May 29th, 2011
Slide One: "Always Be Ready to Share Your Faith!"
Prayer
Slide Two: Acts 17:22-31
22 So Paul, standing before the council, addressed them as follows: "Men of Athens, I notice that you are very religious in every way, 23 for as I was walking along I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ?To an Unknown God.' This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I'm telling you about.
24 "He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made temples, 25 and human hands can't serve his needs?for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need. 26 From one man he created all the nations throughout the whole earth. He decided beforehand when they should rise and fall, and he determined their boundaries.
27 "His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him?though he is not far from any one of us. 28 For in him we live and move and exist. As some of your own poets have said, ?We are his offspring.' 29 And since this is true, we shouldn't think of God as an idol designed by craftsmen from gold or silver or stone.
30 "God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead."
I love the book of Acts.
It is the history of how Christianity spread around the world in the early days as the body of Christ, the church, was taking shape. In the reading we just heard Paul is in Athens and he has spent some time walking around the town square or the town's meeting place. When I read those words it makes me think of a farmers market or a place with all the booths at the fair. You just kind of walk through and pick up the pamphlet and the pen or pencil that goes with each god or idol. Maybe this is the place you talk with a contractor about getting the shine for the idol of your choice build out on the patio of your hut.
After he walks around Paul has an opportunity to address the council and he begins by telling them what he has observed. He acknowledges they are a very religious people; in fact, it appears they have a place to worship every known god and idol at that time.
Slide Three: Evidently just to make sure they didn't leave out one and therefore offend any false god they even built a shrine to an unknown god.
Paul steps up to the microphone and he tells them he knows this unknown God.
Slide Four: This is the God who actually created all things.
Slide Four A: This is the God who has set all nations, for all times, in place.
Slide Four B: In fact this is the God to whom we will all be held accountable to one day.
Paul even quotes some of their own poets who have said ?We are his offspring.' He lets them know, that we now know who the unknown God is. In fact, this unknown God has confirmed this message through Christ, who has been raised from the dead.
Then Paul tells them what this means and how it applies to their life and even how it applies to our life today.
Slide Five: 30 "God overlooked people's ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him. 31For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead."
When I read these words it helps me to realize all the ways we have in our daily lives to share about Christ and who he is. So many things are taking place in our world right now, that are fulfilling prophecies' from centuries ago.
So many people are looking at the things that are happening around us and they are asking, "Why?" This gives us the opportunity to say, well if my understanding of scriptures is correct, here is what the Bible says will happen and it seems to be coming true.
Several people in this last week have asked me what I thought about the end time predictions and why they didn't come true. I have been able to tell them, the Bible says very clearly we will not know the hour or day.
Slide Six: Then I continue by saying, but we are to be aware of the signs around us that tell us change is about to happen.
We can see so many things falling into place that it should put us on high alert to be ready in case Christ should return at any moment and rapture His church.
Then I try to explain how if we are living for Christ, if are anticipating the rapture may accrue at any time, we actually end up living out our lives with more passion, more excitement and sharing about God's love with others at a deeper, more meaningful level then we ever thought possible.
Slide Seven: Then I explain to them how I learned long ago to live as if the rapture is going to happen today, but to plan as if it is not going to happen in our lifetime.
That way we are prepared either way.
Slide Eight: For me it also means I live with more of a passion and urgency to share about Christ's love with others, because if the rapture does take place I don't want anyone I know left behind.
In many ways we can live after the example that Paul has given us in our reading for today. Find out what the buzz is, what the latest fad is in the community and then use that buzz and use that fad to share the salvation message.
Did you know the Bible explains the basics for what is happening in the Middle East? Did you know the Bible explains why the US could be falling as a super power? Did you know when it seemed impossible that Israel would be a nation again, the Bible said it would happen and it did? Did you know the Bible said there would be a 200 million man army ready to fight Israel even before there was one? Did you know the Bible said a nation with a 200 hundred million man army would be able to walk right into Israel because the rivers that would normally stop it would be dried up? Did you know all of this is in place right now for the first time in history?
Slide Nine: If Paul was alive today I think he would be talking to all the scholars on these various topics and explaining to them what the Bible has to say about all these things that are happening.
We have the greatest opportunity right now, to share what the Bible has to say about all these things that are happening.
If we stick with the facts, if we don't make wild predictions, we can tell the people who are seeing these things happen in our life time what the Bible has to say about all this. We can at least place it on the table for discussion and give others the chance to know what the Bible says, then they can choose for themselves to believe it or not.
A great battle is coming. If my understanding of the scriptures is correct we can see all the pieces beginning to fall into place at an ever increasing rate for this battle to happen. The world is watching as so many nations around Israel are in turmoil and beginning to turn against this one little nation. Everyone and their brother has an opinion of what is taking place and why.
Slide Ten: So don't we as Christians have the right to say we also think we know what is happening and why?
As with Paul, we can only share the ideas, people will have to decide for themselves whether they agree or not. This is why it is so important to know what the Bible says. This is why it is so important to strive to live as Christ would want us to live.
Slide Eleven: When we do these things we will be able to share what our belief's are and why we have them and in the process we help will help some to come to know Christ as there Savior.
I don't know about you, but I have never seen the whole world on edge in my life time, as it has been in the last few years. Think of the natural disasters that keep happening more and more, or the nations that are in turmoil and the governments that are being overthrown. Look at the unrest in the stock market and all of the economic structures that are teetering on crashing and burning.
Slide Twelve: But even in the midst of all these things taking place we can have a peace and calm because we know how the story ends.
Slide Twelve A: We can have a peace and calm because we know the Lord will walk through these days with us.
Slide Twelve B: We can be the light in the world of darkness that Christ has called us to be.
I believe it is Christ who is calling us to stand before the council and say with confidence we know how the story ends.
Slide Thirteen: We can share with everyone that through giving your life to Christ you can be ready for anything that may happen in this world.
If we truly believe in our Lord and Savior, if we know what the Bible says, we are able to share our faith more today then at any other time and I am finding people are more open to listening if we share in a calm way why we think these things are happening.
We have just as reasonable answers to these questions for what is happening in our world today as anyone does and I believe we are called to share them.
When we are asked how we can stay calm in the midst of all that is taking place we then have the opportunity to share about the power of the Holy Spirit being able to fill our lives.
Slide Fourteen: It is then we may be able to help others come to know Christ as their Savior and be ready for that time we are called home to be with our Lord, whether it is next week or one hundred years form now.
Slide Fifteen: I want to close with the first eight verses of 2 Timothy 4. These words remind us of why it is so important to "Always Be Ready to Share Your Faith!"
Slide Sixteen: 1 "I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he appears to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching.
Slide Seventeen: 3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.
Slide Eighteen: 5 But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don't be afraid of suffering for the Lord. Work at telling others the Good News, and fully carry out the ministry God has given you.
Slide Nineteen: 6 As for me, my life has already been poured out as an offering to God. The time of my death is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have remained faithful.
Slide Twenty: 8 And now the prize awaits me?the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing."
Slide Twenty One: These words along with so many others in the Bible remind all of us that we must "Always Be Ready to Share Our faith!
Let us come before our Lord in prayer.
May 1, 2011
Slide One: "Blessed Are Those Who Believe Without Seeing Me."
Prayer
Slide Two: John 20: 19 - 31
Jesus Appears to His Disciples
19 That Sunday evening the disciples were meeting behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Suddenly, Jesus was standing there among them! "Peace be with you," he said. 20 As he spoke, he showed them the wounds in his hands and his side. They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! 21 Again he said, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you." 22 Then he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive anyone's sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."
Jesus Appears to Thomas
24 One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, "We have seen the Lord!"
But he replied, "I won't believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side."
26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them.
"Peace be with you," he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don't be faithless any longer. Believe!"
28 "My Lord and my God!" Thomas exclaimed.
29 Then Jesus told him, "You believe because you have seen me.
Slide Two A: Blessed are those who believe without seeing me."
Purpose of the Book
30 The disciples saw Jesus do many other miraculous signs in addition to the ones recorded in this book. 31 But these are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.
Listen once again to the last part of verse 29, "Blessed Are Those Who Believe without Seeing Me." Jesus is talking about you and me in this passage of scripture.
Slide Three: Jesus wants us to know we have so much to gain in this life and in the next life if we will believe in Him.
I don't know if it is because I am getting older or because I have been with so many people throughout these twenty years in ministry when they have been called home to be with our Lord, but my focus has been shifting more and more from this life to the next.
Slide Four: I have learned that this life can be lived at such a deeper, more meaningful level when I focus on Christ then it could ever be without Him.
Slide Four A: I have found that if my focus is to make sure I am ready to enter in that eternal home, I actually live life here with more passion, more enjoyment and more meaning.
Slide Five: Listen to verses eight and nine from I Peter, chapter 1.
8 "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls."
When we allow ourselves to truly slow down and experience the presence of the Lord living within us, we begin to understand what true joy is. I have shared with the Confirmation Class several times this year how hard it is to try and explain the joy you can have walking with the Lord, because it is such a different kind of joy than we often experience in our lives from a worldly perspective.
All of our lives, can get so packed with things to do, that we forget at times to just allow ourselves to live in the very real presence of the Lord. When we allow ourselves to slow down, to invite God to come into our lives, to sense the Holy Spirit in our midst, this is when we begin to understand all the things the Lord is offering to us.
I tried to create for this Confirmation Class a chance to just come into the presence of God in small but powerful ways. To read a chapter of scripture a week and to see how God speaks to you. I wanted them to understand how scripture can come to life when you strive to live it out.
I tried to encourage them to spend a few moments with God in prayer each day and to sense how the Holy Spirit can speak to you and bring you comfort and guidance.
I tried to help them to be able to share there faith with a mentor, hoping through this they would experience how God is at work in another persons life and how they could see God at work in theirs.
All of these wonderful gifts are right before us. The ways that we can draw into a deeper more meaningful relationship with the Lord are right here for us to take advantage of and yet, and yet, so often we will allow ourselves to get so busy with other things we pass them by.
Slide Six: But this doesn't have to happen. Listen to these words from I Peter 1:3-9. The Hope of Eternal Life
3 "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now we live with great expectation, 4 and we have a priceless inheritance?an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. 5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. 7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold?though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
Slide Seven: 8 "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls."
Even though our faith is going to be tested we can overcome the things of this world and continue our walk with the Lord, growing even stronger. We can live in a true godly joy knowing what Christ has done for us.
Slide Eight: If we open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. And allow the Holy Spirit to grow within us we can know what it means to live a Godly abundant life.
I wish there was a way I could describe the wonder of feeling the Holy Spirit at work within your life. For those of you who have felt it you know what I am talking about.
Slide Nine: The calmness that comes over you,
Slide Nine A: the joy that wells up within,
Slide Nine B: the beauty that you see all around you,
Slide Nine C: and the love for others that goes deeper then you ever thought possible.
When the Holy Spirit fills your life and you read the Bible, the words become alive, because you can see how the will guide you to live a fuller, more abundant life. This is when you enter into prayer more and more because you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God is listening to you, and you begin to discern God's voice when he is speaking to you.
This is when you have a desire to come to church because you want to be in fellowship with those who have also experienced these things. This is when you want to be in a Bible study because you want to absorb God's word into your life more and more.
Unfortunately this growth does not happen over night and so many times people will give up on there walk with the Lord before they even realize what they are walking away from.
Slide Ten: I pray as you young people come forth today to be Confirmed, you will walk with Christ and grow in the love He has for you until you begin to see it so clearly that you develop a passion for wanting even more.
One time a young pastor came up to John Wesley the founder of Methodism and he asked, "How can I preach faith if I don't have it for sure myself." Wesley replied, "Preach faith until you have it, and then continue to preach it because you have it."
Today as these young people come to commit their lives to following Christ we are all offered the opportunity to renew our vows to do the same. It is my hope and prayer that along with them, each one of us will vow today to take that next step in our faith journey.
Slide Eleven: For some that may be committing your life to walk with Christ for the first time.
Slide Eleven A: For others it may mean coming back to living out the words of the Bible and spending time in prayer.
Slide Eleven B: And still for others it may be taking that next step in your faith journey that you have sensed God nudging you to take for some time now.
Slide Twelve: I have found in my walk with the Lord, that the only limits I place on living a more abundant life limited by how much I will allow my relationship with the Lord to grow.
I have shared with these young people over an over again throughout these last two years, if this day is the last time they enter the doors of this church then they have cheated themselves out of living a fuller, more abundant life then they ever thought possible.
Slide Thirteen: I hope and pray as we all renew our vows along with them we will continue to make the commitment to grow closer to the Lord knowing we will be truly blessed.
"Blessed Are Those Who Believe Without Seeing Me." 8 "You love him even though you have never seen him. Though you do not see him now, you trust him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy. 9 The reward for trusting him will be the salvation of your souls."
Let us come before our lord in prayer.
Slide Fourteen: The Recognition and Blessing of our Confirmation Students
Sunday April 10th, 2011
Slide One: "Take Off the Grave Clothes and Let Him Go."
Prayer
Today readings from the lectionary all focus on one thing. They remind us that we are all offered a new life through our Lord. I want to invite you to listen to these different readings and picture in your mind what is taking place and how it touches our lives today.
Slide Two: First there is the reading from Ezekiel 37, starting in verse 1.
The Valley of Dry Bones
1 The hand of the LORD was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. 3 He asked me, "Son of man, can these bones live?"
I said, "Sovereign LORD, you alone know."
4 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ?Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. 6 I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.'"
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ?This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.'" 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet?a vast army.
11 Then he said to me: "Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ?Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.' 12 Therefore prophesy and say to them: ?This is what the Sovereign LORD says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 Then you, my people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them.
Slide Three: 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'"
Ezekiel was speaking at a time when Israel was in captivity. They seemed to have no hope of being restored, but God promised to give then new life. We know God followed through on that promise because we can see the living proof today.
Slide Four: The next reading is from Psalm 130.
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD; 2 Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. 3 If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. 5 I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.
Slide Five: 7 Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. 8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins."
These are such powerful words that remind us we can be forgiven of our sins and given new life once again.
Slide Six: This is what the Lenten Season is all about, to be able to come before God, to repent of our sins and to walk with the Lord in a renewed and refreshing way.
Slide Seven: Then there is a reading from Romans 8:6 - 11.
6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
Slide Eight: 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you."
If we have asked Christ to be our Savior we have the Spirit of the Lord living with us. It is through the Spirit of the Lord living within us we begin to see the true blessings of life.
Slide Nine: Each one of the passages that we have heard so far, remind us how we can be renewed and refreshed through the power of the Lord working within us.
All we need to do is ask Christ to be our Savior, to accept the free gift of salvation that is there for us and then begin to live it out in our lives.
When we are able to allow the Holy Spirit to guide us we begin to see how life can be lived so fully for the Lord.
Slide Ten: The last reading I want to share for today is from John 11 - The Death of Lazarus. I am going to just read the part about the raising of Lazarus from the dead. This begins in verse 38.
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 "Take away the stone," he said.
"But, Lord," said Martha, the sister of the dead man, "by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days."
40 Then Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?"
41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."
43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.
Slide Eleven: Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
"Take off the grave clothes and let him go." Let those words sink in for a moment, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if my understanding of the scriptures is correct, we were all born wrapped in "spiritual" grave clothes. Because of the fall of Adam and Eve, we are born with a sinful nature, we were born separated from the full and complete life the Lord wants us to have. But through Christ we can be set free.
Slide Twelve: We can let these words become our words as they describe the new life we have been given in Christ. "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."
I realize that I have a major struggle in life. This may sound hard to believe at first, but please hear me out.
Slide Thirteen: I want the new life I have been offered in Christ, I want it in full, not in just the glimpses we get to see now as we live out our lives on this earth.
I want all those grave cloths that have bound me for so long to be completely torn away and I want to run free in the new life I am promised in Christ.
I love Doris, I love my children, I want to see my new grandchild, but I want all of us to be in that new home so bad where we will live in the very presence of the Lord.
I know why I live on this earth I have an important job to do for the Lord and I want to live it out the best I can. I have watched as Christ has helped me to be freed from so many things that had held me in bondage. Those grave clothes made of wrappings from this sin filled world are being stripped away one by one. With each strip of grave cloth that is taken away the more freedom I am gain in Christ. As this happens, I want to live more in the complete new life I am seeing ahead of me through the power of the Holy Spirit.
All four of the passages of scripture we heard for today talk about new life. This is the exciting news of the Gospel.
Slide Fourteen: This is the exciting news of being a Christian, to know what is opened to us starting right now and to know it will only get more glorious.
The hardest part about sharing all of this, is that if you have not allowed the Lord to begin to strip the grave cloths off your life, if you have not begun to walk into the glory the Lord is offering you right now these words may seem so foreign. Until you experience this new life yourself, these words will never make sense. But if you have taken those first steps, if you are sensing the excitement, don't stop now, keep walking away from the strips of grave cloth that have held you so tightly and walk into the freedom you are being offered in Christ.
Slide Fifteen: Ezekiel walked through a valley of dry bones and saw them come to life.
Slide Sixteen: The writer of Psalms realized God was the only one who could forgive our sins and give us new life.
Slide Seventeen: Paul in the reading from Romans tells us we have to choice between living by the flesh or living by the Spirit.
Slide Eighteen: In the gospel of John we found out we can be freed from the grave of sin and death.
Slide Nineteen: In all of these we can see we are given a chance for new life.
Now will we live it out each and everyday all the way into eternity?
Let us come before our Lord in prayer.
Sunday April 3rd, 2011
Slide One: "Breaking Free From the Darkness"
Slide Two: Ephesians 5:8-14
8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! 9 For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.
10 Carefully determine what pleases the Lord. 11 Take no part in the worthless deeds of evil and darkness; instead, expose them. 12 It is shameful even to talk about the things that ungodly people do in secret. 13 But their evil intentions will be exposed when the light shines on them, 14 for the light makes everything visible.
Slide Three: This is why it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will give you light."
Explain story of the healing of the blind man ?
Slide Four: John 9:35 - 41
35 When Jesus heard what had happened, he found the man and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"
36 The man answered, "Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him."
37 "You have seen him," Jesus said, "and he is speaking to you!"
38 "Yes, Lord, I believe!" the man said. And he worshiped Jesus.
Slide Five: "39 Then Jesus told him, "I entered this world to render judgment?to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind."
40 Some Pharisees who were standing nearby heard him and asked, "Are you saying we're blind?"
Slide Five A: "41 "If you were blind, you wouldn't be guilty," Jesus replied. "But you remain guilty because you claim you can see."
Prayer
Throughout this Lenten Season I have been rereading a book called The Bondage Breaker.
Slide Six: It is a powerful book because it is written in such a simple way to help us to understand the spiritual battles we are in as we live out our days on this earth.
It not only describes the ways we are in spiritual battles, but it gives such wonderful insight in how to over come them.
One of the statements in the book reminded me of the way many often look at spiritual battles in the world today. For many it is an all or nothing approach.
Slide Seven: It seems some do not believe we are in such battles, Satan or a demonic force in the world is just something that has been made up.
Slide Seven A: While on the other hand others think every bad thing that happens is an attack by Satan.
The writer of this book gives the best analogy of spiritual battles I have ever heard.
Picture yourself walking down a long street. You are facing one way and you can see Christ at the end of the street calling out to you, several blocks away. The street is narrow and it is lined with two story buildings all along the way. As you begin to walk down the street toward Christ, voices from the buildings start calling out to you. You hear a voice that promises power and money and you look into the windows of the building, you begin to think maybe that isn't so bad. Another voice from another building calls out to you and you look over into that building and you see lustful things, and you begin to just stare in to the window almost mesmerized by what is happening. You know in your heart it isn't good for you, but you are drawn to it as you take your focus off of Christ.
You hear the voice of Christ trying to call to you over the other voices, but as you move passed each window the Lord's voice gets shouted over again and again drawing your attention to other things to distract you from your walk to be with Christ. These temptations finally overpower you and you are convinced that it wouldn't hurt just to step into a few of these buildings and enjoy some of the things they have to offer. This could be where one drink leads to many, or one drug leads to a harder one, or one look at pornography, just a little one, leads to an affair, which leads to destroying your marriage.
By the time you stumble back onto the street and you hear the voice of Christ calling out to you, the voices from the buildings begin to tell you, you are not worthy to go to Christ, they tell you, you have blown it and now Christ wants to punish you, so you won't look at Him. These voices actually convince you to hide in these buildings because you are too ashamed to go to Christ and ask for forgiveness.
Slide Eight: I don't know about you, but I have walked that street. I have listened to those voices. I have given into temptations and I have at times even believed the voices when they told me Christ could never love me.
Slide Nine: What we must realize is these voices are all lying to us.
Slide Nine A: We don't have to give into those temptations.
Slide Nine B: We don't have to turn from Christ.
But, if we should give into sin, we can turn back to Christ, ask for forgiveness for our sin and know we will be forgiven and made right once again.
Slide Nine C: We can begin to walk that path to the Lord once more.
Slide Ten: I think the hardest part of being a Christian today is fighting off temptations that are considered sins by Godly standards but are now a part of our main line culture.
In the reading from Romans for today, we get the contrast between light and darkness.
What I see in our world today is that we have allowed so much darkness to become a part of our mainline society, we have become so accustom to it that we now think the darkness is light. It seems at times we have lowered the bar of morality so much by saying that living any lifestyle anyone wants to is, ok. In fact if you should speak out against anything, you are the one considered intolerant and out of touch with reality.
Slide Eleven: What can happen as Christians is that we can buy into the lies of this world, we can begin to live in what the world no longer calls sin, even though we know in our hearts it is and because of this we allow our spiritual side to be held in bondage.
I think this is what Jesus meant when he was talking to the religious leaders in our reading for today and he said. 41 "If you were blind, you wouldn't be guilty," Jesus replied. "But you remain guilty because you claim you can see."
It took me a long time to realize I didn't have to be held in bondage to worshipping alcohol, or pornography, or sports. It took me a long time in my Christian walk to know Christ has forgiven me of the sins in my life. Now as I draw closer to living in the complete freedom Christ gives to me, it opens up my life at a whole deeper level. A deeper level where I not only to experience the love Christ has for me, but then to see how I can share that same love with others at such a deeper level.
Slide Twelve: Before I became a Christian I didn't think the lifestyle I was living was a sin.
Drinking on the weekends until you couldn't walk, trying to pick up different women each weekend, stealing from work, worshipping money and partying were my gods.
Slide Thirteen: All my friends were worshipping the same false gods, and we could justify each and everything we did. In fact we were upright and moral people according to society rules because we held jobs and didn't think we were hurting anyone.
Then as I asked Christ to be my Savior, as I begin to read, study and live out the Word of the Lord in my life, my eyes were opened to the darkness that I was living in.
Slide Fourteen: I began to see the bondage I was held in and I began to see the people I was hurting.
As I begin to move away from living in that darkness I lost some of my friends and family members because as the light of Christ began to shine off of me and onto them, they didn't like that and they chose to stay in the darkness.
In the gospel reading we heard today it is the end of the story about a man who was once blind, but had regained his sight through Christ.
Slide Sixteen: I can relate to the story because I was once blind to the sin I had allowed into my life.
Even today, I find that I sometimes get lost in sins that end up separating me from the Lord in some way. When I realize this and ask for forgiveness I see once again how these sins have kept me from living the full abundant life I could have been living.
I have read about how John Wesley often came before the Lord asking for forgiveness for the sins in his life. I have read how Paul in the Bible often came before God pleading for forgiveness for the sins in his life. Both men would be considered to be pillars of faith, yet they took the time to pray asking the Lord over and over to purify there hearts. I think after almost thirty years of being a Christian I am finally beginning to realize why they did this.
We live in a world where we are going to get dirty again and again.
Slide Seventeen: We live in a world where sin is going to come into our life time and time again because we are submerged in it each day.
Slide Eighteen: By coming to Christ and asking Him to wash us on a daily bases we can be freed from those sins before they stick to us and begin to infect us.
By asking Christ to open our eyes to the sin we may have let in, we can turn and walk away from it before it grabs a hold of us and does great damage.
I worked a job for a while washing semi trailers. In certain lots I went to they were parked on dirt. To wash the trailer you had to hold the wand above your head, cover the trailer with soap, then an acid based cleaner, then power spray it off with 1200 pounds of pressure. When you started washing a lot of trailers the dirt lot became mud. So by the end of the day I would be covered with the overspray from the soap and the acid. Along with that the mud would be clinging to my pants and boots. It was like dragging and extra fifty pounds around, plus my skin would be sticky from all the overspray. When I would get home I would peal off my cloths which were wet and muddy, I would scrub myself down in the shower until all the crud was rubbed off and I would feel so good.
This is what coming to Christ on a daily bases does for our spiritual life. Slide Nineteen: Through the blood of our Lord and Savior the crud of this sin filled world that we have wallowed in all day is washed away.
Slide Nineteen A: We are given the opportunity to feel that refreshing and renewing Spirit opening up within us as we feel the quilt and shame washed away.
This is the first step we need to do on a daily bases to stay fresh in Christ. Slide Twenty: This is a major step in being set free from the bondage of sin we may have allowed ourselves to be locked in.
I want to close with one thing that I think is so important for us to realize in our walk with the Lord and in overcoming the bondage we may be tied up in because of the sin in our life.
Slide Twenty One: We need to know we can walk away from sin, if we want to.
Slide Twenty One A: There is no sin in our life that we cannot be freed from.
Through Christ, Satan cannot have a hold on our life, unless we give it to him. This is a hard thing to kaccept in some ways, because it takes away all of our excuses, it takes away all of our justification that makes us feel good for living in that sin. But this is the warning Jesus gave to the religious leaders in the reading for today. 41 "If you were blind, you wouldn't be guilty," Jesus replied. "But you remain guilty because you claim you can see."
Slide Twenty Two: Just because our society says something is right doesn't make it right in the sight of God.
Just because our society says something is not a sin any more that the Bible clearly labels as a sin, it doesn't change the word of God from being true.
Slide Twenty Three: What we have to decide as we live out our days in this sin filled world, is how much sin are we going to let cling to us and eventually infect our whole lives?
Jesus has done all He can so we can live victoriously.
Jesus has done everything that needs to be done to make it so we can walk away from the temptations in our lives that Satan keeps throwing at us.
Slide Twenty Four: Everyday we have the opportunity to be washed white as snow and be refreshed and renewed in the love of Christ.
Slide Twenty Four A: We can walk in the light of Christ and expose the darkness of this world for what it is.
Slide Five: In this Lenten season will you experience the freedom the Lord wants you to have? As you are cleansed from the sins in your life, can you live more fully in the love we are offered through Christ?
Let us come before our Lord in prayer.
Sunday March 20th, 2011
Slide One: "Understanding How the Trinity Works in Our Lives."
Slide Two: John 3:1 - 17
"1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. "Rabbi," he said, "we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you."
3 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God."
4 "What do you mean?" exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?"
Slide Three: 5 Jesus replied, "I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.
7 So don't be surprised when I say, ?You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit."
9 "How are these things possible?" Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, "You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won't believe our testimony.
12 But if you don't believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Slide Four: 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
Prayer
Card tricks and magic shows can be fun when we realize all of them are done through some kind of deception. Half the fun for me is trying to figure out how they are done. Things like that are all fun and games when everyone is in on the secret. The problem is that deceptions can happen in real life and can lead to a lot of confusion and harm, especially when we are on the outside looking in and feeling foolish for not understanding.
Slide Five: Today's reading can almost seem like a deception to those who have never experienced the power of the Holy Spirit working within their lives.
Slide Six: Every so often, someone will ask, "Where did you Christians get the idea for the Trinity?
Why you can't even find the word "Trinity" in the Bible." If someone is on the outside looking in they can begin to wonder if the doctrine of the Trinity is just a manmade idea.
They may make the assumption that something without a name does not exist. They are saying that something is not true simply because we don't have a name for it. Is that valid? Did people go flying off into space until someone came up with the word gravity? Of course not! Gravity has been in effect ever since the second day of creation. Just because we didn't always have a name for gravity doesn't mean it wasn't there.
The same thing is true for the Trinity.
Slide Seven: While it is true that the Bible does not use the word "Trinity," that does not mean it isn't there.
Let's examine the words of Jesus in today's Gospel for example. This reading is that familiar story of Jesus' conversation with a Pharisee named Nicodemus.
One of my pastor friends has suggested that we give Nicodemus the nickname of "Nick at Night" since he came to Jesus at night. Nicodemus was honestly curious about Jesus' teachings and wanted to know more and so he came to Jesus after he finished his duties for the day and he could have a little one-on-one time with Jesus.
Now I am absolutely certain that many doctoral theses have been written about the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus, but, for today, let's just concentrate on how the idea of the Trinity affected Jesus' words.
First of all, Jesus spoke of being born again. When Nicodemus expressed his confusion over this concept,
Slide Eight: Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
Slide Nine: Here Jesus is basically saying, "Stop thinking of trying to enter the Kingdom of God under your own power.
When a baby is born, it has no "say so" in the matter.
The mother brings the baby into the world whether the baby wants to come or not. In a similar way, when a Christian is born into the Kingdom of God it has no "say so" in the matter. The Holy Spirit brings the Christian, kicking and screaming, into the kingdom of God. You don't have to know how it works. The Holy Spirit knows how it works and that is enough. Jesus' explanation makes no sense whatsoever unless the Holy Spirit is real.
Later on in the conversation Jesus answered [Nicodemus], "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. Here Jesus tells Nicodemus how the Holy Spirit brings a Christian into the Kingdom of God.
Slide Ten: The Holy Spirit causes the person to believe in the Son of Man who is lifted up just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Then, immediately in the very next sentence Jesus continued, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." Here Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit brings a Christian into the Kingdom of God by causing the person to believe in the only Son of God. In one sentence, Jesus tells Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit causes the person to believe in the Son of Man and then in the next sentence He tells Nicodemus that the Holy Spirit causes a person to believe in the Son of God. Slide Eleven: These statements make a lot more sense when the Son of Man and the Son of God is the same person.
Where would this part of Jesus' answer be without the Son to come into the world and, for that matter, a Father to send Him into the world?
Slide Twelve: Thus we see that this whole conversation is totally impossible without a Father to send the Son, a Son who is both God and Man and who will be lifted up like the serpent in the wilderness, and a Spirit who gives new birth into the Kingdom of God by producing faith in the Son.
We not only learn about these three persons, but we also see the role each of them has in our salvation.
In this short conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus tells us everything that makes Christianity unique among the religions of the world.
Slide Thirteen: Only Christianity has a God who is a community of three persons. Slide Thirteen A: Only Christianity has a God who loves us enough to sacrifice His only Son to save us.
We learn something else in today's Gospel. We learn about Nicodemus. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. Later on in the Gospel of John, we will read, "After [Jesus died] Joseph of Arimathea ? asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.
Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds in weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews."
Nicodemus was an example of what the Pharisees and rulers of the Jews were supposed to be. He was not corrupt. He was doing his best to lead a God-pleasing life. He was doing his best to lead the Jews according to God's command. Never the less, Nicodemus, because of his excellent training as a Pharisee, knew that he had not kept the law as he should. He knew the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit had used that knowledge to convict him of his sin.
Slide Fourteen: Nicodemus was also a sinner who needed the forgiveness that comes with faith in the Son of God who was lifted up on the cross for the sins of the world.
If this noble and gentle man who actually lived up to the code of conduct of the Pharisees knew that he was still a sinner in need of God's grace, where does that place you - where does that place me? We must stand with Isaiah in the Old Testament reading when he came before God and said, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." If men of such upright character as Isaiah and as Nicodemus are sinners in need of God's grace, then we too can only come before God and beg for mercy.
And we have mercy.
Slide Fifteen: The Father has sent the Son to save the world.
Slide Fifteen A: The Son has sacrificed Himself on the cross in order to provide forgiveness for you and for me and has risen from the dead.
Slide Fifteen B: The Holy Spirit has shown our sin to us and then given us a new birth into God's Kingdom so that we might receive the Son's gift of forgiveness through faith in Him.
Slide Sixteen: Each member of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has done His part to save us from our sins.
As far as the fact that the Bible does not use the term Trinity, it is not important that the actual word be in Bible. What is important is that the teaching is there and it is. Genesis begins with God creating, the Spirit hovering, and the WORD through which God created. Revelation14: 1 speaks of the 144,000 who had the name of the Lamb and the name of the Father written on their foreheads as well as Revelation 22:17 the Spirit who along with the bride invites us to drink of the water of life.
Slide Seventeen: The books in between are impossible to understand apart from the teaching that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God and yet, there are not three Gods but only one God.
We may not fully understand this until we get to heaven, but we do have to believe it if we want the Lord to impact our lives.
Let us come before our Lord in prayer.
Sunday March 13th, 2011
Slide One: How to Overcome Temptation
Slide Two: Matthew 4:1-11
"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread."
Slide Three: But He answered and said, "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"
Then the devil took Him into the holy city; and he had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'HE WILL GIVE HIS ANGELS CHARGE CONCERNING YOU'; and 'ON THEIR HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.'"
Slide Four: Jesus said to him, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"
Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and he said to Him, "All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me."
Slide Five: Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.'"
Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him."
Our Gospel this morning is the familiar account to the temptation of Jesus.
As Jesus faced the tempter, the playing field is not quite level. On the one hand, Jesus is God. That gives Him an advantage. On the other hand, He is living in humility, clothed in human flesh and blood and human nature, not taking advantage of all of the powers of God. That gives the devil an advantage. Jesus has just spent forty days and forty nights without food. Matthew highlights this disadvantage for Jesus in saying, seemingly without any real need to, that Jesus was now hungry. Matthew says it, however, so that we don't get some fancy philosophical notion that Jesus was immune to hunger, and that this wasn't a real test.
Slide Six: We need to realize the playing field of temptation is never level. You should learn that here and now, if you didn't understand it before.
Everything was pretty much stacked in favor of the devil, when he confronted Jesus. Things are usually that way when he tempts us. He cannot grow tired, while we can and do. He knows our every weakness, while we rarely understand them ourselves.
He is perfectly deceitful, while we are not always looking to be deceived, or capable of discerning when we are until often it is too late. He has power that we simply do not have.
Slide Seven: The next lesson we should draw from this is simple: Temptation happens - it will happen.
This is reality for us while we live in the flesh. We will face temptations - although we may not always recognize that we are being tempted when it happens.
Slide Eight: We can also note that temptation always hits you where it hurts.
Jesus was hungry, and so He was tempted with food.
Slide Nine: The tempter also knows where you are sensitive and where you are weak.
Temptation never comes where you are strong and unconcerned. If it does, it doesn't seem much like a temptation.
Slide Ten: It always hits where you are vulnerable.
That is why this lesson is so important for us. We need to learn from Jesus about the best defense against temptation.
Slide Eleven: First Jesus faced the temptation of food - physical need.
How did Jesus confront this temptation? He responded with the Word of God. Jesus never went on offense in this battle. I image that He could have, but He did not. He showed us what we can do when we are tempted.
Instead of claiming power, He claimed the stronghold of God's Word. Jesus expressed His confidence in God: "It is written, 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"
Slide Twelve: He resisted the temptation to doubt God's provision.
The second temptation of Jesus listed in Matthew was the one in which the devil took Jesus to a high pinnacle of the temple and tempted Him to jump down. Even Satan quoted Scriptures by saying, "It is written".
Slide Thirteen: That was actually a temptation to doubt the Word of God.
You might say, Jesus was tempted with bad exegesis. The devil took the Word of God right out of Jesus' hands and attempted to tempt Him with it. He set before Him an impossible situation, and then said, "Don't you trust God? Here is His Word saying that He will catch you and take care of you and protect you!" The devil was suggesting that the only way to demonstrate faith is take the most extreme action and dare God to prove His promises true. If you cannot ask, you must not believe.
The temptation also came once again with the "If you are the Son of God," clause. It was as much as saying, "Surely God will do all of this for you, since you are His Son!"
The temptation was to doubt God's Word, and so test Him, to see if God would keep His promise. It looked like faith, and it sounded like a legitimate promise, but neither was true.
We face disbelief in God's Word disguised as bad exegesis all of the time. Nearly every debate about doctrine; is a debate about a misunderstanding of the Word. Every one of them quotes Scripture passages to prove their cause. They all have their passages. But often they apply half-verses and half-truths just as Satan did, that day against Jesus.
But Jesus trusted God, and refused to be deceived into a test which would actually show that he did not trust God's Word, but trusted His own judgment more. Jesus answered with the Word of God - sound doctrine.
Slide Fourteen: He answered a temptation clothed in a Bible passage with the Scripture which answered the real temptation, "On the other hand, it is written, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'"
Finally, the devil stopped hiding and simply offered Jesus the easy way. He knew what Jesus had come to do. He knew that Jesus could see the cross and all the pain and torment. He knew that Jesus had years of difficult work ahead, and he offered Jesus the easy route. Just bow down to me, worship me once, and I will let you off the hook. You can have the whole kit and caboodle.
Bow to me and recognize me as your superior, worship me as your god and I will spare you the cross and give you the whole creation as your prize.
Slide Fifteen: This also teaches us that temptation is never convenient.
It never seems to come when you are ready for it. It always comes at inconvenient times and when you are least prepared to face it.
Slide Sixteen: Like every temptation, this final temptation was filled with lies.
First, the world does not belong to Satan. It is not his to give. The price that Jesus was going to pay for our redemption was not going to be paid to the devil. It was to be paid to satisfy the justice of God. If Jesus had given in to the temptation, He would have become just like us, only more so. That would have been Satan's victory over God and our absolute ruin. There would have been no glory to give to Jesus, nor would the devil have given it, if there had been. He is a liar, and the father of it, as Jesus once pointed out.
Slide Seventeen: Jesus answered with the Word. "It is written, YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY."
He answered with the Word of God, and faith. The thing that Jesus kept in mind was that God is first, and we come second. That is the only position that a Christian can take. The constant theme of humanistic unbelief is that we are of such significance that we cannot set our own desires and felt-needs aside for anything else. God cannot ask us to suffer, or do without, or wait patiently.
What kind of God could do that!? The answer, of course, is the God who suffered for us, and waits with patience and earnest desire for our faithfulness and trust in Him.
Slide Eighteen: He is the God who has our true blessing and welfare at heart, and only asks us to trust Him for a moment, so that we may someday share eternal life with Him.
It does not matter what the stakes are in any temptation, or what is offered to us, or how appealing the temptation may be made to appear. When we know who God is and trust Him and place Him in the proper place in our lives, then we wait on God, and we accept from God what He gives to us with thanksgiving and faith. We are called to be faithful, and we must first be faithful to God. If we fail in that, there is no genuine faithfulness left for us to assume.
Of course, we all face temptations similar to Jesus' - similar in kind if not in scope or power. First is the temptation of physical need - or physical desire. Many times we are not able clearly to distinguish between the two. We just know what we want or need, and it seems more important - more urgent - to us to meet that need or fill that desire than anything else. The temptation is always to take care of Number One first. The temptation is that we cannot let some theology, some bit of religious stuff - we cannot let some mere rule stand in the way of our need. That is how the temptation often presents itself.
Like Jesus we want to answer this first temptation with the Word of God and place God first, trusting Him in all our needs. We want to take Him at His Word that He will not forsake us, that He will always provide - as Jesus said:
Slide Nineteen: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.
The second temptation was the temptation to doubt God's Word. Funny thing is that it doesn't usually look like a temptation to doubt the Word of God. Jesus' temptation looked like a challenge to Him as to whether He really trusted God. The faithful and sincere thing seemed to be to jump off the temple and trust God to do what He had said that He would do. But that would have been a sign of unbelief. That would have proven that Jesus didn't trust God, because He would have foolishly put God to the test for nothing more than proof.
Slide Twenty: Faith is not seeing, not having the proof in front of it, but still trusting.
We are tempted in this way by false doctrine. False doctrine always does what Satan did on that mountain - it presumes to challenge our faith with something that sounds Biblical, but actually it challenge us to doubt God's Word or to act or speak on the basis of false doctrine and confused interpretations of Scripture which places God at odds with Himself.
This sort of temptation is often little more than an appeal to ignore God's Word for the sake of feelings. To do that is to deny the truth of God's Word, and count something or someone as more important than God. Jesus answered with faith, and clear doctrine - you shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.
Slide Twenty One: We need to do the same; put the truth first, and trust God's Word no matter what.
The final temptation Jesus faced is the most common sort today. We face this temptation each and every time we are offered the faster way, the easier way, the more effective way than what God teaches us to do. Jesus said, you shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only!
Slide Twenty Two: We need to remember who is God, and who we are.
We worship God by being faithful, and trusting God, and doing the things He has given us to do. We will even find we can win by losing ? when we are faithful.
We can trust God, after all. We serve Him not by what we do, so much, as by trusting Him. Jesus once said to the Pharisees, Learn what this means, I desire compassion not sacrifice. And His will, summarized in the First Commandment is that we hold Him first in all things, and trust in Him alone, and love Him more than life itself. And love for God is a love that is seen in love for one another.
This is what we see on the cross, where Jesus died for your sins so that you might be forgiven and come to know Him as He is, gracious and merciful, full of love and compassion, and desiring your salvation first and last.
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When we confront temptations, we can have no better pattern than that which which Jesus provided.
Slide Twenty Three: Hold fast to His Word, and trust in God. That is how to deal with temptation.
Let us come before our Lord in prayer.
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Sunday February 27,2011
Slide One: "This is How we Build God's Kingdom."
Slide Two: Matthew 6:24-34
24 "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
25 "That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life?whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn't life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 "And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 "So don't worry about these things, saying, ?What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?' 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.
Slide Three: 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 34 "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."
Here's an experiment for you to try: sometime this week read the gospel chosen for today to a group of friends, all of whom have jobs, places to live, and automobiles.
Slide Four: Then - at least in your imagination - read this gospel to the 800,000 or so people in Haiti who have been living in refugee camps for a year.
This message - don't worry about what you will eat or drink or wear, because God will take care of you - might be heard by the well-off audience as an admonishment to keep focused on the things that matter, rather than material wants. But the second group doesn't have that option.
If you have spent the last year or so worrying every minute about feeding your children, giving them shelter at night, and perhaps someday being able to get them some shoes, Jesus' message cannot be easy to hear. What does he mean, don't worry? Life is nothing but worry.
Slide Five: Jesus is not saying that the basic necessities of human life don't matter, nor is he saying that theses necessities will magically appear if we believe in him correctly.
He is talking to people who have enough, it seems; otherwise his encouragement not to worry would simply be cruel. But what about those who truly don't have enough? How can they hear good news in today's gospel?
Though the message is going to be perceived differently by those who have enough and those who do not, but deep down the message is really the same:
Slide Six: ? don't spend your time and energy and heart fretting about this stuff.
If you have enough, be thankful, and beware of making an idol of having what you want, rather than merely what you need. If you don't have enough, it's not because God doesn't love you.
Jesus is working to correct the belief that was commonly made in his day: those who please God have plenty; those who have displeased God will suffer.
If only it were that easy! Of course, there are those in our culture who spout off after every natural disaster or act of violence, claiming that they know what specific sin is being punished. It would simplify matters, certainly, to be able to draw a straight line between a list of do's and don'ts and the corresponding benefits or punishments.
Slide Seven: For example, if you steal, there will be a tornado; its strength will be determined by the dollar value of what is stolen. Or if you cheat on your taxes, wham, a sinkhole will open in your back yard.
It seems that Jesus is encouraging his followers to look beyond that kind of straight-line thinking that attaches virtue to success and vice to failure. He is making a claim that God's desire for us is that we all have enough, rather than using some complex calculus to determine precisely how blessed or cursed we will be. "No one can serve two masters," he says. We've got to decide what our priorities and values are, and if we're going to follow Jesus, then those priorities and values are probably not best focused on ourselves.
Slide Eight: Jesus is saying, "Look beyond the boundaries of yourself."
In this light, the situation in Haiti doesn't get magically better, nor does the person in desperate circumstances automatically understand this as good news. But it does sound like encouragement not to let dire straits reduce us all to complete selfishness.
Slide Nine: If we are sitting at the top of the comfort scale, we should not be worrying about getting more, but about how to share what we have.
Slide Nine A: If we sit at the bottom of that scale, we should not regard that as permission to lie, cheat, and steal our way to comfort.
But more than a moral admonishment, this message claims God's care for everything God has made: people, lilies, the birds, you name it.
While we have ample evidence that God doesn't prevent disaster, Jesus assures us that God is deeply concerned with the lives God has created. In other words, we are not alone, no matter how bad things seem. And no matter how good things seem, we didn't get there on our own. God's love surrounds all creation. God's careful design shows up in everything: mountains, grass and the Grand Canyon, human lives in the USA or Haiti.
Slide Ten: The Sermon on the Mount, of which today's gospel is a part, is not only important to the values of the Roman empire of his day, it's a set of marching orders for those who want to follow Jesus.
There is a lot of bad stuff going on in the world; this was true in Jesus' century, just as it's true in ours. Jesus' teaching in the face of all that is wrong with the world is consistent:
Slide Eleven: ? have faith, and do something about the bad stuff by doing all the good stuff you can.
Today's gospel is part of a larger message, and part of Jesus' challenge to his hearers and to us:
Slide Twelve: ? life in the kingdom of God has different values from life in the Roman Empire, or life in a profit-based society.
Life in the kingdom of God includes the poor, the merciful, those who mourn. Life in the kingdom of God includes our privilege and duty to bear light to the darkest parts of the world, to salt the world with mercy and justice. Today's gospel, taken outside this context, sounds unrealistic to someone who is suffering. In the larger context of this entire teaching, however, Jesus is reminding his followers of two important things -
Slide Thirteen: - of God's profound love for everything and everyone God has created,
Slide Thirteen A: and encouraging his followers - and us - to focus on the kingdom of God.
In context of the body of Christ, it is extremely easy to justify worrying about the basics. "How will we pay the electric bill? Can we afford employees to clean or do administrative work?" Finance committees and Administrative Councils feel an understandable obligation to be sure that parishioners' money is carefully spent.
Being good stewards of what we're given is important work. But in light of Jesus' message today, it seems that an additional criterion for good stewardship should be in place.
Slide Fourteen: The question must be asked, "How are we serving the kingdom of God?"
Are we worrying about stuff when really, there's abundance all around us?
Anyone who has run a program that feeds or cares for our poorest neighbors has at least a couple of stories about how money, or food, or space, or some unexpected gift has shown up at the right time for just the right amount of people there that night. It seems that God's desire really is for abundant life for all. For those of us who have enough, this gospel reminds us however we should not worry and engage in elaborate schemes to get what we think we want, but to know instead there is actually a stream of mercy and grace available, directly from God. Slide Fifteen: If we stand in that stream of grace and mercy, we are going to have more than enough to share with those who need it.
There is no magical formula, such as "Do these 10 good things for others and get an equivalent number of blessings. Fail to do good things and get nothing. Do bad things and bad things will come to you." That's not the economy of God; that's a limited human perception of virtue and value.
Slide Sixteen: What Jesus proclaims, to refugees in Haiti and comfortable Americans alike, is that the kingdom of God is at hand. Grace and mercy are available to all.
For those who already have much, it may well be that God's grace and mercy come through us on their way to those who are in the deepest need. What an awesome responsibility! And what an amazing joy - to be a conduit for the care and love of God for God's people and God's world. Even Solomon in all his glory didn't shine as brightly as those who share and give and work for the kingdom of God.
Slide Seventeen: 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 34 "So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today."
Slide Eighteen: Enjoy the blessings we have been given, especially the gift of eternal life and use those blessing to draw as many as we can into the family of God. This is how we build God's Kingdom.
Let us come before our Lord in prayer.
Sunday February 20th, 2011
Slide One: "Living for the Lord Brings Blessings to Many."
Today I want to look at three parts of passages of scripture from the Lectionary texts chosen for this week. Way back when I gave my first sermon when I was still in the beginning stages of looking at going into the ministry, I remember it was filled with scripture passages. My thought at that time was I would let God's Word speak for itself.
Throughout my ministry I have gotten away from sharing a lot of scripture in sermons. This happened for several reasons. I remember in seminary we learned how to dissect a text until it took all the heart and soul right out of it, sometimes making me feel like it may not be worth sharing just by itself. Along with that somewhere along the line I was also taught and then bought into the premise that people did not want to hear God's Word anymore, instead they needed a cute story to help them understand what the text really meant.
Today these passages don't need cute little stories because they lay it right on the line of how we are to be living for the Lord.
Slide Two: What I am realizing as I read and reread the texts for today is that if we live them out in our lives not only would our lives be better off, but those around us would also gain from this.
Slide Three: If you want to turn in your Bibles to Leviticus 19: 1 - 2, 9 - 18, we will begin by looking at several verses that explain how to have Holiness in Personal Conduct.
1 The Lord also said to Moses, 2 "Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy."
"9 "When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. 10 It is the same with your grape crop?do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God."
How would these verses be lived out today?
Slide Four: To me this is what tithing is all about. The Lord says I will bless you with so many things, but in return you must give back 10% so that others may be blessed also.
Then the scripture passage says, 11 "Do not steal. "Do not deceive or cheat one another."
I read an article a few years back of how businesses, for budgeting purposes, automatically have to add in loses and raise prices to account for all the stealing that now happens.
Think about how we would all benefit if everyone just followed this one verse of scripture. 11 "Do not steal. "Do not deceive or cheat one another."
The next verse says, 12 "Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord." This goes way back to the second commandment, when we are told not to take the name of the Lord in vain. I have come to learn through the years this means a lot more then just don't cuss using God's name.
Slide Five: What it means is if you say you are a Christian, then live the life of a Christian other wise you are taking the name of the Lord in vain.
As I read the next few verses it is easy to see the ways they would still apply today.
13 "Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.
"Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.
14 "Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.
15 "Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.
16 "Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.
"Do not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is threatened. I am the Lord.
17 "Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.
18 "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord."
Slide Six: Just think of how much better the world would be if we lived each one of these things out in our life to the fullest.
Slide Seven: Now listen to the words from Psalm 119: 33 - 40
33 Teach me your decrees, O Lord; I will keep them to the end.
34 Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.
35 Make me walk along the path of your commands, for that is where my happiness is found.
36 Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money!
37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.
38 Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you.
39 Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.
Slide Eight: 40 I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness.
This passage reminds us there is a line in our life that we cannot see, but we struggle with it everyday.
Slide Nine: The line is drawn between how much we live for Christ and how much we live for the world.
What I am finding as I strive to move to living for Christ more and more is being able to see a clearer, bigger picture of what is important in this world and what is not.
Slide Ten: If you look at everything you are doing in your life, what would you rate as the most important?
Think about that for a moment.
Slide Eleven: Now is growing in your relationship with Christ and with those around you at the top of your list?
Because when all is said and done this is what matters the most in life. The words from the Psalm we just heard remind us of this very thing. Listen once more to a few of these verses.
36 "Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money!
37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.
38 Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you.
39 Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good.
40 I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness."
Slide Twelve: Have you lived out God's word in your life enough to see the difference it can make?
God wants us to have peace that passes all human understanding. God wants us to have a deep seated joy that just brings contentment into our hearts and minds. God wants us to be in a relationship with Him, to the point we know beyond the shadow of a doubt He is walking with us each and every moment of the day. When we realize all of this and we allow God's power through the Holy Spirit to become a natural part of our lives, we are then able to love others with a deeper more meaningful love then we have ever thought possible.
Slide Thirteen: This is when we begin to look at the things we are doing in life and we switch our priorities to focusing on the Lord and on others which leads to even more joy in our lives.
Slide Fourteen: When we are striving to live more fully in our relationship with the Lord and with others we begin to see the scripture passages from Matthew 5:38-48 in a whole different way.
Slide Fourteen A: Listen to Jesus' teaching about revenge.
38 "You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ?An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. 40 If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. 41 If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. 42 Give to those who ask, and don't turn away from those who want to borrow."
Slide Fourteen B: Now listen to Jesus teaching about loving your enemies.
43 "You have heard the law that says, ?Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect."
When you have allowed your heart to be filed with the love of our Lord, when you are focused on living in that love and sharing it with those around you, you will find there is less room to hold hatred in your heart. There is less time to think about the people you are holding grudges against.
Slide Fifteen: In fact if the love of our Lord is growing with your heart, you may even find you can finally forgive those who have done you wrong in the past.
By understanding and living out God's word in your life you can actually be freed from anger or bitterness or other things that are keeping you from living more fully in the love of our Lord. In turn you will be able to love others more fully.
By understanding and living out God's word in your life you can actually begin to take things out of your schedule that may not be all that important in life, which gives you more time to grow in your love for the Lord and in sharing that love with others.
Slide Sixteen: By understanding more fully how God's word can give us such wonderful guidance we will actually see how living for the Lord brings blessings to many.
Often when we think about the scriptures we think of all the things they tell us not to do.
Slide Seventeen: We forget to look at all the things that guide us how to live a fuller, more wonderful life.
I would encourage you as you go home today, to begin to read your Bible looking for the ways God wants to help improve your life and as you begin to live out God's word in all you do you will see for yourself the blessings that not only touch you, but also those around you.
Slide Eighteen: This is when you will begin to see how living for the Lord brings blessings to many.
Let us come before our Lord in prayer.
Sunday February 6th, 2011
Prayer
Slide One: "Are You Salt and Light to Those Around You?"
Slide Two: Matthew 5:13 - 16
Jesus' teaching about Salt and Light
13 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
Slide Three: 14 "You are the light of the world?like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. "
There was a father was teaching his son what a Christian should be like. He talked about being the salt of the earth and the light of the world and a few other teachings. When the lesson was over, the father realized he had his work cut out for himself because the little boy asked,
Slide Four: "Daddy, have I ever met one of these Christians?"
In a very simple way, like that little boy, Jesus challenges us with two very vivid images of what it means to be a Christian. He uses Salt and Light.
First let's look at salt. Salt is something that is so common that we hardly notice it, unless you're on a salt-free or reduced salt diet.
We put it on everything from eggs to popcorn. Why? Because it makes things taste better. That's one of the natural qualities of salt.
Slide Five: Salt is a seasoning that enhances the flavor of food.
Slide Five A: Salt is also a preservative.
Before refrigeration or canning, most meat was preserved in one of two ways. It was either dried and smoked or it was packed in salt and salt cured. Packed in salt, meat would last for years.
Slide Five B: Salt also has been used for medical purposes.
Before the time of modern medicine, salt was used as an antiseptic. It burned like the dickens but salt was often times poured into an open wound to clean it of any impurities. Sometimes a concoction of salt and vinegar was used for the same purpose, to clean and purify the wound so it would heal quicker and cleaner.
We're called to be the "salt of the earth." In other words, we're called to be a seasoning that enhances the flavor of life through the living out of our faith. We're called to be preservatives that help preserve the Biblical standards of morality. And we are called to be a cure to life's problems. We have a message of hope and forgiveness from a Savior that can bring healing to all of the hurts in this world. We know all of these but there's one more aspect to salt, too.
I read a story about a group of young people who were discussing this text, "You are the salt of the earth." They came up with the same answers we just heard: "Salt enhances flavor. Salt preserves from decay. Salt helps heal." Then a Chinese Christian girl spoke up and said,
Slide Five C: "Salt creates thirst."
The room suddenly got quiet. Everyone was thinking, "Have I ever made anyone thirsty for Jesus?"
We're called to be the salt of the earth. We're called to season the world with the flavor of Grace. We're called to help preserve the world from decay. We're called to help bring healing. And we're called to make people thirsty for Jesus.
Slide Six: Jesus also said, "You are the light of the world."
Most folks today don't have a clue about what darkness really is. We have street lights and lighted signs, porch lights and decorative lights around the house. Ever since Edison discovered the light bulb, we have been trying to physically push back the darkness. Why?
Slide Seven: Because light exposes the true nature of things.
Have you ever walked into a half lit room in an old house and you think to yourself, "My, this looks nice." But in the morning, in the full light of day, you can see the cracks in the paint and the walls, the worn carpet and fabric on the furniture and the thick dust on everything? Light exposes our frailties.
Slide Seven A: Light exposes but light also reveals.
I know you've experienced having the lights go out. All of a sudden you're plunged into darkness and the things in the middle of the floor become dangerous. Even the light from a flash of lightning is helpful; for it lets you see where possible dangers lie. It's the same with life.
Slide Seven B: The light of Christ exposes our need for salvation; it reveals where the dangers are and it reveals where safety, direction and new life can be found.
One of my all time favorite films is Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List." In this movie Schindler, a Nazi profiteer becomes an unlikely light in the midst of darkness. Working with his assistant, Stern, he bluffs and bribes his way through the Nazi hierarchy to save as many Jews as possible. He has Stern type up a list of Jews whom he claims are necessary for "war work" at his factory. At first they are only making simple items like mess kits. But then they are transferred to another factory to make shells for the large guns. In the end Schindler's instructions to his workers are that he does not want any of the warheads in the shells to actually work. At first, Stern is suspicious but eventually sees Schindler for the benefactor that he is. At one point in the film, Stern comes to Schindler and says: "This list is life." Schindler fights to retain his employees, and on one occasion, barely saves a shipment of women who had been left off at a death camp by mistake. The stark black and white photography of the film shows the contrast between the darkness of the Nazis and the light that Schindler has chosen to follow and has become for the people on "the list." There is one scene toward the end of the movie which I think is so powerful. It is when Schindler realizes he could have done more. I want to show it to you right now.
SHOW MOVIE CLIP.
Slide Eight: Jesus calls us and challenges us to be the same kind of salt and light in the world today. He calls us not only to be light but to point to the ultimate source of light, which of course is Christ.
Slide Nine: Salt and light are the language of God; the language of grace; the language of hope and love.
And when this language is translated into action it becomes the most beautiful language ever spoken. We're called to be salt and light and to speak the language of God as we live our faith. We're called to live the Word. We are called to take the message of salvation to everyone we know.
There is another story about three students discussing various versions of the Bible. One said, "I like the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. It is easier to read than the older versions." A second student said, "I like the Jerusalem Bible. It's easy to read and it's poetic in its style. I can use it in my daily prayer." The third student surprised them all and said,
Slide Ten: "I like my mother's version the best. She translated the Bible into action that I can use in my daily life."
That's what we're called to do.
Slide Eleven: We're called to be salt and light and translate the Word of God into action so others can see and taste how good God is through Christ Jesus.
We are called to be light in what seems to be an ever darkening world. We are called to be salt shakers in the world. You know the challenge. And sometimes it's hard. But today we come not just to see and to hear.
Slide Twelve: Today we also come to taste and see that the Lord is good.
Today we come to feast at the banquet table of our Lord and to be filled with the bread of life. This bread will fill us and empower us to be salt and light for the world so that when someone describes a Christian no one will have to ask us, "Have I ever seen one?"
Come and be fed. Come, taste and see just how good God is.
As we share in communion today, I invite you to be in prayer. Ask the Lord to help you live as the salt and the light of the world that Christ has called you to be. Ask the Lord to help you to live in such a way that you draw others into a desire to want to know Jesus, as there Savior, so in the end you never have to think about how you could have saved one more, if only you had lived for Christ as fully as you could have.
Slide Thirteen: "Are You Salt and Light to Those Around You?"
Let us come before our lord in prayer.
Prayer
"Are You Salt and Light to Those Around You?"
Matthew 5:13 - 16
Jesus' teaching about Salt and Light
13 "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.
14 "You are the light of the world?like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. "
"Salt is a seasoning that _________________ the flavor of food.
Salt is also a ____________________.
Salt also has been used for __________________ purposes.
"Salt creates ____________."
Jesus also said, "You are the ____________ of the world."
Because light ________________ the true nature of things.
Light exposes but light also ____________________.
The light of Christ exposes our need for __________________; it reveals where the dangers are and it reveals where safety, direction and new life can be found.
Jesus calls us and challenges us to be the same kind of salt and light in the world today. He calls us not only to be light but to ______________ to the ultimate source of light, which of course is Christ.
Salt and light are the language of _________; the language of grace; the language of hope and love.
We're called to be salt and light and to speak the language of God as we live our _______________.
"I like my mother's version the best. She translated the Bible into ______________ that I can use in my daily life."
We're called to be salt and light and _________________ the Word of God into action so others can see and taste how good God is through Christ Jesus.
Today we also come to _______________ and see that the Lord is good.
"Are You Salt and Light to Those Around You?"
Sunday January 30th, 2011
Prayer
Slide One: "God's Word Says All We Need to Know."
I want to share four scripture passages with you today. These four passages were group together in our lectionary readings for today and as we go through them it is easy to tell why they were matched up. Each one of them gives us simple, but powerful ways to live out our lives, so we are pleasing the Lord as we go through our days.
What the Lord has really placed on my heart in the last few months is the realization that following Him is really very simple.
Slide Two: In fact the more we strive to live as Christ would want us to live, the less cluttered and stressed our lives become.
As I share these passages think about the way your life would change if you lived these words out to the best of your ability with the help of the Holy Spirit guiding you.
Slide Three: Micah 6: 1 - 8
"1 Listen to what the Lord is saying: "Stand up and state your case against me. Let the mountains and hills be called to witness your complaints. 2 And now, O mountains, listen to the Lord's complaint! He has a case against his people. He will bring charges against Israel.
3 "O my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me? Answer me!
4 For I brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to help you. 5 Don't you remember, my people, how King Balak of Moab tried to have you cursed and how Balaam son of Beor blessed you instead? And remember your journey from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, when I, the Lord, did everything I could to teach you about my faithfulness."
6 What can we bring to the Lord? What kind of offerings should we give him? Should we bow before God with offerings of yearling calves? 7 Should we offer him thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Should we sacrifice our firstborn children to pay for our sins?
Slide Four: "8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
What does the Lord require of you: "To do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Slide Five: Psalm 15 - A psalm of David.
1 Who may worship in your sanctuary, Lord? Who may enter your presence on your holy hill?
2 Those who lead blameless lives and do what is right, speaking the truth from sincere hearts. 3 Those who refuse to gossip or harm their neighbors or speak evil of their friends. 4 Those who despise flagrant sinners, and honor the faithful followers of the Lord, and keep their promises even when it hurts. 5 Those who lend money without charging interest, and who cannot be bribed to lie about the innocent.
Slide Six: Such people will stand firm forever."
What does the Lord require of you: "To do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Slide Seven: 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 - The Wisdom of God
18 The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent."
20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world's brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.
22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom. 23 So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say its all nonsense.
Slide Eight: "24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.
26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
Slide Nine: 30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. 31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord."
What does the Lord require of you: "To do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Slide Ten: Matthew 5:1-12 - The Sermon on the Mount
1 One day as he saw the crowds gathering, Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down. His disciples gathered around him, 2 and he began to teach them.
Slide Eleven: 3 "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Slide Twelve: 5 God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
Slide Thirteen: 7 God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God.
10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
11 "God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. 12 Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.
What does the Lord require of you: "To do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Slide Fourteen: When you think about it, how amazing is it, that if we live as God wants us to live we will have true peace, we will understand the true meaning of joy in life, we will know what it means to be content no matter what is going on in the world around us.
All of this is offered to us right now. The question is will we allow God's Word to speak to us and to guide us in how to live more fully for Him?
Slide Fifteen: We are reminded once more today, "God's Word Says All We Need to Know."
Let us come before our Lord in prayer.
"God's Word Says All We Need to Know."
Each one of them gives us simple, but powerful ways to live out our lives, so we are pleasing the Lord as we go through our days.
In fact the more we strive to live as Christ would want us to live, the less cluttered and stressed our life becomes.
Micah 6: 1 - 8
"8 No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
Psalm 15
Such people will stand firm forever."
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
"24 But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God."
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. 31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, "If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord."
Matthew 5:1-12
3 "God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
5" God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth.
7" God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
When you think about it, how amazing is it, that if we live as God wants us to live we will have true peace, we will understand the true meaning of joy in life, we will know what it means to be content no matter what is going on in the world around us.
We are reminded once more today, "God's Word Says All We Need to Know."
