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[ Silence ] [chorus singing] ♪ Every time I feel the spirit ♪ ♪ Moving in my heart I will pray ♪

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♪ Yes, every time I feel the spirit ♪ ♪ Moving in my heart I will pray ♪ ♪ Every time I feel the spirit ♪ ♪ Every time I feel the Spirit ♪

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♪ Movin' in my heart, I will pray ♪ ♪ Up on the mountain, my Lord stood ♪ ♪ Out on His mountain, fire and smoke ♪ ♪ Looked all around Him, it looked so fine ♪

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♪ Yes, my Lord, if all was mine ♪ ♪ Every time I feel the Spirit ♪ ♪ Moving in my heart, I would pray ♪ ♪ Yes, every time I feel the Spirit ♪

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♪ Moving in my heart, I would pray ♪ ♪ Jordan River is chilly and cold ♪ ♪ Sills the body but not the soul ♪ ♪ There ain't but one train up on this track ♪

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♪ It runs to heaven and right back ♪ ♪ Every time of day ♪ ♪ The families are fighting ♪ ♪ In the dusky island fighting ♪

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♪ 'Cause every time of day ♪ [chorus singing] [Chorus singing] Amen, Amen, Amen.

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Our scripture is found in the book of the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 38, the first six verses. Jeremiah, chapter 38, the first six verses. "Then Shippitiah the son of Matan, and Gedaliah the son of Pasher, and Jucal the son of Shimeiah, and Pasher the son of Malachiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the

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people, saying, Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, famine, and by the pestilence. But he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be

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given unto the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it. Therefore the prince is said unto the king, We beseech "Let this man be put to death; for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them.

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For this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but to hurt." Zedekiah the king said behold he is in your hand for the king is not that he can do anything against you then took they Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malachi the son of himatic that was in the court of the prison and

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they let him down Jeremiah with cords and in the dungeon there was no water but mire. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire. Thus endeth the reading of our Scripture. [MUSIC]

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(upbeat music) ♪ Glory, glory ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my ♪

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♪ Word of God ♪ ♪ Glory, glory ♪ ♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my ♪

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♪ Word of God ♪ - I feel better. ♪ I feel better ♪ ♪ So much better ♪

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♪ Since I laid my ♪ ♪ Burn it down ♪ ♪ I feel better ♪ ♪ So much better ♪

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♪ Since I laid my ♪ ♪ Burn it down ♪ - You feel like shouting? ♪ Feel like shouting ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my ♪ ♪ Burning down ♪ ♪ I feel like shouting ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my heart ♪ ♪ Burning down ♪ ♪ I am climbing ♪

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♪ Jacob's ladder ♪ ♪ Since I laid my heart ♪ ♪ Burning down ♪ ♪ Fire, fire ♪

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♪ Shade of the land, girl ♪ ♪ Sin's a-layin' on ♪ ♪ Burnin' down ♪ ♪ Every round goes ♪

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♪ Fire, fire ♪ ♪ Sin's a-layin' on ♪ ♪ Burnin' down ♪ ♪ Every round goes ♪

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♪ I am now ♪ ♪ Since I laid my ♪ ♪ Birth down ♪ ♪ Glory ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ Since I laid my ♪ ♪ Birth down ♪ ♪ Glory, glory ♪

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♪ Hallelujah ♪ ♪ It's our way, God ♪ ♪ Turn and come ♪ - Amen.

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- Amen. - Amen. - All right. - The 38th chapter, the book of the prophet Jeremiah,

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beginning with the seventh verse. Now when Eben-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon, the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin, Melchizedek went forth out of the king's house and spake to the king saying, "My lord, the

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king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is. But there is no more bread in the city. And the king commanded Eben-Melech, the Ethiopian, saying, Take from

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hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he die. So Eben-Melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king, under the treasury, and took hence old cast clouts, and old rotten rags, and led them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.

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And Edmund Melik the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts, and rotten under thine armholes, under the cords, and Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the

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from the 7th through the 13th verses. May the Lord bless the reading of His Word. This is the passage around which our morning message is woven. And the subject is "Rescued from the depths of despair." "Rescued from the depths of despair." During the month of February, we celebrate black history, achievements of our people,

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and we focus on the work that has been done by us as a people in the life of the nation and the world. I have been led to select this passage of Scripture. When you've preached 50 years, you've preached most of the popular texts in the Bible.

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But this is a passage from which I've never heard a sermon. And yet it shows the black presence that is in the Bible, this presence which is often overlooked even by Bible scholars and proclaimers of the Word. It is either overlooked, neglected, or forgotten. So let us focus our gaze upon Eben-Melech who lived during the 6th century

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B.C. The name Eben-Melech means servant of the king. And Eben-Melech is a man who was of the king. He lived up to his name by serving with distinction during the reign of Zedekiah, of Judah. He was a royal servant. He was to carry out the orders of the king. And the Bible says that he was an Ethiopian, some translate it to Cushite, either one has to

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to do with black people during ancient times. So how Eben-Melech, this black man, came to be associated with Zedekiah, we do not know. We may assume that he was a person of exceptional ability. He was a servant of the king. He was to do the king's bidding, carry out his commands. He was to do whatever was

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necessary in fulfilling the role as a servant of the king. In we may consider him an extension of the king. He was the eyes, ears, and hands of the king. There was no position more exalted or more honorable than that of servant of the king.

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Eben-Melech, the Ethiopian, or Cushite, this black man whose roots are from the great kingdom that bears that name in Africa, is now in Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. He's in the royal palace. He's the king's servant. There is no position, I said,

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more honorable than that of being servant of the king. All of us are servants of our king, Jesus Christ, who has entered our lives and touched us in a special way, and we have responded by giving our lives to Him. We�ve had officers who are servants. They show forth servanthood in what they do

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and what they say. Servanthood is the role that all of us are called to fulfill. Some are leaders of the servants. And I often use the phrase, "Servus sororum Dei." The Latin phrase, it means that we are servants of the servants of God, servants of the servants of God. And so

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every one of us ought to be able to make this hymn, our petition, our prayer, "A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify, who gave his Son my soul to save and fit it for the sky." The servant role requires humility. It means that we have to come

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down from our high horses. It means that we must ride on a donkey rather than a prancing steed. It's not easy to be a servant,

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to choose to do the will of the king. So, it's human nature for us to want others to serve us. would rather reign in hell than to serve in heaven. Eben-Melech is servant of the king. He's prominent in the palace. That's

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our task, that's your task, it's my task, it's ours together to faithful servants of the King. Eben-Melech was a eunuch, which means that he had made a tremendous sacrifice to do his work.

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He had given up marriage and family, and he focuses all of his attention wholly and completely in the service of the King." Servants of the King are expected to serve in all kinds of weather. They are to be servants for all seasons.

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Service is all that they are expected to do in every condition, in circumstance, in good times and in bedtimes service to the king now the prophet Jeremiah is in trouble he has prophesied that Judah should surrender to Babylon and he tells the king and his subjects that it is the will of God that Babylon would be

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conquered, the Babylon rather, would conquer Judah. So Jeremiah is viewed as a quisling, as a traitor to his people. You can imagine how popular any preacher in this nation would be who went about saying that this country was going to be conquered by Russia. Jeremiah was very unpopular for this kind of prophetic utterance, and

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he�s arrested when he is caught trying to leave the city and to go to his relatives for a visit. They accuse him of defecting to the Babylonians. He denies the charge, He denies the charge, but they do not believe him. So Jeremiah is beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan.

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He's transferred to the court of the guardhouse. He's placed in a dungeon. And the nobles come to the king and they say to him, "This preacher has to go. At this critical juncture in our nation's history, we cannot afford to have Jeremiah

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proclaiming victory for the enemy. So King Zedekiah says, "Take him and do as you will." They placed Jeremiah in a cistern in the court of the guardhouse. They let him down with a rope.

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water in the cistern, only mud; and Jeremiah sank in the mud. They have Jeremiah where they want him, stuck in the mud. No longer will his voice be heard; he's down in the cistern. He may holler, but he will not be heard. And one may well ask,

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where is God? Where is this God who called Jeremiah when he was but a youth and promised to be with him and to be as a brazen wall no matter what he encountered and told him not to be afraid? Where is this God? All of us at some point in our

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lives can identify with Jeremiah. He's down in the He's down in the dungeon of despair. He has gone down about as far as he can go. And there are times like that in our lives. There are times like that when we suffer from depression

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and we wonder, "Where is God?" It seems that circumstances have turned against us. Jeremiah cannot look for the minister's his union to help him because they're probably on the--the king's payroll themselves. He has descended to the depths. He

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was as low as he could go. And this is where Abedmelech enters the picture, this African, this man who was a servant of the King. Here's about Jeremiah's condition. The most powerful man in the nation had put Jeremiah in the cistern. What could

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Abedmelech do about it? Well, he went to tell the king, who was seated at the Benjamin Gate, and he said, "Your Majesty, these "The men have acted viciously in their treatment of the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into a cistern, and he will die of hunger where he is,

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for there is no more bread in the city. Not only were they being attacked from without, but they had famine within. "As the king's servant, Eben-Malik reports to the king. He informs the king about what is happening.

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He understands that what he has witnessed regarding the treatment of Jeremiah requires the king's action. Eben-Malik seeks the king's guidance

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in changing the condition. The king instructs Eben-Malik take three men with him, and to horse Jeremiah out of the cistern, before he perishes. And Eben-Malik went to the palace

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with these men, and took some tattered, cast-off clothes from a storeroom, and lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah in the He called Jeremiah and said to him, "Put these old clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes." And Jeremiah did so.

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Abednelech, the Ethiopian, the Cushite, a servant to be remembered. He has a special niche in biblical history. This servant amid the confusion, the bewildering times that tormented King Zedekiah, finds here a very faithful person who changes circumstances, who changes the trend of things, who provides

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refreshing confidence. Eben-Malik received from the king a change of the order that he had given before. Eben-Malik succeeds in getting a new decree from the king. The first decree was that the nobles were free to take whatever action they chose in

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the treatment of Jeremiah. But now he instructs Abed-Malik to take certain men and rescue Jeremiah, to take him out of the depths. We often become stuck in the mud.

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as a way of creating circumstances where we find ourselves in the clutches of dictating, contradicting forces. And in the midst of these human contradictions, we find ourselves in a system and we cannot get ourselves out.

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And we need to depend upon some higher source of help. And there's always that provided, no matter who you are, where you may be, if you are a servant of God, He always provides a way out. So here Jeremiah is, and he obeys the instructions, and the same King who permitted Jeremiah to

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to be put in the cistern, the same king issues the word that permits him to be lifted up out of the cistern. So those who work for God must keep faith. Don't give up. Don't give up. Don't give up because you're cast into the dungeon. Don't

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give up. For we find ourselves placed in--in prisons of but we serve a God who controls this world. He is the God of heaven and earth, so don't give up. Keep trusting in Him. Abed Melech is just a servant of God. Not only is he a servant of the King Zedekiah, but he's a servant of God. So be sure, be very, very sure that you are serving God. It doesn't mean that you

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want to have some difficulties. It doesn't mean that you won't have some reverses, but God will be there, and He'll lift us up even when we find ourselves sinking into barred clay. God will lift us up and place our feet on solid ground. So thanks

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be to God. We have a King. We have a King. Beyond Zedekiah, we have a king who is eternal. We have a king. Who is this king? He's the Lord strong and mighty. He's the Lord mighty in battle. He is the king of glory, and he is with us when we seek. In

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despair, he is there to lift us and place us on a solid basis. As we sing the hymn of invitation, we extend the privilege of the church, the invitation to Christian discipleship. As we sing, the door of the church is open.

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If you're here without a church home, we invite you to come. You may come by letter, by Christian experience, or on profession of faith. The door of the church is open. Come.

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