I can imagine Marshall
What life could be like in Marshall Texas
from Central Baptist Church Marshall July 7, 2014- Director of Mission Marshall – Misty Scott
An excerpt of a community sermon series invitation by Dr. Wallace Watkins Pastor Central Baptist Church emeritus.
. . .
“Frustration is the result of the difference between our Reality and our expectations. Raise Reality, Don’t lower expectations” (paraphrase of Steve Furtick Elevation Church)
So I thought what are my greatest frustrations as a resident as the Director of Mission Marshall as a church member. So I thought I would share with you today. The things we need to use our imagination to raise reality. Because often times we accept the status quo, we ignore the problem, pretend its not there. When we need to be reality raisers as people of faith, to have imagination. So the thing, the over arching theme of the things that are my frustrations is. I dream of a day when a new person comes to Marshall Texas, that I can look at them and tell them,
You can buy a home in any neighborhood, when you can send your student to any school here, and where the crime rate will be low and your school will be good and your child will be loved. That I will no longer have to describe like I did for my mom recently when she was thinking about moving here. “Oh you don’t want to be on this street this direction or in this neighborhood this direction, you only want to look here and you only want to look here” Where that type of conversation just doesn’t happen anymore. I believe we can imagine that kind of place and there are other cities in our country, where their faith based organizations and their civic leaders have come together and they have created those type of communities. When we are people of faith we have great access to power, to imagine those things and to put feet to it.
Isaiah 58
“Cry loudly, do not hold back;
Raise your voice like a trumpet,
And declare to My people their transgression
And to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways,
As a nation that has done righteousness
And has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for just decisions,
They delight in the nearness of God.
3 ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not [a]notice?’
Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire,
And drive hard all your workers.
4 “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist.
You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.
5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it for bowing [b]one’s head like a reed
And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?
Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 “Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
7 “Is it not to divide your bread [c]with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you remove the yoke from your midst,
The [d]pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
10 And if you [e]give yourself to the hungry
And satisfy the [f]desire of the afflicted,
Then your light will rise in darkness
And your gloom will become like midday.
11 “And the Lord will continually guide you,
And satisfy your [g]desire in scorched places,
And give strength to your bones;
And you will be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water whose waters do not [h]fail.
12 “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
You will raise up the age-old foundations;
And you will be called the repairer of the breach,
The restorer of the [i]streets in which to dwell.
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