Daily Bread_August 28, 2013

Title: Do You Have a Dream?

Text:

1 Thessalonians 1:2-4 (ESV)
² We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,
³ remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
⁴ For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
2 Thessalonians 1:2-4 (ESV)
² Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
³ We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing.
⁴ Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring.

Observation:

I remember where I was 50 years ago today, the day that Dr. Martin Luther King gave his, "I Have A Dream" speech. It was my first job after college; I was an accountant working for an insurance company in New Orleans, LA.

We have come a long way from those days of racial inequality; but, we have a long way to go. In some areas, we seem to be going backwards.

I was reading an article recently about Dr. King's speech that brought something to my mind that happened over a decade ago. This is what I read.

Those singing "Free at last!" aren't just black men and women, but all people. His future is one in which "the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood."

It was about 36 years after Dr. King said those words that I experienced the fulfillment of Dr. King's dream in some measure. One of the men in our church told me after the Sunday service that it was amazing that God had brought us together; the great grandson of a slave owner a member of a church pastored by the great grandson of former slaves. Truly what is impossible in man's eyes is possible with God.

It's amazing what God did in the church at Thessalonica in our text, and what He is doing in a few churches today. God can and wants to do more to amaze us. My dream is that more and more will sit down and eat together at the table of brotherhood.

There is always abundance at the table that God prepares for His people. I pray that many will become intentional in making this happen in our community one person at a time. We need some bridge builders.

Let's have a "Million People Meeting at the Table of Brotherhood". You don't have to go to Washington, D.C. to do this; you can begin at your home, workplace, school, and church. Do we have any disciples who are willing to dream this dream?

John 13:35 (ESV)
³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, my dear Father, I pray that You would stir the hearts of Your people so that we might be demonstrations of the love of God by the way that we love one another. Father, may many accept Your invitation to come to the feast that You have prepared at the table of brotherhood.

O, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove, in all thy quickening power; come kindle a flame of sacred love in these cold hearts of ours.  In Jesus name I pray, Amen.

 

--

Acts 6:4 (KJV)
⁴ But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.

 

My blog: Sharing the Word of God Daily:

 http://herbcotton.blogspot.com/