This weekend was an especially draining yet extremely enriching one for me. I returned on Thursday from an awesome time in Corpus Christi, TX, and had to preach the last word from Jesus on the Cross at a Good Friday service given by the Minister's Clergy Council of Englewood, Teaneck & Vicinity in Northern New Jersey under the leadership of my friend and brother, Dr. William Marcus Small, Pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church of Englewood. Let me tell you, that was one of the best Good Friday services that I have ever been apart of. There was not one iota of a spirit of competition and every preacher stuck to their assignments and really did a great job.
On yesterday, I had the pleasure of preaching for my sister in the ministry Pastor Tracey Brown who pastors the Ruth Fellowship Ministries in Plainfield, NJ for their Sunrise service. I am still struggling with my allergies and it became apparent early Sunday morning, that I really had to focus more intently than I normally do on making sure that I am not distracted by my own coughing. Needless to say, the Lord showed up and blessed the presentation of His Word. I preached a passage out of Mark 16:1-8 in which I labeled the message simply An Empty Tomb. I argued that we can receive the newness of life only through our ability to embrace the truth of an empty tomb.
1. Access to the Tomb
2. Assurance in the Tomb
3. Account of the Tomb
I continued our series at the First Mount Zion Church on the Beatitudes with an exposition on Matthew 5:5 entitled There's Power in A Surrendered Will. Jesus teaches that if we are going to stand tall in this world, we must all possess a spirit of meekness. The world views meekness to mean weakness, timidity, or lack of self-assurance. But meekness does not mean weakness, but rather it means power under control, and we only are able to gain this type of control when we are able to look at ourselves with a spirit of poverty that says we are not who we think we are, and a mournful heart that cries tears of sorrow over the sinful actions that we have committed in our lives. And this will cause us to surrender our will to the will of God to be the servant that he desires from us.
