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Preaching Justice, Wilberforce, and Amazing Grace Sunday
February 2 , 2007 |
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| Editor's Note: Preaching justice unleashes power in the pulpit when it captures the passion and heart of God. We see this particularly in the preaching of Jesus as he spoke up for the powerless and against leaders who neglected justice. It’s amazing that there are currently approximately 27 million slaves in our 21st Century world. Tragic injustice is rampant and begs for leaders to take action against it today. February is a month especially marked with an emphasis on justice. Former slave trader John Newton wrote the world’s most recognized song, "Amazing Grace." On February 18, thousands of churches around the world will celebrate this song by singing it on Amazing Grace Sunday. On Friday, February 23, the movie Amazing Grace releases, celebrating one of the great justice stories of history, that of William Wilberforce and his quest to end the slave trade in theBritish Empire. My request is that you prayerfully consider preaching on the cause of justice as well. |
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Preaching Justice, Wilberforce, and Amazing Grace Sunday
By Ron Forseth
General Manager, SermonCentral.com |
Injustice is the abuse of power at the expense of the oppressed. The fire of God’s passion burns against injustice in the world.
Consider these statements:
- God doesn’t care about young girls being kidnapped and raped several times a day every day for years on end.
- God doesn’t care about a man, his wife, and his children being abducted and all of them forced to work 16 hour days, seven days a week for years—even for entire lifetimes!
- God doesn’t care about 800,000 people being hacked to pieces by machetes in Rwanda.
- It’s of no concern to God that some 27 million people have been kidnapped and are currently held in the bondage of slavery.
Our heart cries out about such statements that grossly misrepresent who God is. Why? Because we have a conviction that God deeply cares for such people. He has compassion for those abused by oppressors, a compassion that
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Amazing Grace
by Jonathan McLeod
Ephesians 2:8-2:9
What is “grace”? Grace is UNDESERVED KINDNESS. Someone has said, “Grace is everything for nothing to those who don’t deserve anything.” An atheist once said, “If there really is a God, may He prove Himself by striking me dead right now.” Nothing happened. The atheist proudly announced, “You see, there is more » |
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That’s Not Fair- Justice
by James Galbraith
Isaiah 42:1-42:4
Observe any gathering of children, and within five minutes you’ll hear someone, somewhere shout "That’s not fair!" It doesn’t matter if it’s a Sunday School class, a soccer team or a singing club - there’ll always a child or two who feels as if justice is not being done at that moment.What triggers the utterance of more » |
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Justice, Love and Mercy
by Chris Appleby
Amos 6:1-6:14
We need to be very careful when we think about a great natural disaster like the tsunami in Asia that we don’t jump to conclusions too quickly. Already you may have heard people claiming that this is a judgment on the Islamic extremists of Aceh, or that it’s the result of global warming or that the disaster wouldn’t more » |
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Justice for the Nations
by Karl Eckhoff
Isaiah 42:1-42:7
The images seem so stark in contrast don’t they? Last week our chancel was decorated in color and light, green trees and a Christmas stable. This week it’s back to its original design. It’s beautiful still, but bare in contrast, not nearly so festive. It’s a bit of a let down if I might be so blunt. It’s the kind of let more » |
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Amazing Grace!
by John Kapteyn
Ephesians 2:1-2:10
I don’t know what came over me. I’m not a fighter - I’m not even built like one. But something he said or did just rubbed me the wrong way. Before I knew it I did something that I had never done before or have done since. It was not a very Christian thing to do, especially when most of the people there were from more » |
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-Church Planting
-Using Technology to Mine the Word |
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What Are You Doing?
Henry David Thoreau once went to jail rather than pay his poll tax to a state that supported slavery.
His good friend Ralph Waldo Emerson hurried to visit him in jail and, peering through the bars, exclaimed: “Why, Henry, what are you doing in there?”
Thoreau replied, “No, Ralph, the question is, what are you doing out there?”
Contributed by: Curtis Kittrell
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The Threat of Injustice
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
SOURCE: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Contributed by: Robert Leroe |
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Who Can be Against Us?
Young William Wilberforce was discouraged one night in the early 1790s after another defeat in his 10 year battle against the slave trade in England. Tired and frustrated, he opened his Bible and began to leaf through it. A small piece of paper fell out and fluttered to the floor. It was a letter written by John Wesley shortly before his death. Wilberforce read it again:
"Unless the divine power has raised you up... I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that (abominable practice of slavery), which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? Oh, be not weary of well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the power of His might."
SOURCE: Daily Bread, June 16, 1989
Contributed by: Bruce Howell |
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God is Just
A short distance from the Pentagon, inscribed with an iron stylus on blocks of granite, the walls of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington proclaim the words of our third President,
“And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure, when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.”
Contributed by: Daniel Becker
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Righteous Anger
Anger is a divinely implanted emotion. Closely allied to our instinct for right, it is designed to be used for constructive spiritual purposes. The person who cannot feel anger at evil is a person who lacks enthusiasm for good. If you cannot hate wrong, it’s very questionable whether you really love righteousness.
SOURCE: Dr. David Seamands
Contributed by: Paul Fritz
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