THE PROMISE OF HIS PRESENCE

Introduction

I was 12 years old when Dr. MLK Jr. was shot down in Memphis Tennessee. He and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference team were always confronted with the impending danger of assassination. During the Montgomery bus boycott which he led in 1955-1956. During that time late one night he received a call, a very threatening call, that rattled him to his very core. The caller said, "never, we are tired of you and your mess now. And if you are out of town in three days, we're going to blow your brains out and blow up your house. Dr. King said he sat there and thought about this beautiful little baby daughter who had just been born... She was the darling of his life, and he sat at the kitchen table thinking about how she could be taken away from him at any minute.

And then he started to think about his dedicated and devoted and loyal wife, who was lying over there asleep. And that she could be taken away from him it in a minut. And he said as he sat there he got to the point where he just couldn't take it any longer. He was weak, and something said to him you can't call on your Daddy now he's up in Atlanta hundred and 75 miles away. You can even call on Mama now. You've got to call on that something in that person that you daddy used to tell you about, that power that can make a way out of no way! And there comes a time in everyone's life that your religion has to become real to you and and you have to know God for yourself. And Dr. King said he bowed down over his cup of coffee at the kitchen table and he prayed a prayer and he prayed out loud that night. He said Lord I'm down here trying to do what's right. I think I'm right. I think the cause that we represent his right. But Lord, I must confess that I'm weak now. I'm faltering, I'm losing my courage. And I can't let the people see me like this because if they see me weak in losing my courage, they will begin to get weak.

Then it happened:

And it seemed at that moment Dr King could hear an inner voice saying to him, Martin Luther, stand up for righteousness. Stand up for justice. Stand up for truth. And lo I will be with you, even until the end of the world..... I heard the voice of Jesus saying still to fight all. He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone. No never alone. No never alone. He promised not to leave me, never to leave me alone. That night, I declare to you this morning, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., could feel the very presence of God there with him. And it proves the point that God's presence will strengthen you God's presence will bring about endurance in you God's presence will increase your faith.

Christ has promised us his presence when we are obedient to him. He says this, when two or three are gathered together in my name, in my nature, in my character, I am there with them.

Protection