the spirit.

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