Sunday Stuff

I was back in the pulpit of the First Mount Zion Church today, and it was real good to be back home. I was really looking forward to being in worship at FMZBC today, and I was equally excited about preaching today. We are winding up our Unity Month and the Lord has begun to show some signs that His Word is beginning to penetrate the hearts of the people of God.

I am not a preacher who engages in false ideas of what kind of church that I have. I am not one of those Pastors who stand around in the Exhibit Hall of the Convention, with a suit on at 11 AM, walking around telling lies about what kind of church I Pastor, because somebody will eventually come to your church and they will see the real church. Having said that, when I followed the leading of the Lord to engage our congregation in a unity month, I was concerned whether or not the people would really listen to what God told me to do and follow. But today one of my senior members came up to me before worship and told me that I had a misprint on the list of scriptures that I gave them to read every day on unity. She not only told me of a misprint, but she also had the correct scripture that she was certain I meant to put in there. That really made my day and showed me that if I am faithful to the Lord, he will keep giving signs that shows that I am doing the right things.

I concluded our series on unity entitled An Open Door Towards A Brighter Tomorrow, with an exposition on I Peter 3:8-12 which I tagged Harmony in Church. Peter writes this letter to Jewish Christians as a word of encouragement for the suffering that they received simply because they were follows of Jesus Christ. He gives suffering saints assurance that because they are joint heirs with Jesus in suffering, their suffering will be transformed to glory. Chapter 2 tells us that slaves can be witnesses of Christ in a hostile world. The first 7 verses of Chapter 3 tells us that spouses can be witnesses of Christ in a hostile world. Verses 8-12 tells us that the saints can be witnesses of Christ in a hostile world. He opens verse 8 by saying finally all of you live in harmony. This word harmony in the Greek means to be in total agreement. If God's church is going to be effective in ministry, the church must walk in total agreement one with another. The only way that can be accomplished is for each member to fill the church with an expression of love one to another. Love will cover a multitude of faults.

Worship was outstanding. I will post the outline for the message tomorrow.