Sunday/Monday Stuff

I would like to explain the infrequency of my posts lately. Our church's relocation project has ventured towards what I feel to be the home stretch, and the need for my complete participation on every aspect, has taken the majority of my time, along with my sermon preparation for our series on the book of Ezra.

Speaking of the new series, the book of Ezra is shaping up to be the most challenging series of my pastoral ministry. Not just because of the difficulty in the exposition of the text, but also because our church is dealing with the same issues that the children of Israel faced during this time in history.

Yesterday, the Lord allowed us to deal with Ezra 3:1-7 in which I labeled the message, It Begins At The Altar. Over 42, 000 remnants of the 12 tribes, returns to Jerusalem under the orders of Cyrus, king of Persia, who received a charge from the Lord to build God a house. But when they got to the site where the Temple was and will be, they built an altar and worshipped. The point is that before any work could be done on the temple, they realized that worship to the Lord must come first. In other words, work cannot begin until the worship ends. This message is designed to encourage our church to rededicate our selves to a life that is filled with worship to a Holy God.

Today is a day that each and every one of us should focus on what Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s life has meant to us. What I have noticed about mainstream America and the media is that they have attempted to limit him to one speech that he gave in 1963 in Washington D.C. which many have called the I Have A Dream speech. The reality of that speech is the part about the dream was not in his prepared text. His speech was about economic equality for our people, that was clearly stated in his initial remark that the black man in America has received a check from America that has been stamped insufficient funds. It was not until Mahalia Jackson leaned over and told Dr. King to tell the people about the dream, did that speech soar into the lofty skies of historical wonder.

Dr. King was more than just a speechwriter or speech-giver, but firstly, he was a preacher. There have not been anyone in the history of this country, black or white, who could put together a better message on the Holy Writ. He was not just a dreamer, but he was a servant who went to work to make a change for black and poor whites in this country. I thank God for sending us Martin King.