That's Enough - George Floyd

[Music] open the Bibles with me to first Kings in chapter 21 commencing in verse number 17 frist Kings at chapter 21 and I want to commence reading in verse number 17 and the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying arise go down to meet a hab king of Israel which is in Samaria behold he is in the vineyard of naboth whether he has gone down to possess it and thou shalt speak unto him saying thus saith the Lord has now killed and also taken possession and thou shalt speak unto him saying thus saith the Lord in the place where dogs licked the blood of neighbors shall dogs lick thy blood even died and Ahab said to Elijah has now found me o mine enemy and he answered I have found thee because thou has sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord behold I will bring evil upon thee and will take away thy posterity and will cut off from a hem him that missus against the wall in him that is shut up and left in Israel and will make the house by a house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and let the house of Basha the son of a Hodja for the provocation wherewith thou has provoked me to anger and made Israel sin and of Jezebel also speak the Lord saying the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel him that diet of Ahab in the city the dogs shall eat in him that diet in the field shall the fowls of the air he but there was none like unto a hab which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord whom Jezebel his wife stirred up and he did very abominably in following eiders according to all things as bippy emma writes whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel and he came to pass when they have heard those words that he ripped his clothes and put sackcloth upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly and the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying seest thou how a hab humbleth himself before me because he unbelief himself before me I will not bring the evil in his days but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house may the Lord sent to find the reading hearing and doing of his holy word I want to talk to us this morning from this subject that's enough there comes a time when God says that's enough this morning I am moved of God amidst the confluence of recent events across America to suspend our series in the book of Ephesians 4 once again another young black man is dead by the hands of law enforcement signifying that when implicit bias becomes explicit action black lives matter less than white privilege this week passed George Floyd a native Houstonian residing in Minneapolis Minnesota was murdered by a now fired and arrested police officer named Derik Chavan who had previously shot one suspect was involved in the fatal shooting of another and received at least 17 complaints during his millet with the Minneapolis Police Department the callous depraved fiendish indifference with which he savagely prestes need to miss the florets net while he painted Lee pleaded I can't breathe he's seared in the conscience of every compassionate person across this country and is eerily the same plea of Eric Donna as he lay dying on the streets of Staten Island in New York the killing has evoked such a visceral reaction that riots have been spawned across the United States the Pentagon is taking the rare step of alerting active-duty military police to be ready for possible deployment to assist the Minnesota National Guard in quelling the protests the governor of Georgia has issued a state of emergency tear gas and shots have been fired in Louisville Kentucky protesters have marched on police headquarters in Cincinnati scuffles with the police and looting has taken place here in Houston marchers blocked the busiest freeway in the country in Los Angeles angry protesters provoked a lockdown of the White House in a clash with the Secret Service from New York to California from Minneapolis to Mississippi people are reacting to this heinous crime reminiscent of the hopelessness and angst felt at the assassination of dr. Martin Luther King jr. now I do not endorse violence and reckless destruction of property by looters and vandals who scapegoat this inhumane killing as an opportunity to do what they are but likewise I strongly condemn the actions that precipitate the anger and hostility which in bit engender such a protest in the first place in 1968 dr. King said I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn the riots but in the final analysis dr. King says a riot is the language of the unheard Eugene Robinson a columnist for The Washington Post wrote do you want to prevent the kind of rioting looting and arson we have seen in Minneapolis this week then stop police officers and racists vigilantes from killing black men like George Floyd and Ahmad are buried I submit this morning brothers and sisters that America has failed to address in any substantive way what former Secretary of State dr. Condoleezza Rice calls America's congenital birth defect America's congenital birth defect is the institution of slavery unfortunately many in the postmodern era look upon slavery as ancient history unrelated to who and what we are today but slavery has a legacy and the legacy of slavery is racism the African Diaspora face deaths and yet be refused to die they investigated the deep dark canyons of hopelessness and saw the faith outline of bright freedom these indomitable black men and women even cooked the words from the white pulpit that was shaped by a cruel racist hermeneutic and turned those words into a manifesto of liberation they believed in a God who was more than their slave owner said had relegated them to their station in life and they rehired reinterpreted and reshaped Jeremiah's question mark and straightened it into an exclamation point and shouted there is a balm in Gilead the most galling question to me brothers and sisters that is asked by our white brothers and sisters is why are black people so angry allow me to elucidate I am angry because in 1857 the Supreme Court rendered its fateful decision in the Dred Scott case in which Chief Justice Roger Taney concluded in one of the most unfortunate asides in American jurisprudence that the Negro has no rights that the white man is bound to respect I am angry because black people needed the thirteenth fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution to guarantee the rights of citizenship that whites have just by virtue of birth purchased at the cost of four years of civil war and six hundred and fifty thousand battle deaths and angry because of the Black Codes of 1863 that prevented Negroes from going to school working without a license are leaving the plantation where they were born I'm angry because in 1896 Homer Adolph Plessy into the white only coach of the East Louisiana Railway Company and was arrested at once charged with violating a Jim Crow law bringing about Plessy vs. Ferguson were eight justices of the US Supreme Court ruled that there was nothing unconstitutional in separating whites and Negroes provided that the latter enjoyed equal facilities and that decision would not be reversed until 58 years later in Brown versus Board of Education I am angry because we have had fire hoses turned on us and vicious dogs set loose on us our homes and churches bombed chaining Goodwin and Schroeder murdered Medgar Marty and Malcolm assassinated all because we wanted a right to vote to determine our representation 400 years of systematic dehumanization has exact 'add a fearful toll perhaps the white culture wants to know why we are still angry if that was ancient history to you and you want to know why we are still angry maybe because when Dylan Roush ruthlessly slaughtered those nine churchgoers at mother Emanuel Church in South Carolina when he was apprehended he was taken to Burger King because he was hungry given a hamburger while George Floyd was suspected of passing a counterfeit 20 and was given the death penalty maybe we are still angry because when blacks were protesting mr. Floyd's murder President Trump tweeted when the looting starts the shooting starts and called them verbs and when whites and with ar-15 assault weapons from a Modi storm the state capital in Michigan they were exercising their constitutional rights and Trek called them good people maybe we are still angry because of voter suppression and unjust sentencing guidelines redistricting and gentrification redlining of banks and food deserts in poor neighborhoods maybe we are still angry because our first african-american president was constantly vilified and maligned as inferior and illegitimate only to be replaced by a narcissistic neo-fascist who blames and shames everybody to cover up the fact that he is incapable of understanding what he does not know perhaps he should heed Vice President Joe Biden's admonishment that you do not lead by the example of power but by the power of example maybe white people will still angry because the effects of having been stripped of dignity and robbed of self would by whites only drinking fountains and the back of the bus and the balcony of the theater has had some long-lasting ramifications I have on this straight today I can't breathe I can't breathe because of the lie of white supremacy white people please don't lecture us on looting because white supremacy is a looter I can't breathe because you looted my culture I can't breathe because you live it justice from my people I can't breathe because you looted my dreams you needed my land you need a muppet you needed my identity you needed my hope you can't take help from people and expect them to be civil rioting is a symptom and not a cause cure the cause and you eradicate the symptoms what does the Word of God have to say to us this morning I read to you from first Kings at chapter 21 is the story of King Ahab and Jezebel entrenched power the the power of the state taking advantage of this man stealing his vineyard and taking his life it's the same thing as this police officer with his knee on the neck of that black man in Minneapolis which is symbolic of America's knee on our neck for over 400 years dr. Charlie days senior pastor of progressive Baptist Church in Chicago and an adjunct professor at the Moody Bible Institute in a preface entitled the treasure and the potential of african-american preaching said much of the Bible is written across a cultural landscape of oppression a cultural landscape of oppression social unrest ethnic tensions and idolatry the haves oppress the have-nots the rich lord over the poor the slaves are servant to their masters the people of God are often complicit in the very in Justices of which God is profits to pronounce judgment yep God still delivers dr. date says ours is a kind of existential identification with the oppressed and the socially marginalized we understand by way of lived experience what cultural disadvantage really means the text this morning takes place some five to six years after the events of Mount Horeb those of us who read the Bible will remember that Elijah challenged the prophets of Bale on Malcolm and after God showed up in fire on Mount Carmel Jezebel had Elijah to run for his life and Elijah hides in a cave of Mount Horeb and he is fearful for his life after having challenged 450 prophets of Bale and 400 growth prophets on Mount Carmel and God answers by fire and now he's terrified of Jezebel and he's hiding in a cave and when God comes to where he is the Bible says there is a strong wind but God is not in the wind there's an earthquake but God is not in the earthquake that's fire and God is not in the fire and then there's a still small voice and in that still small voice God assures Elijah that you're running from Jezebel and Ahab but I'm still with you during these silent years God has reworked Elijah and when he appears in chapter 21 he's no longer defeated discouraged nor self-centered the lesson for us brothers and sisters in this this morning is that we ought not to despise the times when God calls us from the public eye because what we have to face next listen to me what we have to face next cannot be compared to what we've already overcome you will never bloom in prosperity you will never bloom in popularity until you are content in obscurity God had to demonstrate to him and by extension to us that the presence of anxiety is the absence of humility God has something to say through the Prophet Elisha to this country that has so debased herself at the altar of materialism that she now worships the god of capitalism the blood of amadou diallo Sean Bell Eric garner Michael Brown Alton sterling Tamir rice Trayvon Martin Fernando Castile Sandra bland Brianna Taylor a mob robbery and now George Floyd cry out to us from their graves to lay down the gods we have made and worship the God who has made us brothers and sisters we have to remember the words of the Prophet Amos America who said let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream Micah wrote he has shown you O man what is good and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God nor is the elements of the text that demonstrates the faithfulness of Elijah and the power and the purpose of God when the power structure has grown so wicked that God says that's enough killing black people for sport that's enough hurting us down like wild game in the streets that's enough God has a word to say for us say to us from this passage of Scripture in first Kings God through Elisha God's mission is declared God's Word which came to Elisha brought comfort post common Elisha thought that perhaps God was finished using him because he's been out of sight for between 5 & 6 years but it was really God preparing him for what he had for him to do next Elisha perhaps felt like Jonah in the belly of the will that God was through using him but God had him in that whales belly in the fish's belly to get him ready for his next assignment Peter perhaps thought that God would never use him again after he denied Jesus by warming his hands at the rain fire but Jesus said tell my disciples and Peter to meet me in Galilee John Mark thought it was all over after he deserted paul and silas on their missionary journey but when paul got to the end of his life he said bring my books and my parchment hurry Timothy come and see me bring John marked with me because he's profitable for my ministry David thought it was all over after he had sinned with Bathsheba and the raised finger of the prophet Nathan had been raised to let him know Oh King you are the man but David writes many more Psalms after that because once God has you where he wants you he's ready to use you for his glory the reason God sends Elijah with the message of death and destruction is because this diabolical duel of Ahab jessabelle have plumbed the depths of depravity here's the story King Ahab wants a vineyard of a man named neighbors he goes any asks neighbor for the vineyard because he wants to do some planning of his own and neighbor says to him I cannot give you the land that was given to me by my father and so King Ahab wants to buy the land but neighbors will still not sell him the land and so King Ahab goes home that night and he is so distraught that he lays down turns his face to the wall and refuses to eat and Jezebel says King tell me what's wrong with you he said I went to neighbors and tried to get him to give me his property and then I tried to buy it from him and he would not sell it to me and Jezebel say ain't you the king around here aren't you not in control you don't have to ask him for no land let me devise a scheme and we will take the land from it she says let's have a banquet and put nabe off at the head of the table and then I will have some no good men who will accuse him of blaspheming God and the king and then we can take his life and then you will have his land that night they had this banquet and put neighbor at the head of the table and she had those two no good men to accuse him of blaspheming God and blaspheming the king he lost his life and they took his land and they thought that they'd gotten away with it but God was watching in America you may think you got away with killing Sean Bell and Tamir rice and you might think you got away with Sandra bland and Brianna Taylor and George Floyd but God has his eye on us the truth forever on the scaffold wrong forever on the phone that that scaffold sways the future and behind the demon knows there's God in the shadows keeping watch above his own he says he lieth with a mission to deter under them I have seen the evil that you've done and God is saying to this country I see the evil that you are doing and not only is the mission declared but the message has been delivered when Elijah receives his new coal he goes directly to neighbor's vineyard where he finds a hab enjoying his ill-gotten gain he's enjoying his ill-gotten gains I think about it when I ride around and see these these plush yards and these expensive houses that our people have built and the sacrifices that our people have made and and the White House where the president lives and has the gall to call our people serve you you're living in a house that our people built the White House was built on the on the backs of black slaves it was not built for black people it was built by black people that's why they couldn't stand to have Barack Obama in that White House that black man in that White House because it was supposed to be built by black people for white people but God is watching this ill-gotten gain and while they are rejoicing in how they have taken away something that did not belong to them when Elijah arrives he faithfully and forcefully delivers the message from God I want to raise the queries of just a hypothetical I just want to throw it out there it's not a question for anybody in here particularly but but with all the the rioting that's being condemned by the White House and the governors and the mayors I don't I don't see Paula White and Franklin Graham and Robert Jeffress and the white evangelical church condemning the death of this man who had this man's knee on his neck I don't see any condemnation coming from our white brothers and sisters they're condemning the riots join them in condemning reading and awesome but they have joined me in condemning this white man for killing this black man America has got to repent for the sins not only against the Native American Indian but against the institution the brutality of American slavery the challenge comes from Elijah when he stands up to King Ahab and tells him that God's going to judge him for what he's done and then in that same passage he confronts him and brothers and sisters we ought not be able to confront afraid to confront the evil that's going on in this land I want to say to my black brothers and sisters who owned the streets protesting and I am all for you marching and making signs and protesting but I'm not for you tan up your neighborhoods I'm not for you burning up y'all's stores if you want to do something pull your pants up go register to vote join the National Action Network join the n-double-a-cp show up at PTA meetings for your children at school pay your bills take care of your wife and your children if you want to do something productive come to church when church opens and give God your life and God will get glory from your existence he condemns this man and this wicked woman Jezebel and Jezebel is so wicked that I don't know anybody no woman I know is named Jezebel because because of Jezebel's wickedness with King Ahab but finally brothers and sisters God after to heaven delivered the message I need you to understand that God's mercy is yet being dispensed he have repentance he hears the word from Elijah and he repents repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of action he half repents and when he repents God says tell King Ahab that I'm not going to destroy him but I'm going to destroy everything that comes after him judgment is still coming brothers and sisters but it would be held off until after King Ahab dies and we need to learn something from not only King Ahab but we need to learn something from Samson's life that sin blinds sin binds and sin grinds sin blinded Sampson he was blinded and then sin binds him to this stone where he is in a meal being laughed at and ridiculed and he's grinding in that meal because God has a strange way of bringing justice to everything that is in just in his land I close now with words that are not my words but these words are written by a member of our church sherilyn Charles Jukes wrote this poem and I asked her for permission to read it and it's her words not my words that's at the close of this little message her words are entitled no justice no peace injustice has reared its ugly head and once again another black man dead our only question is how long must black lives be lost when we've done no wrong and if I'm wrong let me plead my case instead of dying in the street because of my race our forefathers fought so that we would no longer be the latter and contrary to your beliefs black lives do matter if we walk down the street with a hoodie on are we considered a threat to your daughters and sons if we go for a jog in the middle of the day did we just break into and we were trying to get away if we go in the store with counterfeit money or try to afford to check do we deserve to die with your knee to our neck we are tired of our black men being portrayed as Ferb's and innocent lives being swept under the rug when your sons leave the house you kiss them goodbye but when our sons leave we don't know if they will live or die you took an oath to serve and protect but you kill our black men on mere circumspect now we are busy protect protesting for our civil rights you are taking our lives like a thief in the night you traded in your white sheets for a police uniform while we bury black men like it's the new norm how long will this injustice soar high while we sit idle and watch our black men die if you know the answer to that question at hand please enlighten every black man so that when they leave their home on any given day we don't have to worry if they will return the same way our hearts are broken and we can't see are we clear so we prayed dear lord please hold us near for so many years this has been our downfall but we are assured that you promise justice for all today we pray for the families of Floyd our burry Trayvon and so many more whose hearts have been ripped to the core I don't know them but then again I do I have a husband son brother and nephew who look just like you I can't breathe as I cry for help or pain your families have never felt this senseless these senseless killings and crimes of hate must end or you will force us to retaliate maybe if your son was killed for doing no wrong you might feel an inkling of the pain we have endured for so long you kill us and carry on with life as if we were and I quote injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere it makes us wonder did I ancestors live and die in vain when all we see is another black man slain keep your head up it's starting to sound a little cliche but don't fall victim black man to that cowardly display for what they mean for evil God will turn it around for our good and what can't be explained will be understood why do we have to keep revisiting this place while you utter their name in shameful disgrace dead men that can't speak to defend what you mentioned and videos that record a modern day lynching we have traveled back in time to what we thought we overcame all this innocent bloodshed with no one to blame the day has to come the day has come to put an end to this disaster and convinced all who will listen that black lives do matter

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Length: 36min 12sec (2172 seconds)

Published: Sun May 31 2020