AFRICAN-AMERICANS MOST BIBLE ENGAGED IN THE US
The Bible tops coffee, sweets, and Social Media
African-Americans have higher levels of Bible engagement than the general U.S. population, which is demonstrated by their beliefs and practices, according to the latest State of the Bible survey by American Bible Society. For many African-Americans it is more important to start the day with the Bible than coffee, as 37 percent chose the Bible over coffee (17 percent), sweets (26 percent) and social media (20 percent). Of those considered Bible Centered, 60 percent use the Bible every day.
African-Americans with higher levels of Bible engagement are also more likely to desire even more interaction with the Bible (more than 90 percent of both Bible Centered and Bible Engaged2). And half of all African-Americans say they always feel more connected to God when they read the Bible, while 75 percent usually or always experience a curiosity to know God better when reading the Bible.
"African-Americans know that Bible engagement can impact all areas of their lives for the better," said Roy Peterson, president and CEO of American Bible Society. "The Bible is the source of ultimate hope and joy. People who devote time in it can discover for themselves how the Word of God can help make sense of life."
African-Americans who use the Bible at least once a month were found to:
Feel more willing to engage with their faith (96 percent)Be more generous with time, energy or financial resources (94 percent)Show a more loving behavior toward others (98 percent) .
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Do you need a Word from the Lord?
Luke 5:1–3 ESV
1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
Sometimes we come to church hoping to be stirred up to some great compelling vision. We’re praying for God to speak in a way that transforms our perspective so that we can go boldly in His name to transform the world.
Other times, we come seeking wisdom or direction, asking God to “make a way out of no way.”
Other times, we just want to know that, as the old saying goes, “God’s in His heaven and all’s right with the World.”
As our text continues, there was a crowd of people for whom Jesus was no longer a curiosity or a celebrity. He had become, in their hearing, the source for God’s Word to them. They were hungry, and He was feeding them the Bread of Life; they were thirsty and He was giving them Living Water. His understanding of His mission and their understanding of His purpose were in complete sync, and they “were pressing in on Him to hear the Word of God.”
It’s a beautiful thing to see that happening. How many of you hear today get exciting every Monday evening? No, not just during football season, but every Monday evening? As a young Christian, I looked forward to Wednesday night Bible Study more than I looked forward to Sunday Morning worship because I felt that I would get a chance to dig deeply into God’s Word and experience the truth of the words that I heard from the wise old saints who quoted:
Proverbs 4:7 NKJV
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.
I read an article last week that referred to the study done by the American Bible Society that I read to you earlier. One the one hand, it feels good to know that, as a people, we love God’s Word, Amen? At the same time, it pains me to see us living lives that seem to declare that God’s Word is of no effect as we struggle just to survive in what is still, after almost 400 years, a “strange land” where we are asked to sing the songs of Zion through our tears...
Psalm 137:1–4 ESV
1 By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 On the willows there we hung up our lyres. 3 For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?
Although the chains of servitude were eventually washed in the blood of those who fought over one side’s ability to separate themselves from the other, the war’s end didn’t end our travail. Yet we continued to seek the Lord and His Word, learning to read, not for entertainment or self-exaltation, but to better know the will of the Lord. We recognized, as Dr. Luther saw during the European Reformation, the important role that education played both in our ability to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, and our ability to love our neighbor as ourselves. “As Luther studied social conditions in Germany, he was appalled by the ignorance, immorality, impiety, and delinquency that he found almost everywhere. It seemed to him that the people, freed from paternal supervision, were unable to live in freedom with responsibility. He pointed up an important phase of this responsibility in “A Sermon on Keeping Children in School,” in which he emphasized the necessity of education for both the religious and the secular life.”
Rosa J. Young saw the need for schools in rural Alabama as sought the help and support of others, including Booker T. Washington whose secretary suggested that she contact the Missouri Synod. The Synod in turn sent Rev. Nils Baake to help. Out of that partnership was forged “the first and only historically black Lutheran college in America.” Concordia College - Selma was eventually forced to close last year, but many of the Synod’s current roster of black pastors graduated from Selma.
Just as the Lord can speak to us about clearly major things, like planting a church or launching a ministry, He can also speak about what seems to be a mundane thing:
Luke 5:4–5 ESV
4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.”
How many ordinary things has the Lord told us to do, starting with the most mundane thing of all, “love your neighbor as yourself?” Ordinary things like “children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right,” or “wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord,” and “husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her.” How about this one:
Ephesians 5:15–17 ESV
15 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Jesus told Simon Peter an ordinary thing: Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. Ordinary, but to Simon’s training and experience, a foolish thing because, as he said, they had been out all night using all that they knew, but experiencing nothing but complete and utter failure. They were, in fact, washing their nets in order to put them away, and getting ready to go home for some rest.
They were done - finished. They had gone the last mile and came up empty. A lot of marriages end that way, not with a cataclysmic spasm of destruction, but after a long, hard and fruitless toil, with neither party knowing just where things went south, but knowing that they have run out of energy and options. They just drift apart until they no longer recognize the person who once made their hearts shiver at the sound of their voice. Now that same voice evokes a rush of anger or worse, a seeping fog of indifference.
Ministries end that way as well. People no longer care about the mission that the congregation once embraced with a passion; now they just go through the motions each Sunday, waiting for the last person to have a visit from the coroner or cash in their pension fund and move to sunnier climes. We once celebrated 11 congregations in Gary; now we are down to two, neither of which can function as a strong evangelical base for outreach alone. Maybe that’s why people slowly drifted away from St. John’s.
And yet, the Master gives a simple directive - “go out into the deep water - “ I know, you’ve been there before and came up empty.” I know, it seems to be the wrong time, the wrong season, you’re tired...
You don’t know why you should, but He is the Master, so “at Your word, I will let down the nets.”
Saints, it was a long row out to the deep part, and I don’t know what Simon’s crew was saying, or what his partners, James and John were thinking, but I can imagine, can’t you? Can’t you imagine what you would have been saying: Why are we out here? What does he think he is doing? Why aren’t we going home? and the big one: What does this Jesus know about fishing?
Are there some things that you have asked the Lord, “What do you know about…?” What have you not done, because Jesus just don’t know about what you’re dealing with? Which of the Lord’s commands have you tucked into a corner somewhere out of sight, so that you could put it out of mind?
Praise God for New Mercy!!!
Simon Peter did the right thing this time though.
Luke 5:6–7 ESV
6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.
Proverbs 10:22 ESV
22 The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
The nets were about to break, there were so many fish in them! They needed help, there were so many fish in them! I’m in the fisher-man business; I want our nets to be so full of people caught by the Gospel, that I need to send some next door with instructions on what to do with the overflow - preach the pure Gospel to them for me! I want our nets to be so full that I have to call the LCEF to tell them that we need a bigger net in Gary, a bigger boat, and tell the Synod that we need some more workers!
Down in Carmel, there is an LCMS church - Cornerstone Lutheran Church. Their weekly worship is 1425 people. Now the city has a population of 92,198, so Cornerstone has 1.5% of the population. If we had 1.5% of Gary’s population, there would be 1081 people squeezing in here - we would HAVE to have services on Saturday and Sunday to serve 1.5% of this city! Would you feel bad about that? Sis. Lydia, how would you feel about preparing Communion for over 500 people? Debra, how about having so many kids that you all would have to go downstairs to accommodate them all, or we would have to fix up the school?
Please Lord, direct us to the deep water! I’m tired of washing my nets. I’m tired of fake fishing when I know there are fish out there somewhere - Peter wasn’t fishing in the Dead Sea, and Gary isn’t a dead city! Aren’t you tired of talking about the good old days St. John’s - we need some good new days! I know we were a blast in the past, but I want the Lord to take us up in the present!
Help us Holy Spirit!
Luke 5:8–11 ESV
8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.
I don’t care about being a celebrity - been there, done that, and it’s overrated. I’m not here for the applause, I’m here for the mission! How many of your friends, relatives, and neighbors have a date with the devil to go swimming in the Lake of Fire if they don’t turn around? Don’t play dumb - You know that Jesus is the only way to be saved, and you know people who don’t know Jesus! I’ve only been here two years, and I invite people here to hear the pure Gospel almost every day or check out our Facebook page - did you even know that we have a Facebook page? I wish someone other than me was hosting it, because I know that I forget to put stuff on it!
Who wants Gary to live? Who wants Gary to live? God’s Word is living and powerful! We preach God’s Word in this place! The presence of the Lord is here! We still have room at this inn!
Help us Holy Spirit!
We need to let something go. We need to leave our comfort zone. Jesus is not happy with people being AWOL, unchurched, unbaptized, and unconverted. Christ didn’t die just for a few and He didn’t die just for you.
He died for you, though, He still loves you, He still calls you the apple of His eye, and He still is working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure - not my good pleasure, not Pres. Brege’s or Pres. Harrison’s good pleasure. For His good pleasure.
So let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen
