Title: The Problem With Racism (5)
Series: Outside In
Author: Jeff Strite
Text: Acts 17:24-31
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was last Monday (1/20/25). He once said: "The time is always right to do what is right."
Today, our sermon is going to be on racism - not because I think any of us are racist - but because, as Christians, we need to know what the Bible says about it. Martin Luther King was a preacher for the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and he rose to prominence in a day of extreme racism in America. In that day Blacks were not allowed to be in the same schools as whites; they had to use separate bathrooms and black only water fountains. Black singing groups - who performed in Las Vegas - had to eat in the kitchen, THEN sing, and THEN go to a black hotel across town. The Klan terrorized blacks who tried to register to vote... And, of course, there was the notorious confrontation and arrest of a black woman named Rosa Parks who refused to give up her bus seat to a white person back in 1955. And that's where Martin Luther King got involved. He began the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and rose to national prominence as he began the Civil Rights Movement. THEN in 1968 - at the age of 39 - Mr. King was assassinated.
That was a very dark chapter of American history, and it's painful to even think about it. But what's even more painful is the fact that there were "church goers" who actively involved in promoting this racism. How could supposed Christians possibly take part in something like this?
Well, they did so because they forgot that its always right to do what is right... and it's always wrong to do what is wrong. And they did it because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
ILLUS: Years ago, I was on-staff at a Church camp at Lake James Christian Assembly (up by Angola, IN), and one day I was sitting around with a few of the kids (4th & 5th graders). We were sitting in the sun, just talking and I had a can of Pepsi. One of the kids ask ...
Series: Outside In
Author: Jeff Strite
Text: Acts 17:24-31
Martin Luther King Jr. Day was last Monday (1/20/25). He once said: "The time is always right to do what is right."
Today, our sermon is going to be on racism - not because I think any of us are racist - but because, as Christians, we need to know what the Bible says about it. Martin Luther King was a preacher for the Ebenezer Baptist Church, and he rose to prominence in a day of extreme racism in America. In that day Blacks were not allowed to be in the same schools as whites; they had to use separate bathrooms and black only water fountains. Black singing groups - who performed in Las Vegas - had to eat in the kitchen, THEN sing, and THEN go to a black hotel across town. The Klan terrorized blacks who tried to register to vote... And, of course, there was the notorious confrontation and arrest of a black woman named Rosa Parks who refused to give up her bus seat to a white person back in 1955. And that's where Martin Luther King got involved. He began the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and rose to national prominence as he began the Civil Rights Movement. THEN in 1968 - at the age of 39 - Mr. King was assassinated.
That was a very dark chapter of American history, and it's painful to even think about it. But what's even more painful is the fact that there were "church goers" who actively involved in promoting this racism. How could supposed Christians possibly take part in something like this?
Well, they did so because they forgot that its always right to do what is right... and it's always wrong to do what is wrong. And they did it because "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
ILLUS: Years ago, I was on-staff at a Church camp at Lake James Christian Assembly (up by Angola, IN), and one day I was sitting around with a few of the kids (4th & 5th graders). We were sitting in the sun, just talking and I had a can of Pepsi. One of the kids ask ...
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