On the Road to Glory

Rev. Harriette Cross Englewood United Methodist Church Rust Memorial United Methodist Church October 28, 2012 Job 42:1-6, 10-17 Mark 10:46-52 22nd Sunday After Pentecost Year B On the Road to Glory The questions of life Have you noticed that the older we get in life, the more complex our questions about life become. As we go through our journey of life, we find that life is full of questions. When we were young we used to think that there was not a question that we could ask, that our parents didn’t have an answer for. And when we discovered that our parents didn’t have all of the answers, that is when we started to ask God. Of course God had all of the answers. God’s word, the bible is full of questions about life and answers to our deepest questions. Questions that we all ask, such as where did human beings come from, how did the world begin, what is our purpose in life, how are we supposed to live our lives, what is evil, how to be a righteous person in the midst of evil. We have come a long way in the last 6000 years. We have worked hard to be able to find the answers to our questions. But no matter how far we have come in life. There are certain questions that come up time and time again in our lives. The greatest question that we have is why? Why is this happening to me. Why does bad things happen, even when we strive to be good people. People who are faithful to God. Instead of giving us an straight answer, if you read the bible, God gives the answers we seek in the context of a story. Usually a story about someone’s life. They say that Job may not be the first story in the bible, but that it is the oldest story in the bible. This story was told even before the book of Genesis was written. Job is not a isrealite, Job is a foreigner who came to know God. Job intended to answer our deepest questions Even if Job is not the oldest story – it addresses the oldest question. Why does bad things happen to good people? Today are at the end of the story of Job. The man who started out with everything, who God allowed to devil to take it all away. He and his friends struggle with this. Why is this happening? Why is God standing by and letting this happen to a faithful person. Job asks, but God never gives an answer. It is in this final chapter of the story that Job answers his own question. Chapter 42 is known as the restoration of Job. Everything that he had in the beginning is restored to him. His health, his family, his wealth. But most importantly his faith in God. I want to focus on the first six chapters of chapter 42 – Job says that he repents from his need to question God about his life. He says that I now understand what I did not understand. He says that he repents. He says that he had heard of God but now he sees. He sees the ways of God for himself, and he is ready to go on with his life. I have heard it said that God is a lot like a pastor – you don’t see him all week, and then when you come to church to hear the sermon, you still don’t understand. The ways of God are always going to be a mystery. It is not ours to understand. But if by chance, in the midst of our confusion, in the midst of or questions, in the midst of our darkness, if we can come to the realization that we worship a truly wonderful God – we come to see all that we need to see. If in the midst o my pain, I am able to see the glory of God – I see it all. Helen Keller on being able to see Keller, so brave and inspiring to us in her deafness and blindness, once wrote a magazine article entitled: "Three days to see." In that article she outlined what things she would like to see if she were granted just three days of sight. It was a powerful, thought provoking article. On the first day she said she wanted to see friends. Day two she would spend seeing nature. The third day she would spend in her home city of New York watching the busy city and the workday of the present. She concluded it with these words: "I who am blind can give one hint to those who see: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you were stricken blind.' You see that is just it, most of us, all of us, go through life blind to what is really important. Most of us don’t see God for who he is in our lives. Our eyes work fine, but there is something wrong in our spirit. God is hard at work showing us the beauty of life, and for some reason we just don’t see it. That is probably why one of the signs of the messiah is that the blind will see. The lame will walk, the sick will be healed, the hungry will be fed and the blind will see. If you read the book of Mark you will see that Jesus does all of these things in order to show that he is indeed the messiah – the son of David, the son of God. In Mark 10, Jesus is on a trip to Jerusalem. His final trip to Jerusalem. He has been trying to teach his disciples, but it seems that they have a bad case of spiritual blindness. His disciples are still looking at Jesus through the eyes of the world and not the eyes of the spirit. They ask to sit at his right hand, as he greatest. Jesus has to tell them that greatness is not about honor, it is about serving. As jesus is teaching, a blind man, bartimaeus cries out and asks to be able to see. His request is granted. This is not the first story in Mark about Jesus healing a blind man. After the first healing of the blind, Jesus tells him not to tell anyone. But this story Is not just about healing the blind. The blind are able to see. Not just with their eyes, but with their spirit. Bartemaeus stays around to follow and serve Jesus. By now the secret is out. It is time for everyone to see. Not just the disciples, but everyone. Not just those who have been there all along, but the latecomers, not the insiders, but the outsiders. God’s love is for everyone. God’s glory is available for everyone to see. But sometimes, we are so caught up in our suffering that we just don’t realize it. We are all blind, we all cant see God in our lives. But Jesus says that it is our faith that makes us whole. Can’t see Jesus in the picture Pastor Steven E. Albertin told the following story. He said, in my church secretary's office there hangs a modernistic picture composed of a maze of colors and shapes. I realized these sophisticated, modern, and abstract pictures were supposed to contain some profound artistic or philosophical message, but I never was able to figure it out. It just looked like a jumbled mass of confusion. If there was a message there, I was blind to it. One day while I was standing in the office, waiting for the copier to warm up, one of the congregation's kindergarten-age boys, Adam, stood beside me and said, "Do you see what I see?" "Do you see something in that picture? I sure don't." Adam looked at me with glee in his eye, "Pastor, can't you see him? It's Jesus hanging on the cross." I stared as hard as I could, until my eyes actually hurt from staring. I wanted to believe Adam and that there actually was the image of Jesus hanging on the cross hidden somewhere in that mass of color and shapes, but I couldn't see Jesus anywhere. "Adam, I'm sorry but I must be blind. You will have to help me see." Directing his finger to a mass of color in the center of the picture, Adam said, "There, Pastor. Do you see what I see? There is Jesus, his face, his arms outstretched on the cross." And then, like an epiphany, the image began to appear. Yes, there hidden somehow "behind" the colors and the shapes was the barely visible image of Jesus, hanging with arms outstretched on the cross. "It's amazing, Adam. You have helped one blind pastor to see Jesus. Yes, I can see what you see, Adam." Steven E. Albertin, Against the Grain, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. Some say that the biggest problem in the world is not so much that we live in an evil, fallen world. The biggest problem in the world is the fact that there are so many people in the world who are going through life, and their eyes are not open to see the glory of God in their lives. Everything that happens to us in life is a test. Just as the devil challenged Job’s life, the devil challenges or life. Suffering is our chance to see God in our lives. In the midst of suffering we all have a choice – we can decide to be bitter or we can decide to be better. When Job decided to get better, he started to understand his God. The story of Job shows that God didn’t come to rescue us from the events of life. God didn’t come to answer our questions. If you know the story of Job, you know that Job didn’t get God’s answers, but he did get God’s presence. He realized that God was with him from beginning to end. He also realized that he didn’t need to have the answers, he didn’t need to understand why, all he needed to do was to have faith in a God that loves him. Japanese sword illustration: It is the Japanese who have created the best swords in the world. To create these fine weapons, ancient Japanese sword makers had to create a sword that was hard enough to retain a sharp edge, but at the same time soft enough not to be brittle. Sword makers who made swords by making the steel hard found they could preserve a sharp edge. Such swords, however, were often so brittle that they would often break when they clashed in battle. Soft steel, however, was found to be not as brittle, but would easily dull and be unable to slice through armor. Japanese sword makers, therefore had to forge a sword with steel hard enough to retain a sharp edge, but at the same time pliable enough not to break in battle. What Japanese sword makers learned to do was to create a sword made of hard and soft steel. Multiple sheets of hard and soft steel are heated, folded and pummeled together over and over again. Japanese swords go through a lengthy forging process until they have up to 33,000 paper-thin laminations of hard and soft metal. Each of these layers is one hundred thousandth of an inch thick. This is all done to a very precise recipe of temperature treatment. The end result is a finely crafted weapon with extreme pliability and a blade that will retain a finely honed edge. Just as Japanese sword makers repeatedly hammer together layers of metal to produce a sword that will be strong enough to withstand breaking, so God allows trials to hammer metal into the lives of His children. Just a sword made of hard metal will easily break in battle, so the believer filled with pride will also break in adversity. It is in the forging hand of God that humility and dependence on Him are developed into our lives to create character that will triumph in adversity. The hard steel in our lives is the word of God. The soft steel in our lives is humility and a dependence on God. These are forged together in our lives through fiery trials and prayer to produce vessels that will give Him glory. We need the hard steel confidence of what we believe together with the soft steel of humility. Job’s restoration is our restoration. Job’s faith is our faith. When we decide to turn around, and see God – the lord will bless our days to come, just as much as he had blessed our past. Let us pray…. The rest of these stories are not used… D.L. Moody, the famed evangelist, told this story at one of his meetings: One evening just before Christmas, a man was walking through the streets of an Eastern city. The store windows were all beautifully decorated, and he observed three little girls intensely interested in one of them. He discovered that the girl in the center was blind, and the others were trying to describe the beautiful things in the window. “Why,” they said, “can’t you see that Teddy bear and that doll? Just look at that pretty pink bow!” But the poor little girl stood with a blank expression on her face and could not appreciate the beautiful things before her. “Now,” said Moody, “this is an illustration of the effort we Christians are making to arouse the unconverted to an interest and delight in spiritual things. The reason we can’t do so is because the sinner is spiritually blind.” Moody had scarcely concluded when a reporter was on the platform asking him where he had heard that story. “Oh,” said Moody, “I read it in one of those daily papers. I have forgotten which one.” Then the reporter said, “I’m the one who wrote the story because I was there and saw the whole thing. I see now that I’m just like that little girl, spiritually blind.” That man was converted then and there. Illustration: In fact, most Christians today perceive God like one person noted: God is a lot like our pastor. I don’t see him through the week and I don’t understand him on Sunday. Dear God, Before I finish, I want you to take care of mommy, take care of daddy, take care of my sister and my brother and please, God, take care of yourself, because if you don’t we’ll all sunk. Amen! A. Little Suzie understood a very important lesson about herself....she was totally dependent upon God. as if tomorrow you were stricken blind.' As bad as blindness is in the 21st century, however, it was so much worse in Jesus' day. Today a blind person at least has the hope of living a useful life with proper training. Some of the most skilled and creative people in our society are blind. But in first century Palestine blindness meant that you would be subjected to abject poverty. You would be reduced to begging for a living. You lived at the mercy and the generosity of others. Unless your particular kind of blindness was self-correcting, there was no hope whatsoever for a cure. The skills that were necessary were still centuries beyond the medical knowledge of the day. Little wonder then that one of the signs of the coming of the Messiah was that the blind should receive their sight… The story is told of a Sunday class that had been asked the question, ¡§in your time of discouragement, what is your favorite Scripture.¡¨ A young man said, ¡§the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want Psalm 23:1.¡¨ A middle age woman said, ¡§God is my refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1. Another woman said, ¡§In this world you shall have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome this world. John 16:33-35. Then old Mr. John who was 80 years old, with head of white hair and dark black skin, stood up and said with as much strength as he could muster, ¡§and it came to pass¡¨ 85 times in the bible. The class started to laugh a little thinking that old Mr. John¡¦s lack of memory was getting the best of him. When the snickering stopped, he said. At 30 I lost my job with six hungry mouths and a wife to feed. I didn¡¦t know how I would make it. At 40 my eldest son was killed overseas in the war. It knocked me down. At 50 my house burned to the ground. Nothing was saved out of the house. At 60 my wife of 40 years got cancer. It slowly ate away at her. We cried together many a night on our knees in prayer. At 65 she died. I still miss her today. The agony I went through in each of these situations was unbelievable. I wondered where was God. But each time I looked in the bible I saw one of those 85 verses that said, ¡§and it came to pass.¡¨ I felt that God was telling me, my pain and my circumstances were also going to pass and that God would get me through it.

All things possible with God

Mark 10:17-31 “All Things Possible with God” October 14, 2012 20th Sunday After Pentecost Year B It is Halloween in the stores already The front of local markets have been crammed full of candy for the past two weeks. Halloween “Trick or Treat” might not be until the end of this month. But candy creators want us to stock-up and stock-pile. As a kid it was such a rush to come home after “making the rounds” of the trick-or-treat neighborhood and ceremoniously dump out all that candy crammed into our paper bag. Every piece would be inspected. Perhaps some cautious trades made with siblings. Then each of us got our own bowl to keep our “cavity central” separate from everyone else. Halloween candy is consumed according to two very different philosophies. There are the “hogs” and there are the “hoarders.” The “hogs” dive right into the bowl, scarf down all their favorites the first night, eat until queasy, and then finish it up during lunchtime at school the next day. The “hoarders” not only stretch out the life-span of their goodies until Thanksgiving. They also allow themselves only one or two “favorites” per day, mixing in the less desired goodies to fill out the daily ration. There are obvious problems with both of these strategies. The “hogs” either get horrible stomach aches, or suffer an out-of-control sugar rush that leads them to harass little sister, drive the dog crazy, and get grounded by a frustrated parent. The ”hoarder” lords their “I still have candy” status over others for a month. But eventually they end up with stale, rock-hard, break-your-teeth “goodies” that really are not good (although they would never admit it). For both kids and adults it is hard to know how to deal with “wealth,” with “stuff” we have that others may not… But thinking about something as simple as how we deal with Halloween candy – is a good introduction to our text for today. Mark 10:17-31. This is a favorite story, we also see it in Matthew. It is the story of the rich young ruler. He is a good person, he obeys the commandments, he has been following Jesus while he is in town, and is considering even following Jesus. Not speaking definitely about any plans, don’t take this conversation too serious, but just in case I wanted to be a disciple and follow you all of the way – what would I have to do. I have done everything already, and since I am rich is it obvious that I have God’s favor. Knowing that if he is attached to his life, then he wouldn’t be able to follow where Jesus us going. He helps him out a bit, sell it all – then come follow me. Jesus price is too high – he cant sell his soul for his possessions. He returns to his life. and Jesus reminds us that it is hard for the rich to get into heaven. But the good news is that all things are possible with God. What we cannot do alone, we can always do with God. The disciples are looking on at all of this. They have always been told that if you have lots of stuff, if you live a happy life, that is a sure sign that God loves you. If this man cannot be saved, then who can? He had everything that we want. Jesus reminds us as disciples that having a lot of stuff does not put you closer to God. If you are willing to sacrifice on behalf of God, then you will receive the ultimate reward. Not a story about money We have all heard this story before have we not. Or have we really. Jesus is not saying that there is nothing wrong with being rich or with having money. Not within itself at least. But the problem is that just those who like to hold onto the Halloween candy – we like to hold onto our stuff. It starts to possess us – to take over our life, our dreams, our commitments. Once we get it we have to have more and more and more. Mr. Coleman’s diamond A diamond expert was taking a trip on a plane – he couldn’t help but to look at the finger of the lady next to him, and see that she had an exquisite diamond on her finger. He commented – that is a nice diamond. She commented that it was the famous Coleman diamond. It was the largest diamond of its kind in the world. And that for all of its beauty – it carried a curse along with it. The diamond expert couldn’t resist asking about the curse. Oh the woman replied – the diamond comes along with Mr. Coleman. Lack of commitment The problem with rich is not so much the stuff that we have – it is our attachment to the stuff. Our unwillingness to give it up. Along with our unwillingness to give up on our stuff – is that we tend to start to put our stuff before our commitment to God. The rich young ruler wanted to follow Jesus – but he couldn’t give up his stuff. How many other things do we put before serving God? This is not a story about being rich. It is a story about the choices we make. It is a story about the commitments that we make in life, it is a story about what keeps us from serving God. And if we are serving God, what keeps us from fully serving God. Why is God’s will taking second place in our lives? And the reality is that a lot of times, it is being able to give up the that we already have. Hawerhaus’s ethics Stanley Hauerhas is a professor of ethics at Duke university. He might be retired by now. But I remember being able to meet him in college. He was a friend of our religion professor, and he gave a wonderful lesson on ethics. He believes that when someone joins church they should be asked if they love Jesus, if they will commit their lives to living for Jesus, but the next question should be – how much money do you make, and how much will you be willing to give to God. Mr. hauerhas is United Methodist, but obviously he is not a practicing pastor. Because any pastor knows, that there is nothing more sacred, holy and untouchable then how much money someone makes. There are just somethings in life that you do not touch – and people’s income is one of those things. There have been times when the pastor has been asked to see the giving records of a church – and been told absolutely not – that is sacred information between the person and the financial secretary. And yet many stewardship experts tell us that giving records are not about money. It is about the care of the soul. A change in what you give to the church can tell a lot about the condition of a person’a soul. It can track wellbeing of the family, financial priorities, even ones happiness about the church. The devil was on the prowl one day out to get the Christian. When he saw the Christian he shot one of his fiery darts and it struck the Christian in the chest. The Christian had on the breastplate of righteousness so he wasn't harmed. The devil shot at the Christian's head but that was protected by the helmet of salvation. The devil figured everyone has an Achilles' heel, so he shot at the Christian's feet that were shod with the gospel of peace so no harm was done. The Christian smirked and turned around to walk away. The devil fired an arrow into the Christian's wallet and killed him. Beth Quick, Mission: Impossible You can tell all about someone and what they value – just by looking at their checkbook and their key ring. What they give money to and what they have keys to, demonstrate what it important to them. The curse of any kind of valuable possession is its capacity to steal our hearts and souls. The heavier the purse, the tighter the strings. Is it fair to call most of us rich? According to our Methodist founder John Wesley, it is. He said that the word "rich" in the Bible means to have the necessities of life (food, shelter, and clothing) and then something left over. Don’t be greedy The problem with the rich young ruler wasn’t really that he was rich, His problem was that he was greedy. He had more than he really needed to survive and he wasn’t willing to get rid of the excess. And his greediness was standing in the way of him making a full commitment to God. He wanted to keep more for himself, than he was willing to give to God. And yes on the surface we are supposed to criticize the rich young ruler. We can see where he had too much. We can see what stood in the way of his full service to God. But on the sly – Jesus wants us to realize that the rich young ruler is a part of all of us. In what ways do you also say no to God? What areas of your life have you told God that is out of his realm. What areas are you holding out on God? It could be a attitude, a feeling, a hobby, an anger, or even your possessions. Henry Thoreau said, "Be not merely good; be good for something." That was Jesus' challenge to the man who wanted to know what he could do to inherit eternal life. He had been good at making money, in being morally upright and keeping the commandments; but that is not the ultimate good: he must also give of himself and what he has in behalf of others. He needed to also realize that, "The gift without the giver is bare." John Wesley proposed an excellent guide to goodness. He said, and he practiced what he preached: Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, At all the times you can, As long as ever you can. Someone else has expressed the ideal of goodness in a wonderful way, saying, "I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore, that I can do, or any goodness that I can show to my fellow creatures, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." I like when Jesus says however, why do you call me good. No one is good but God alone. Because only God can give us life. all that we have in life is a gift from God. Praise be to God! God would never hold back on you, so make sure that you don’t hold back on God. If you want to be rich, be rich in the things of God: gratefulness, love, a willing spirit and most importantly a full commitment in all areas of your life. Mark 10:37 Jesus says truly I tell you there is no one who has left house, brother, sister, or mother, or father, or children, or fields, for my sake who will not receive a hundred fold now in this age and in the age to come. Let us pray…..

Footprints in the Sands of Time

Joshua 1:3-7 October 14, 2012 70th Anniversary Celebration Footprints in the sands of Time Story of 3 sisters who didn’t know if they were coming of going 3 sisters lived together. One was 96, one 95, and one 94. The oldest sister ran some bath water, began to step in the tub but she got confused, she couldn’t remember if she was getting in the tub, or out of the tub. Her middle sister decided to come up the steps to help her. But she had to stop halfway up the stairway. She couldn’t remember if she was going up the steps table eating breakfast. All she could do was shaker her head and knock on wood. Thank God her memory was not as bad as her sisters. I will be there to help you two figure out what is going on, just as soon as I see who it is that is knocking at the door. The importance of church anniversary Are we coming, or are we going? Is it time for us to remember the past or to walk toward the future? Are we old School or new school? Today we acknowledge the 70th anniversary of Rust Church. It is important in the black church to celebrate church anniversaries. It is a celebration in the church, that no one can quite remember how it got started. And yet it matters – the church has always been an important part of our culture. The church has given birth to opportunities for people, for our call to justice in the world, to education, to dignity. The church has given us a lot of gifts. Rust Church has given a lot of gifts to the community and the kingdom of God. In its history it has produced and prepared many lay and clergy for ministry, it has given to gift of song and fellowship through its choir, it has reached out and mentored and trained many young people for service. Today is a time to acknowledge what God has done through this church. It is a time for us to remember the gifts of those before us, it is a time to accept the challenges ahead. But it is also a time to mark the present – to marvel at the grace of God. Not everything is going as expected, may not be as far as we would like, but praise God we are here for yet another year- to serve in His presence. Amen. Church anniversary is time to hear a message of hope, to hear good singing, to see old friends, and to be in fellowship over good food. I don’t want to keep us from the food – this is a time of celebration – celebration of what God has done. The context of Joshua chapter 1 The message for this morning comes from the book of Joshua – chapter 1. Three times in this chapter God says to Joshua - be strong and courageous. And that is the message for us this morning – be strong and very courageous – for God is with us! In the beginning chapters of Joshua- the people are in a sad and confusing time because they discover that Moses has died. He was the one they looked up to for leadership for years, and now he is gone. No one could possibly take over his authority. Moses spoke of the promises of God, they followed him experiencing miracles, and walking toward the promiseland. With him gone, who would lead them now. Shavet – in intimate minister The bible uses an interesting word when talking about Joshua – they call him a shavet – a minister. One who not only serves, but serves in an intimate way. Joshua serves Moses as a minister – carrying our his every command. But now Joshua is a shavet to God. God has a plan for his people – and he needs Joshua to carry out that plan. But the only way Joshua can do that is be a minister of God. To serve God with all of his being. A minister is not necessarily a pastor. A minister is a lay person, with a heart for God and for God’s word. In this chapter, Moses was important, but Moses was a part of the past. The promise he gave was about yesterday. Joshua was a man of action – a man of the present. Moses yesterday, Joshua today In the time of Moses, the children of God were a people. They were preparing themselves to come into the promisland. It was under Joshua – that they finally laid eyes on the land – when the land came in sight – they united into a nation. When the future becomes real for us – we will step into destiny. We don’t have to stand on the promises, because we live in the reality. As long as we have God on our side, all things are possible. AS LONG AS GOD IS AWAKE A mother and her little four-year-old daughter were preparing to retire for the night. The child was afraid of the night. The child was afraid of the dark, and the mother, alone with the child, felt fearful also. When the light was out, the child caught a glimpse of the moon outside the window, "Mother," she asked, "is the moon God’s light?" "Yes," said the mother, "God’s lights are always shining." The next question was, "Will God blow out His light and go to sleep?" "No, my child, God never goes to sleep." Then, out of the simplicity of a child’s faith, the little one said that which gave reassurance to the fearful mother, "Well, as long as God is awake, I am not afraid." (Source: Sunday School Times. From a sermon by Bill Butsko, "Bread from Heaven" 7/28/2009) It is time… Take the Life that you have ~ and give it your best... Think positive be happy ~ let God do the rest... Take the challenges that life ~ has laid at your feet... Take pride and be thankful ~ for each one you meet... To yourself give forgiveness ~ if you stumble and fall... Take each day that is dealt you and give it your all... Take the love that you’re given and return it with care... Have faith that when needed it will always be there... Take time to find the beauty in the things that you see...Take life’s simple pleasures let them set your heart free... The idea here is simply to even the score As you are met and faced with Life. The man and the lion tale Adrian Rogers tells about the man who bragged that he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife. Asked why he hadn't cut off the lion's head, the man replied: "Someone had already done that." God has cutoff the head of our deepest fears, and asks us to claim the victory. Take the tail with pride it is yours. Take on what God has challenged you to do. Live life in fear Lately live a life of fear, not sure if I am up to the challenge of today. Spend all night working over one sermon. Realized I didn’t have any old sermons – spent all night working on two different sermons in two different directions. Every day is like that. Everyday – have to rely on God for strength. The good news is that he has not let me down yet. Joshua took on daunting task of leading after Moses. Took on daunting task of leading people don’t want to go, and have no idea of where they are going. Joshua like Martin Luther King – I have seen the promiseland – time for us to go. Each of us asked to take on the Joshua spirit in our lives. Become the Joshua generation. Be willing to be a minister, not of the church but of God. Not enough to know the word, not enough to feel the presence of God in our lives – act on what God has called us to do. Generation to make promise a reality. Everything you step on will be claimed for God. Everyplace you step will be claimed for God Rest on your feet all over the church and repeat after me, “Every place the sole of your foot shall tread God has already given it to you!” Now lift your left foot and put it down. ‘A’: “Ask and it shall be given. Seek and ye shall find. Knock and the door will be opened!” (Every place the sole of your foot treads!) Now lift your right foot and put it down. ‘B’: “Be thou faithful unto death and I shall give thee a crown of life!” (Every place the sole of your foot treads!) Lift your left foot and put it down. ‘C:, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!” (Every place the sole of your foot treads!) Lift your right foot and put it down. ‘D’: “Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.” (Every place the sole of your foot treads!) Lift your left foot and put it down. ‘E’: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,…” (Every place the sole of your foot treads!) Lift your right foot and put it down. ‘F’: “Fret not thyself because of evil doers, neither be thou envious of the workers of iniquity for they shall soon be cut down!” (Every place the sole of your foot treads!) Lift your left foot and put it down, ‘G’: “Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!” I tell you, EVERY place the sole of your foot shall trod God has already blessed for YOU! God tells each of us to be strong and courageous. One summer morning as Ray Blankenship was preparing his breakfast, he gazed out the window, and saw a small girl being swept along in the rain-flooded drainage ditch beside his Andover, Ohio, home. Blankenship knew that farther downstream, the ditch disappeared with a roar underneath a road and then emptied into the main culvert. Ray dashed out the door and raced along the ditch, trying to get ahead of the foundering child. Then he hurled himself into the deep, churning water. Blankenship surfaced and was able to grab the child's arm. They tumbled end over end. Within about three feet of the yawning culvert, Ray's free hand felt something--possibly a rock-- protruding from one bank. He clung desperately, but the tremendous force of the water tried to tear him and the child away. "If I can just hang on until help comes," he thought. He did better than that. By the time fire-department rescuers arrived, Blankenship had pulled the girl to safety. Both were treated for shock. On April 12, 1989, Ray Blankenship was awarded the Coast Guard's Silver Lifesaving Medal. The award is fitting, for this selfless person was at even greater risk to himself than most people knew. Ray Blankenship can't swim. God wants you to be strong and courageous, because God is about to do a new thing in you, in us, In Rust Church. God says be strong and courageous because I will be with you wherever you go. God is the source of our strength. God was with us in the past, God is with us now, and God will lead his people, his ministers into a new and challenging future. Let us stand strong and see what God will do. What new gifts God will bring to the world through the people of Rust Memorial Church. Let us pray this prayer together…. This is material not used…… IV. Moves/Points Move/Point One – God blesses our courageous, faithful obedience to God’s commandments. a. Our Church was built on biblical principles; b. We must trust those teachings that have sustained our congregation; and c. Faithfulness to Godly teachings will grant to us success. Move/Point Two – God promises to be with us today as God was when we began our journey. a. God guided and blessed Moses; b. God has guided the Church and blessed her labors; and c. God will guide and bless you! Move/Point Three – No formidable foe will deter God’s people. a. God has not promised that there would not be challenges on our journey; b. God has promised that no challenge will prevail against us while we remain in God’s will; and c. The promises of God are for a lifetime. V. Celebration Listen to God’s voice as God speaks to us even now, “Every place the sole of your foot shall tread, I have given unto you!” God’s promise to Israel is still God’s promise to us today. We are the New Israel, the Ransomed and Redeemed Community of Faith. We are God’s twice-born children. We are the Ekklesia, the called out, sanctified servants, and therefore, blessed of God to be called “the Church.” God’s promise belongs to us as well! It was delivered on the Cross of Calvary. It was written with the blood of our Savior. It was sealed in the power of his resurrection. It is available to us even now! As a child growing up, my mother taught me that the Bible is a book filled with God’s promises, “but you cannot claim even one of them,” she cautioned, “if you do not know them.” VI. Illustration(s) Rerouting, Rerouting Now, you don’t have to go to a gas station to ask what is the quickest way to get from point A to point B. All you need to do is pull out your handy Global Positioning System (GPS). Plug in the address and simply follow the directions. One day as I was driving with a friend, we decided to use my GPS to get where we were going. The GPS said turn right and we turned right. The GPS said enter I-85 and we entered I-85. However, when the GPS said make a right, I was running my mouth so I did not hear the GPS correctly. Instead of making a right, I told my friend to make a left. Because we were listening to my voice and not the voice of the GPS, when we turned left, the GPS said “You are now off track.” But I’m so glad the GPS did not stop there. A second later, it said, “Rerouting, rerouting.” Isn’t that like the GPS? I’m not referring to the Global Positioning System. I’m talking about God’s Positioning System. When we get off track God starts rerouting. “Celebration stands at the very center of our lives. Sociologists as well as Christians say that it is essential to the ongoing of our lives. It not only keeps life from being hum-drum, boring, needlessly repetitive, but it enables us to discover again and again who we are, from whence we came, and what we need to be about in our daily lives. In remembering and doing the essential works of the Faith bound up in the sacraments and in the Sunday morning liturgy, we recapture the faith.” Dow, Norman. “A Number of Ways to Celebrate an Anniversary.” Centennial Celebration Committee, First Presbyterian Church. Cisco, TX. Online location: http://synodresourcecenter.org/evang/committee/anniversary/0001/celebrate.html accessed 2 January 2011

Days Like This

October 7, 2012 “Days Like This” Job 1:1, 2:1-10 Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12 19th Sunday After Pentecost Year B World Communion Sunday God gave me a song, that the angels cannot sing…… I won’t sing the rest of the song. But that is my favorite all time gospel song. As a child I used to sing it over and over again. I would sing it so much, that I got tired of hearing myself sing. But even today, I just can never get tired of that message. The angels have to priviledge of spending all day with God, of singing in the presence of God, of passing on the personal messages of God. And yet in spite of their many blessings, their perfect life, they will never know what it means to be human. They will never know what it means to wake up here on earth. They may be able to praise God. But since they don’t have to struggle, or worry or wonder, since they don’t know hunger, or pain or sickness. They can praise God with joy, but they cant praise God in spite of their pain and uncertainty. They don’t get to make a choice to sing hallelujah anyway. Perhaps that was why God asks Satan if he had considered his servant Job. A man. A blameless and upright man who had a perfect life and a perfect faith. We all know a Job – a person who has it all. They have a stable family, a wonderful job, a beautiful house, they drive a nice care, not only do they have everything, but they are nice too. It looks as if they have been richly blessed by God God truly rewarded them for being faithful. They are the homecoming queen, the star football quarterback, the successful person with the perfect life. You might be surprised that there is no such person as Job. Just as there are no people in our lives, with the perfect life and the perfect faith- Job was not intended to be to one person. We all have a chance to be Job. If someone who has everything can lose it all and still love God, then surely those of us who may not have everything, but we have something, who may not have lost everything but have lost something – can still love God. This is a story about God and Satan, about the angels, and about what it means to be human in a difficult world. This is a story about a perfect example of a human who never gave up on God in the midst of suffering – that is Jesus, not Job. But most important – this is a story about, not just being faithful but about keeping our integrity – our promise to God, even in those times when we wonder if God has forgotten about us. It is about knowing that God never breaks God’s promises, and neither should we. For the last two months or so, we have been looking at the wisdom literature of the bible. And Job is actually another wisdom story. It is not a true story, it is a story of truth. A story about what any of us would go through if we were put in the situation of Job. But it is intended for us to look at our own situations. We all have our days, days of bad luck, of struggle, of mourning and loss. I don’t know how much longer I am going to go into the book of Job. It is a pretty long book – 48 chapters. But it shows the transformation of Job’s faith. As he is going on about his life, until the day that God allows Satan to mess with him and take away everything. His friends don’t understand why he is so faithful to God. It was believed in those days that if you lived a good life it was because God blessed you, and if you became sick or lost everything, it was because you were a sinner and God was punishing you. If the devil was allowed to do anything – you deserved it. We have to remember that the devil has no more control that what we give him. He can tempt us all day – but he cant draw us into sin. Only our heart can do that. As a matter of fact, this story uses the name Satan. Satan means the accuser. He only points out to God what you have done. He doesn’t make you do it. The power of satan There is an Eastern story of a Sultan who overslept himself, so as not to awaken at the hour of prayer. So the Devil came and waked him, and told him to get up and pray. “Who are you?” said the Sultan. “Oh, no matter,” replied the other. “My act is good, is it not? No matter who does the good action, so long as it is good.” “Yes,” replied the Sultan, “but I think you are Satan. I know your face; you have some bad motive.” “But,” says the other, “I am not so bad as I am painted. You see I have left off my horns and tail. I am pretty good fellow, after all. I was an angel once, and still keep some of my original goodness.” “That’s all very well,” replied the sagacious and prudent caliph, “but you are the tempter; that’s your business; and I wish to know why you want me to get up and pray.” “Well,” said the Devil with a flirt of impatience, “if you must know, I will tell you. If you had slept and forgotten your prayers, you would have been sorry for it afterward, and penitent; but if you go on as now, and do not neglect a single prayer for ten years, you will be so satisfied with yourself that it will be worse for you than if you had missed one sometimes and repented of it. God loves your fault mixed with penitence more than your virtue seasoned with pride.” —Walter Baxendale For as many times as I have read the book of Job. The one thing that stand out to me, is that it is not really a story about good and bad. Right and wrong. There is no real advice giving about what you should do or shouldn’t do. It really doesnt answer the question of why bad things to good people. It doesn’t tell us really the right thing to do. In chapter 2, even Job’s wife –who is suffering right along with Job, encourages him to just curse God and die. He already lost everything worth living for, so why not just die. Because of his integrity. He made a promise to God and God made a promise to him – and he cant give up on that. How do we maintain our integrity, our promise in our world? Jesus is our perfect example Hebrews, which we will studying for a few weeks also. But the beginning of Hebrews says that at one time God spoke through wisdom literature. But in today’s world he speaks through his son. A son whom he appointed heir of all things. A son who was made a little less then the angels. So that he could be our perfect example. We know that Jesus didn’t live the life of the homecoming king, or the star football player, or even the rich successful business man. Jesus lived a simple, poor life born in a manger, raised by a carpenter, living in the streets traveling from place to place. He was a human like us, who suffered like us, he lived like us. who died like us. But in spite of it all – he never lost his integrity. He always kept his promise to God. Hebrews is teaching us that there are a lot of good examples out their of how we should live, but Jesus us better than them all. The book of Hebrews uses the word better 22 times in referring to Jesus. Jesus was made less than the angels, but today he is higher than the angels. He overcome this world, and sits at the right hand of God. The good news for us – God rewarded Jesus for his righteousness, and if we follow his lead. If we keep his promise – we will be invited to be brothers and sisters of Jesus. In heaven, we will still have a song that the angels cannot sing. can of shaving cream, and read the words on the label… In fact, those words have me reading labels these days, on everything… Those words said; Warning; contents under pressure, Do not puncture or incinerate…. Do not throw into fire… It even said, keep out of the reach of children… Harmful or fatal if swallowed… And the words caught my attention, because they summarize the situation going on in so many lives of the children of God…. They are living under pressure… They are on the verge of an explosion… Perhaps because they don’t trust God. They forget about the promises of God. But more importantly. They forget the promises they themselves made to God. Perhaps they should consider the story of Job. He is introduced not as the successful man who had everything. He is introduced as a blameless and upright man who feared God and turned away from evil. If we were to look into a Hebrew Bible, we’d learn that the word perfect is the Hebrew word tam. And it means to be complete or entire, not lacking in any respect. It means that he had a whole and complete faith in a whole and complete God. It means that he trusted God for all of his needs, and he was always certain that God would never forsake him. He knew that God had the final word in all circumstances, and that God was a good God. But more importantly it meant that he made a commitment to this God, a promise in baptism. And that he was not at liberty to walk away. He kept his integrity in all things, even his pain and his anger. Integrity is doing what you said you would do, no matter what. Did I hear you say that you would love and follow Jesus to the cross? Story of keeping our integrity Several years ago, in Long Beach, California, a fellow went into a fried chicken place and bought a couple of chicken dinners for himself and his date late one afternoon. The young woman at the counter inadvertently gave him the proceeds from the day-a whole bag of money (much of it cash) instead of fried chicken. After driving to their picnic site, the two of them sat down to open the meal and enjoy some chicken together. They discovered a whole lot more than chicken--over $800! But he was unusual. He quickly put the money back in the bag. They got back into the car and drove all the way back. Mr. Clean got out, walked in, and became an instant hero. By then the manager was frantic. The guy with the bag of money looked the manager in the eye and said, "I want you to know I came by to get a couple of chicken dinners and wound up with all this money. Here." Well, the manager was thrilled to death. He said, "Oh, great, let me call the newspaper. I'm gonna have your picture put in the local newspaper. You're the most honest man I've heard of." To which they guy quickly responded, "Oh no, no, don't do that!" Then he leaned closer and whispered, "You see, the woman I'm with is not my wife...she's uh, somebody else's wife." Charles Swindoll, Growing Deep in the Christian Life, p. 159-60. We all have our days, when we will be tested. But integrity means keeping the faith in all areas of our life in all circumstances. Jesus knew our days very well, Jesus is our brother, Jesus understands temptation, he knew our questions. But he knew God, he knew what it meant to trust and obey, and he provided a way for us to to stand tall, to have strength. To be blameless and upright and to turn away from evil. God made a promise to you – are you keeping your promise to God? Let us pray….. World Communion introduction Today we celebrate communion with Christians all over the world, in all types of churches. God has made us his family, a family that stretches around the world, a family that is called to love as we have been loved, to forgive as we have been forgiven, to give as we have been given too. As we share in our family meal, give thanks to God that we are not alone, that we have both each other and the spirit of Christ amongst us, the spirit of him who was, who is, and who shall ever be one with us, and one over us, and one under us, one who truly loves us. Amen. can of shaving cream, and read the words on the label… In fact, those words have me reading labels these days, on everything… Those words said; Warning; contents under pressure, Do not puncture or incinerate…. Do not throw into fire… It even said, keep out of the reach of children… Harmful or fatal if swallowed… And the words caught my attention, because they summarize the situation going on in so many lives of the children of God…. They are living under pressure… They are on the verge of an explosion… They are just a few degrees away from losing it… They can’t stand the heat, but they don’t know how to get out of the kitchen… The pressures, and the calamities of this present life are destroying them… They are living under pressure, wondering just how much anyone is expected to take… Many of them ought to wearing a sign this morning, saying warning, stay away… Warning… danger approaching… Many of them ought to be wearing a sign saying keep out of reach of children…