Protected from head to foot

August 18, 2021 Year B 13th Sunday After Pentecost Ephesians 6:10-20 Protected from head to foot Opening Song Welcome INVOCATION In this house of prayer, O God, we invoke your name. There is no one like you who keeps covenant and steadfast love for your servants who walk before you with all their heart. Not only have you lived on earth in Christ, but by the Spirit live in our hearts. Regard our prayers in the name of Jesus. Amen. Stewardship Moment The scripture reading from Ephesians 6 gives us a whole new picture of “Sunday-go-to-meeting” clothes! Do you remember having Sunday clothes, saved from all other occasions in order to offer God our best when we came into the sanctuary? I’ve often imagined what we could have worn if Ephesians 6 described our Sunday “best”, instead of lace socks and Mary Jane polished shoes! We would show up in the whole armor of God: a belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes for proclaiming the gospel of peace, a shield of faith, a helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit (the word of God). Gratefully, we’re not now so concerned about Sunday clothes, but what is the BEST we can offer to God today? Ephesians helps us hear we need resources to struggle against the powers which threaten to destroy the growing reality of God’s Realm in our midst. Our offering this morning is one means for you to participate in building up God’s Realm – with gifts which provide_____________________________. (name what your congregation is doing to live in love: food pantry? Providing space for AA, NA or other helping groups? Inter-faith conversations? Habitat for Humanity build?) What you give matters! Our offering today helps provide ways for each of us to stand FIRM, facing off against the powers and standing against the lethargy, ennui and fear which threaten to undo God’s desire for this world. So let’s offer our Sunday best as we pass the offering trays! Prayer of Thanksgiving Great Architect of the Cosmos, Thank you for the ways you’ve designed life to be rich and full and good. Thank you for each one who has participated in this offering, and for these resources, given so we (as believers) and this congregation might stand firmly on your side of the confrontation between good and evil. Receive these gifts and accept our desire to stand with you, even as we seek to walk in the Way of Jesus, the Christ. AMEN Song Standing in the Need of Prayer UMH 352 Scripture Ephesians 6:10-20 Put on the armor of God 10 Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and his powerful strength. 11 Put on God’s armor so that you can make a stand against the tricks of the devil. 12 We aren’t fighting against human enemies but against rulers, authorities, forces of cosmic darkness, and spiritual powers of evil in the heavens. 13 Therefore, pick up the full armor of God so that you can stand your ground on the evil day and after you have done everything possible to still stand. 14 So stand with the belt of truth around your waist, justice as your breastplate, 15 and put shoes on your feet so that you are ready to spread the good news of peace. 16 Above all, carry the shield of faith so that you can extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word. 18 Offer prayers and petitions in the Spirit all the time. Stay alert by hanging in there and praying for all believers. 19 As for me, pray that when I open my mouth, I’ll get a message that confidently makes this secret plan[a] of the gospel known. 20 I’m an ambassador in chains for the sake of the gospel. Pray so that the Lord will give me the confidence to say what I have to say. Sermon – Protected from head to foot As I was preparing for this week’s sermon, I looked back on other sermons on the armor of God. I found it interesting that I preached about this in 2018 – but also in 2012. But the same headlines that I used back then, are the exact headlines of today. First I talked about the American Casualties in Afghanistan and number of people who had been killed over the weekend in Chicago. All situations that are still very relevant today. Haiti would have been recovering from an earthquake in 2010 – and once again another earthquake in Haiti, another recovery. The more things change, the more things stay the same. In life, we deal with the same issues over and over again. That is why the words of the bible never go out of style – they are always important to us and to our situation. The book of Ephesians offers words of encouragement in what can many times be a very painful world, with painful circumstances. Be strong in the Lord and his powerful circumstances. As we read these verses, we are encouraged to stand four times. The history of the world seems to be the history of violence. So we are encouraged to prepare like a soldier in order to fight the forces of life. Scholars are not sure that Paul actually wrote the book of Ephesians, it was probably a disciple writing in his voice. But the Roman soldiers would have had a big influence on life at the time. The story behind the book is the Paul aledgely wrote this letter while he was in prison. He was in jail for encouraging a young girl to stop working for her enslaver. He was still a citizen, but being held until the trial. For some reason the authorities felt that it was necessary to chain him by hand to a Roman Soldier. If I remember correctly, they may have become good friends, since they spent a lot of time together. He started to teach the soldier. I want to say that the soldier became a Christian, but I could just be making that up. Paul would have been very familiar with his uniform. So he uses it as an example of how we are supposed to live as Christians. The armor of god The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the helmut of salvation. You will notice that there is nothing given to us to hurt other people. That is all protective armor, designed to defend ourselves against an attack. And if we are not careful it is a daily attack. Sometimes the enemies uses other people to hurt us, often times it uses ourselves, our own spirit, our own heart. If we are not steeped in the word of god everyday- we don’t know what the consequences are. We are given one weapon against the devil in our armor. The sword of the spirit – the word of God. Today we are not a fan of the images of war, and don’t want to associate the Christian life with fighting. But Paul or the writer, are taking these images and repurposing them. He specifically says that our fight is not about other people – our fight is about things that we cannot see. We are not fighting the Taliban, or the gangbangers or even the earthquake. Life is deeper than than. I don’t know about you, but I feel that I fight things that I can’t see every day. And everyday it is a battle. The underlying theme of this passage is power. Power over our lives. When we face life it is easy to thing that we are powerless over a lot of things – other people, our circumstances, the government, the list goes on. This verse talks about three forms of powers over our lives. In greek they are dunamis, kratos, and ischus. We get out modern word dynamite from dunamis – which means strength to get things done. Our form of government – democracy comes from kratos – which means governmental authority and ischus which is much harder to relate to, but it is what Christ calls the church to be – an influential personality that has the power to change things. So basically when the writer says be strong in the Lord – he is saying have physical strength, use the power of authority and have a personality that influences the world around you. Interestingly when the writer speaks of the forces that come to destroy us – he uses these same three words – we are not fighting humans - but rulers, authorities and forces of cosmic darkness. Schindler’s List was one of my favorite movies of all time. It is the story of a ammunition manufacturer who used his factory to hire and rescue the jews who were being persecuted by the germans. He made sure that all of his bullets used were defective, and his employees were jews, so that they could not be taken to concentration camps. All this was under the watchful eye of the German army. One general enjoyed using jews as target practice just for fun. One day the owner of the factory convinced him that anyone could point a gun and kill, but that the real power lay in our reactions to others. Instead of getting revengeful every time he saw a jewish person, why not get in touch with his anger and learn to forgive and give grace. This power hungry general bought into it for awhile – but eventually he returned to being controlled by his own emotions. That is the thing about power – most of the things that we think have power over us are things that are outside of us. things that we are convinced that we have no power over. We are powerless in the face of these things – strength, authoritie, and evil or distractive personalities. Dumanis, kratos, and ischus. But what we need to know is that in greek there are actually 4 words for power. Only three are used in this passage, but the 4th one is so powerful that it is implied in the text. The fourth word for power is energiea – we are familiar with it in the word energy. Electricity was not even invented back when these words were written. Energy is that stuff running through the power lines, but energy also runs through us, energy is what holds us together are a congregation, as a people, as a church as a nation. Energy connects us, energy heals us, energy guides us, energy motivates us, energy keeps us alive. Each of us have a physical body, but we also have an energetic body. It is that energetic body that keeps everything working together. Dumanis, kratos, and ischus are all found outside of ourselves, but the most powerful form of power – energy is only found within. Energia – is God’s power. The writer encourages us to put on the whole armor of God in order to deal with those other forms of power. – truth, justice, faith and salvation – after spending a week in vacation bible school I should know these by heart. But he also encourages us to do one more thing – offer prayers in the spirit all of the time. Finally, Paul comes to the greatest weapon of all—and that is prayer. We note three things that he says about prayer. (a) It must be constant. Our tendency is so often to pray only in the great crises of life; but it is from daily prayer that the Christian will find daily strength. (b) It must be intense. Limp prayer never got a man anywhere. Prayer demands the concentration of every faculty upon God. (c) It must be unselfish. The Jews had a saying, “Let a man unite himself with the community in his prayers.” We are instructed to put on the whole armor of God. everything from head to foot has a purpose. Even our shoes. Footprints No doubt you have heard the story Footprints: One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him, and the other belonging to the Lord. When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life. This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. "Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You, You'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me." The Lord replied, "My precious, precious child, I love you and I would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you." It's refreshing to be reminded God is with us at all times. I ran across an update which is called "A Variation on Footprints": Now imagine you and the Lord Jesus walking down the road together. For much of the way, the Lord's footprints go along steadily and consistently, rarely varying the pace. But your prints are disorganized, a stream of zigzags, starts, stops, turnarounds, circles, departures and returns. For much of the way, it seems to go like this. But gradually, your footprints come more in line with the Lord's soon paralleling His consistently. You and Jesus are walking as true friends. This seems perfect, but then an interesting thing happens. Your footprints that were etched in the sand next to the Master's are now walking precisely in His steps. Inside His larger footprints is the small "sand-print," safely enclosed. You and Jesus are becoming one. This goes on for many miles. But you notice another change. The footprint inside the larger footprint seems to grow larger. Eventually, it disappears altogether. There is only one set of footprints. They have become one. Again, this goes on for a long time. But then something awful happens. The second set of footprints is back. And this time, it seems even worse. Zigzags all over the place. They stop. They start. Deep gashes in the sand. A veritable mess of prints. You're amazed and shocked. But this is the end of your dream. Now you speak: "Lord, I understand the first scene with the zigzags and fits and starts and so on. I was a new Christian, just learning. But you walked on through the storm and helped me learn to walk with you." "That is correct." "Yes, and when the smaller footprints were inside of Yours, I was actually learning to walk in Your steps. I followed You very closely." "Very good. You understand everything so far." "Then the smaller footprints grew and eventually filled in with Yours. I suppose that I was actually growing so much that I was becoming like You in every way." "Precisely." "But this is my question. Lord, was there a regression or something? The footprints went back to two, and this time it was worse than the first." The Lord smiles, then laughs. He says, "You didn't know? That was when we danced!" That's what happens when you're equipped. Robert R. Kopp, Golf in the Real Kingdom, CSS Publishing Company Leonard Sweet says it best…… God’s Armor There is a big difference between striving just not to die, and doing all you can to live a life of purpose and meaning. There are freeways, and factories, and families full of people who are just trying not to die. These people keep going to work, keep going on. But they don’t know why. Weekends and vacations become blurry, frantic “festivals” — parties devoted to trying to celebrate something other than the mere survival of another week, another season, another year. For Christians who feel the (enlightening) protective weight of “God’s armor,” there is a different goal: to “stand firm” and to “keep alert.” Christians recognize there are evil forces and genuine enemies. But Christians know that there is a protective layer of divine love that always offers the safety net of salvation. God’s armor does not so much keep us from dying as God’s armor keeps us alive — alive in Christ, alive to love, alive to hope, alive to peace. Leonard Sweet Amen….. Prayer Heavenly Father, I ask You to help me to be strong in You today and in the power of Your might. Today I need Your Armor that You have prepared for me so that I can stand against all that the devil will throw my way. I pray that I will stand with your truth gird around my waist; I put on the breastplate of righteousness for Your name sake. I pray that my feet will be shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace and I take the shield of faith so that all the fiery darts of the wicked one will be quenched. I take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is Your Word. May I learn how to pray with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. May utterance be given to me so that I might open my mouth boldly to make know the mystery of the gospel. May our own peace of mind and trust in your providence be an example for those who are confused, depressed, or anxious. Great Physician, heal our illnesses and disease of body, mind, and spirit. Amen Special Music Announcements Closing Prayer (for Facebook) “Lord, I thank you for the spiritual weapons You have given me. I thank You that I don’t have to live in defeat but can stand in victory, not in my own strength but in your power. I recognize that people are not my problem but that I have a real enemy that I cannot see, but one who is seen by You. Right now, I assemble the armor You have given me. I will not be led by my emotions but by Your word which is truth. I submit, therefore, my emotional life to You and Your truth. I submit my heart to the righteousness of Jesus Christ and refuse to trust in myself for righteousness. All righteousness comes from You. Amen Community Time Benediction Let us go now, to share God's strength. We will do so by embracing the weakness of others. Let us go now, to be as alert as Jesus. We will do so by noticing the brokenness all around us. Let us go now, to share the life of the Spirit. We will do so by receiving the bread of life from the poor. Children’s Sermon Additional Illustrations I Step Out on the Word of God Poet Maya Angelou recalls the struggles of her grandmother living through the great depression. She remembers a lot of things about her grandmother: her wisdom, her stature. But it was her grandmother's faith that Maya remembers most. Clasping her hands behind her back her grandmother would look up into the distant sky and say, "I will step out on the word of God." The great depression was a difficult time for everyone, but "especially so for a single black woman in the South tending her crippled son and two grandchildren." But when faced with mountainous burdens, Maya's grandmother would face the sky and say, "I will step out on the word of God." "She would look up as if she could will herself into the heavens," Maya writes. And because of her grandmother, Maya Angelou grew up knowing that the word of God had power. And now, today, whenever she experiences the injustices of this world, Maya remembers the great faith of her grandmother. God gives us spiritual armor to protect us from the evil we face daily: He gives us truth, righteousness, the willingness to speak up for Christ, and, most importantly, faith. King Duncan, www.Sermons.com Robert Louis Stevenson once said: “You know the Caledonian Railway Station in Edinburgh? One cold, east windy morning, I met Satan there.” We do not know what actually befell Stevenson but we recognize the experience; we have all felt the force of that evil influence which seeks to make us sin. Being a Christian "survivor" — yes, there is a contest going on, not against Rich and Kelly and Rudy and Sue, but, as Paul says, "Against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil ..." against everything that would make life less than the Lord intended for all creation, even you and me. Our "tribe has spoken." We must survive. We can survive. And, we will survive. George MacDonald, in one of his great children's fantasies, told about a girl who grew up in a messy home, where everyone was always angry and mean and selfish. Her hair never got brushed, so they called her Tangle. And her clothes never were cleaned, even though they were of the typical fashions in her world. One day Tangle was sent away from home. And she was left alone and hungry in the great forest. She would have died, if she hadn't been led by a kind bird to a house in the middle of the forest. There she met a kind woman. And the kind woman took her in. She gave Tangle a delicious meal. And she washed Tangle's clothes. And she gave Tangle a place to sleep. And when Tangle woke up the next morning, she sent Tangle on a grand journey, with many strange experiences. And her new clothes helped her along the way. Till she finally came to a palace so beautiful, that she stayed there forever. But George MacDonald's story is really not just about a little girl at all. He is writing about you and me. He is talking about the homes we have in this world, not just our homes, but the home of this world itself, which is often mean, and ugly, and unkind. It can make us feel dirty and alone and helpless. But there's a kind lady in this world. She's the Church! The Church of Jesus Christ! And the Church bathes us in the waters of baptism. And the Church feeds us with the Word of God and sacrament. And the Church helps us to put on these clothes that Paul talks about. And the Church sends us on many adventures. Till one day we find ourselves led into the very palaces of God! It's a wonderful story! And it's happening to you and to me right now! But here's the thing: we're still traveling with Tangle. We haven't yet arrived at the palace. And what we need to help us along is the clothing that the church can give. The belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness. The shoes of the Gospel of Peace and the shield of faith. When Queen Victoria ruled in England, she had several daughters. And her daughters were just like girls are today. They went to school, and saw the latest fashions, and they wanted to wear their dresses just like the girls down the street. And so they'd come shouting to their mom, who just happened to be the queen of the British Empire. And they'd tell her they wanted to wear their clothes like this and their hair like that. And she stopped them short one day. She said to them: "You are the daughters of the Queen, And the Queen's daughters do not follow fads. They establish fashion!" And that's a good word for us. We are to live in society but not to be of society. We are to be trend-setters and difference-makers until that day comes when this world becomes the kingdom of our God ” a kingdom of peace, justice, individual dignity under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Have you got your armor? Then, forward, march! One of my favorite stories, that God uses whenever my head start to swell because everybody keeps telling me I'm such a good preacher is about the preacher who died and went to heaven. This preacher was known as one of the best preachers around. Thousands of people had come to Christ because of his sermons. And he knew it. St. Peter was showing him around and they passed through this huge section of humongous homes. These things were so big, they were nearly Castles, not mansions. Either outside or looking out the window of each of them was a little widow lady or widower or a teenager or a child. And they all looked somewhat overwhelmed by the size of their mansion. The preacher was getting excited, if these people, just you're ordinary every day kind of Christians got those kind of mansions. Imagine what he was going to get. As they ended their trek through the neighborhood, they came upon a large Texas style ranch house. It was gorgeous but wasn't huge. It had everything you could imagine but it was nowhere near what he was expecting. So he asked why? St. Peter sort of grinned and said: "Oh, we appreciate everything you did. You're a great preacher and thousands upon thousands came to Christ because of you. But truthfully, you were just the distraction. The real work, the tough work was done on the knees of every one of those people we passed. They were our prayer warriors. And that's where the real battle was fought." Prayer brings us into the very presence of God. Through prayer we are brought to the throne of grace and we are enabled to stand before God. Not presumptuously but in all humility and because we've been invited there. And once there, God wants to know everything on our hearts and minds about everyone we know and love. And even those we don't love. You and I have been called to Dress For Faithfulness, not Success. We're called to live a life that is pleasing to God in all that we do. Jesus didn't die on the cross so you could be successful by worldly standards. Jesus died on the cross because of our sin, because we couldn't be faithful. God doesn't want us to pursue worldly success. God wants us to pursue faithfulness, even in the midst of the confusion of life. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., From the Pulpit, by Billy D. Strayhorn

Let Jesus Lift us Up

June 1, 2014 Let Jesus Lift us Up Luke 24:44-53 Ascension Sunday Year A Apostle’s Creed This morning at want us to start at the end of the sermon. I keep forgetting to have us read the Apostle’s Creed. So to make sure that I get it in, I want us to read it first….. And I want us to think especially about the phrase – he ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of the father. That actually comes from Psalm 110 where God invites Jesus to sit at his right hand while he destroys enemies. This is a message to us that the devil is alive and well. There are some things that God still has to work out for us. We are still living in the mean time – before God finally directs all of the affairs of the world. The importance of Ascension This is an important day in Easter season. It is Ascension Sunday, the day we remember that Jesus did ascend into heaven. This is the last day that his original disciples saw him. If you watch any passion play – it always ends with Jesus ascending into heaven. For us, Easter is not over, Easter begins today in a new way. Talking about the ascension answers the question of why Jesus is not with us today. If life is eternal, and the resurrection bought Jesus back to life, why is he not still with us today? Can you imagine what the church would be like if Jesus was still around? If you look in the bible, when the organization outgrows it leader what did they do? Moses was an influential leader. But the bible says that when Moses got to old to function that he went out into the desert and was buried by God. If often wonder if Moses went by himself, or did someone conveniently take him and just leave him and come up with a clever story to tell the people about what happened to him. I think the ascension story of Jesus way of saying I am not going out like that. He knew when it was time to make his exit and let his disciples do the work, and he made sure he was not in the desert alone. He bought a group of disciples to witness exactly when God took him up to heaven. There are actually 2 stories of the Ascencion, and interestingly enough there are only 2. The only gospel writer to talk about the ascension is Luke. He gives 2 different versions in Acts and in Luke. Acts 1 happened 40 days after the resurrection. Jesus is on the beach and he ascends into heaven. In Luke 24, this happens on Easter night, where Jesus immediately leaves. Today I am going to talk about Luke 24. I think that this verse contains an important lesson for us as we go into the summer and we work at what we must do as a church in order to move forward. In order to grow – must outgrow leadership Attending the institute for congregational development gets old having to take off from work two days a month. But I did learn one important lesson concerning church growth. If the pastor can hold the church in one hand, the church will never grow. If you are always depending on the pastor to be at every meeting, to make every decision, to do the work of every committee, you guarantee that you will have a very small church. The pastor is only one person, and can only do so much. Which in the mission of an organization, that is not very much. If Jesus was still here on earth – there would be only one church, not millions around the world. And everytime we were trying to do something, we would ask Jesus. We would always need to know that Jesus thinks. We would need jesus to approve all of our projects, the building of god’s kingdom would be a very small movement. The whole point of the book of acts is how the church grew, how it grew so large, that no one man could control it. And it was not dependent on one man. That is the whole point of the Ascension story – in order to let the church grow and to allow the disciples to do their work – Jesus knew that he has to step out of the way. Jesus was preparing them all along to do the work of God without him. If Jesus was still here the church would have no power – we would give our power to Jesus. And we would be codependent on jesus. THE VACUUM SALESMAN A vacuum salesman down in rural Tennessee. He had a his vacuum cleaner and all of this tools and everything, and he went out there and he told a lady, "I’ve got the most exciting vacuum cleaner you have ever seen. It will clean your house from top to bottom...you only have to pay so much down." And the lady said, "It sounds real good." He said, "You see that big pile of dirt right there on the floor with all those fur balls and bugs and things." He said, "My vacuum cleaner will just pick up all those things up just like that and if they don’t, I’ll eat it." She said, "Well, you might as well get your knife and fork, because we do not have any electricity out here!" Power is the one thing nations, politicians and businessman covet. But the power that we need is not an earthly power. God has promised believers Spiritual power. Vance Havner once rightly said,"We are not going to move this world by criticism of it nor conformity to it, but by combustion within it of lives ignited by the Spirit of God." (From a sermon by Donnie De Loney, Pentecostal Power, 5/22/2012) The church with no power to spread the gospel would be eating a pile of dirt and trash – and accomplishing nothing. In order to be the church we need power, but power to do what? Text Illustration: The Spirit of Power that we receive is not like the human power that we recognize as strong. It’s a power unlike anything we can do on our own. A young man growing up in the wrong part of Houston became a bully. He would get in fights in school, in the neighborhood, and began mugging people to get spending money. He even beat up people just for the sake of doing it. He learned to box, and became pretty good at it. He began to make a lot of money and could have almost anything he wanted. One day, during his training session for an upcoming bout, he heard his mom talking to his sister on the telephone about his favorite nephew. The young boy had had a seizure and now lay in a coma in the hospital. Doctors said he would probably die, but that if he came out of the coma he wouldn’t be able to move his limbs, or speak, or do any of the human functions we consider part of living. He ran into the room where his mom was on the phone and shouted, “Momma, call the hospital and tell those doctors to give him the best of everything. Tell them I’ll take care of all the bills, to fly in the best doctors from wherever they have to. Tell them who I am, and that I’ll take care of everything — whatever it costs.” His mom spoke to the doctors, and then told him, “Son, you’re just going to have to pray.” He realized then how grave the situation was. When someone tells you the only thing you can do is pray, things are looking pretty bad. Then it hit him. All of his money, his fame, his influence, his friends — none of that could solve this problem. It was out of his hands, out of the doctor’s hands, out of everyone’s hands. For the first time, he was totally powerless. And for the first time, George Foreman dropped to his knees and prayed. He wasn’t sure God existed, but he knew that when all else failed, people prayed. He asked God, if he really existed, to help his nephew. Then he got back in bed. A few seconds later, he got back on his knees and offered to give up all his wealth if God would heal his nephew. Then he got back in bed again. A few seconds later he got back on his knees a third time and got angry at God for letting this happen to his nephew, a child who hadn’t experienced life yet. George told God to take his life instead. Let the boy live and take George’s life instead. The next morning George’s sister called from the hospital. His nephew had woken up and could move his eyes, but the doctors said he wouldn’t ever walk again. She called later that day, and the boy had begun moving his toes. The next day the boy was talking, and a week later he was on his way home, “walking, talking, and back to normal.” The doctors had no logical explanation. But George Foreman knew God had just given him a miracle. Three months later in March 1977, George Foreman died in his locker room after fighting Jimmy Young. He collapsed in a heap, and entered what he describes as “a deep, dark void, like a bottomless pit.” In his book, God in My Corner — A Spiritual Memoir, George wrote “I knew I was dead, and that this wasn’t heaven. I was terrified, knowing I had no way out. Sorrow beyond description engulfed my soul, more than anyone could ever imagine. If you multiplied every disturbing and frightening thought that you’ve ever had during your entire life, that wouldn’t come close to the panic I felt. … “ I screamed with every ounce of strength in me, ‘I don’t care if this is death. I still believe in God.’ “Instantly, what seemed to be like a giant hand reached down and snatched me out of the terrifying place. Immediately, I was back inside my body in the dressing room.” George accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and devoted himself to being a disciple of Jesus Christ. He realized his human power, his money, his prestige, were worthless in the next life, and meant to be used as tools to lead others to Jesus during this one. He went on to win the Heavyweight Championship of the World twice. He was ordained as an evangelist in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and became pastor of a small church. He also became involved in prison and hospital ministries. You probably know him best for the George Foreman Grills that continue to sell around the world. And he recently baptized his own 23-year-old daughter who finally decided to dedicated her own life to Jesus. That’s God’s idea of power. We need the power to witness to Christ and what Christ can do for the world. Everything must change But I think that there is an even bigger lesson for us to learn in this story. In the book of acts, the disciples are there staring wide eyed when Jesus leaves. And it takes two angels to step in and to ask them why are they staring up at the sky looking for someone who is not there. The point of the story is not so much that jesus ascended up to heaven, the point is that he was here on earth to begin with. And when he came to earth everything changed. Everything changed. In life everything changes, evolves, transforms. In Asia there is a religion called Iching. It is a whole religion based on the concept of change. Everything in life changes, nothing stays the same. God is a god of change. It would make sense that Jesus is the master of change. The ascension was Jesus way of saying it is time for things to change. He was hear, and now it is time for him to leave. There are some changes in our lives that are for the better and some are not. And yet Jesus is teaching us how to deal with that change. In order to master change you have to have the power to respond, to act. If you are standing there looking for Jesus – life will change and you will not. Jesus tells his disciples to go out into the world and to be a witness to what they saw and heard from Christ. When Jesus says witness to what you have seen and heard – he is talking to you. Be a witness for Christ. Tell the world how you have had an encounter with Christ, and how it has changed your life. We were not there when Jesus ascended into heaven. But one of Luke’s main points, and Jesus says this. If you can read and understand scripture, you have all that you need. You know Jesus as well as anybody. You need scripture and the holy spirit. We reflect on the power of the holy spirit next week at Pentecost. But the lesson for us today – is that life is about to change. What is expected of us is about to change. In order for us to get through that change, we will need a power from above. Jesus Christ has given us that power – to grow, to change to transform. And to transform others. In Christ, you have to energy, courage, imagination and the resources – to make a difference. Amen. Children’s Sermon Clothed With Power by Brett Blair Passage: Luke 24:36-49 • Lectionary: Ascension of our Lord Item 2 of 9 | Back to Results Exegetical Aim: To demonstrate the need in our lives to have God's power at all times in our life. Prop: A heavy winter coat you can wear. Lesson: [If you can wear the coat over your robe put it on and act as though it's cold.] Burr, I'm glad I have this coat. (response) Its so cold I think its going to snow! (response) What?(response) What are you laughing about? (response) It's hot? (response) It is? (response) You mean I don't need this coat? (response) Take the coat off hold and hold it in your hands. Your right it's not really cold outside. What time of year do I need a coat like this? (winter) That's right. I don't need it in the summer because it's not the right time of year. We have winter clothes and we have summer clothes don't we? (response) There are some clothes that we wear all year round. Can you name some? (response) If the kids don't name "socks" then you name it (For the women who are not wearing socks use your shoes). Application: I guess I need to put away this coat until fall when it starts to get cold again.Showing the kids your socks Should I put away my socks too? (response) Well, the Holy Spirit is kind of like these socks. When it's summer and hot outside we don't put away our socks until next winter do we? (response) No, we need our socks all year round. And, we need the Holy Spirit all year round. Jesus told his disciples they were going to be "clothed with power from on high." They were going to be clothed with the power of Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is kind of like a heavy coat. When we need strength and power in our lives we can put it around us and God will give us comfort. But the Holy Spirit is also like my socks. We always need the Holy Spirit. We always need the power God gives us to live. Brett Blair, ChristianGlobe, 2000 Extra illustration 4264 Life’s Waiting Stages Life is composed of waiting periods. The child must wait until he is old enough to have a bicycle, the young man until he is old enough to drive a car, the medical student must wait for his diploma, the husband for his promotion, the young couple for savings to buy a new home. The art of waiting is not learned at once. —Howard Whitman

I am Glad to have this Opportunity

May 5, 2013 Acts 16:9-15 John 14:23-29 I am glad to have this opportunity Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C Dreams are the first place the spirit comes to meet us Dreams are an important part of all of our lives. The dreams that we have at night, have a lot to do with what we do in the morning. And have you noticed that we have different types of dreams, some dreams are happy, some dreams are not. Sometimes we dream of the same thing every night, ad yet lately for me, I know that I had a dream, but if I don’t get up and write it down, it is totally gone within minutes. Sometimes our dream is a dream, sometimes it is a vision, sometimes it is even a nightmare. But I truly believe that sometimes what we dream doesn’t matter within itself, what truly matters is what we do with it when we wake up. What feelings are we left with after the dream, what actions did you take because of it? Dreams were the way the spirit talked to the disciples As we have been reading stories from the book of acts, have you noticed that in each of the stories, it begins with a dream. God came to the apostles in a dream. The dream may have ended, but the apostle went on about is day, based on that dream. It was as if the holy spirit spoke to them, and when they woke up they were able to recognize the working of the spirit in their lives. Peter was told in a dream to take care of Dorcas, last week a dream told Peter is was okay to visit a gentile and to eat his food. This week Peter has a dream that someone needs him in Macedonia. Paul is headed for the middle east, but a dream tells him that he is supposed to go somewhere else. Somewhere that he doesn’t know, to do something the he’s ever known, in a situation that looked totally empty. But it was full of the promises of God. He just needed to be open to it. All because He had a vision from God. Vision is in our perspective Rick Warren gives the simplest definition of vision when he said, “Vision is the ability to see the opportunities within your current circumstances.” Perhaps you heard about the Yankee shoe salesman who went to Africa and wired his manufacturer, “I want to come home. Nobody wears shoes in this part of Africa.” So they brought him home and sent another salesman who shipped back order after order. He wrote the home office, “Everybody here needs shoes!” More on the story of Lydia Via Ignatia is a pretty significant highway now – the highway is much more significant and much busier then Phillipi. As a matter of fact if you don’t slow down and intentionally look for the stop on the side of the road you will miss it. It is a five to six hour highway drive to Macedonia from Phillipi. I could only imagine how long it would have taken to walk that journey. But a man appeared in a dream and told Paul that he was needed in Macedonia and he needed to make the trip. So he and Silas set off for Macedonia. On my trip following in the footsteps of Paul, we travelled down the via ignatia. There are two major roads from Rome – the via Appian and the via ignatia. They were actually built in 2BC – they were roads intended to connect all of the roman provinces to Rome. Soldiers followed this road in order to get anywhere they needed to be to keep order, supplies could be transported anywhere. More than 2000 years later- both roads are still used. It makes it pretty easy to follow in the footsteps of Paul. In his travels, Paul went where the people were. He followed the major urban areas of his time in order to spread the gospel. In the beginning, he stayed close to home, close to the middle east. The call to Macedonia was a call to reach out into the heart of the land of the gentiles. To reach people who would not have known Jesus Christ, yet and still knew the Holy Spirit. As I said, Macedonia was six hours away in a car- but he made the trip walking. Along the way he stopped by the river and met a group of women praying. Lyddia was the head of that group – she was not a jew- but she followed the jewish ways, she prayed and she believed in God. And she became Paul’s first convert. Since she was a wealthy woman, once she was baptized, that meant that all of her servants, her relatives and her household also became Christians. Today, you can still visit that place along the river. It has been left alone. I think that I still have water in my refrigerator from that river. And a little ways from the river is a small chapel, it is not a place of worship, it is intended just for baptisms. People come to baptize their babies at the place where Lyddia was baptized. We are all waiting for our destiny. Waiting for that person, the place, that turn down the street, that vision that will change our lives. Lyddia not only changed Paul’s life, but she changed the life of us all. She was the first European to be baptized, she was influential in her community so she was able to bring others to Christ. Phillipi is a long way away from Macedonia – and yet her conversion was proof that Paul was following the way of God. All of Greece followed Lyddia and became Christian. The greek flag is blue and white to represent the sea. But where our flag has 50 stars, the greek flag has a cross. The entire nation is Greek Orthodox. Because one woman praying next to a river saw the presence of the holy spirit in Paul and his message. From the via ignatia – the word spread all over the world. Water from Phillipi I am glad that we are studying this story today. I have had this bottle of water in my refrigerater for years, I have several other bottles of special water from the Jordan River, from Keosha Wisconsin, but I couldn’t remember why I had this bottle. It is from Phillipi. Lydia’s group didn’t have a synagogue to go to, so they worshipped in an empty place by the river. They called it the place of prayer. Where is our place of prayer? Paul must have asked God why he was called to come to an empty space. I think that today may of us feel that way. That we are in a place that is empty. A place where people don’t want to hear about God. A place where people don’t need the church. But the reality was, it was a place filled with the potential of God. God had a plan for the space, God came to Paul I a dream. Paul was in touch with God to believe in that dream. We all dream at night, there are dreams and there are dreams. We all have visions, there are visions and there are visions from God. We all have to know God well enough to discern when God is speaking to us. We have to trust God enough to understand that the Holy Spirit has been working on the situation way ahead of us. The hard work is done – all there is for us to do is to believe. Believe that God has a plan for our situation. Jesus gave us the gift of the spirit If you look at the gospel, once again we lose a part of the story. Jesus is preparing his disciples for the day that he will walk away from them. He is telling them that even though he is absent they don’t have to be afraid. Because the holy spirit will be with him. The disciple Judas (not Judas Iscariot) asks Jesus a question that we always have. Jesus, how is it that we will see you, but the rest of the world does not. It is because we have been trained to recognize the presence of the spirit. Every story that we hear in the book of acts is important, out of all of the things that happened in the life of the disciples, Luke felt that these stories are important for us to know. Lydia was the first European to be baptized, which meant that Christianity was well on its way to reaching the whole world. Jesus said that the gospel would reach beyond Judia and Samaria and reach the ends of the earth. Who were the people who felt that they were supposed to conquer the world – the Europeans. The holy spirit knew what needed to be done to get the work done. The book of acts is our guide to learning to listen to the working of the spirit in our lives, and in our situation. My gift of the spirit this week, and there have been many; was a conversation with a woman that I met at the planning session for the green festival. I told her I was a pastor, and we started talking about her church. I asked her what church she went to, and she said that she went to a small church that took the book of acts seriously. She said that her church intentionally tried to live out the book of acts. She said that they speak I tongues, and cast out devils and display all of the power of the holy spirit demonstrated in the book of acts. I laughed – because I thought we don’t get to read all of those stories about casting out demons, and speaking I tongues. But I told her that I am preaching on the book of acts, because I want my church to be an acts church too. A church that believes in the power of the holy spirit, and understands that power is available to them. The spirit is all around us, it is inside of us, it is behind us, it is in front of us. it is working on our behalf. We just have to believe in its power in all situations. Even our places of prayer – the places in our lives where we think nothing is happening. Starting a new ministry in the heart of an old place is daunting, going out amongst hostile people and believe that God is there is hard – but possible. A Greater Power Watching There was a nature show on television about a black bear that gave birth to two cubs. One cub died right away. Three weeks later the mother died and the remaining cub was left to fend for itself. An orphaned cub in that condition is like a walking buffet for predators. And of course the camera immediately showed a hungry-looking mountain lion. One day the orphan cub encountered a giant male black bear. The little cub cowered at the bear's sheer mass. The larger bear peered around and seemed to realize that the mother bear wasn't anywhere to be found. He gave the little cub a friendly nudge. The camera then showed the little bear happily trailing along after the larger one. The adoption papers were signed, sealed and registered at the county seat in that nudge. Papa bear proceeded to show the cub how to grub for insects and how to catch fish and how to scratch his back against a tree. One day the two bears became separated. The cub began to cry and looked frantically for his new father, but couldn't find him anywhere. The cub approached a stream where he'd learned to fish and something caught his attention. He looked up to see a mountain lion ready to pounce. That same mountain lion had stalked the cub for the entire show. There was no way that mountain lion would've gone for that cub with Papa bear around, but now.... The camera zoomed in on the cub. He automatically mimicked the posture of his adopted father when threatened. He stood on his hind legs and bared his teeth. Then, in the exactly the same way his new father would have done, this cub let loose a mighty growl that should have reverberated throughout the forest. But, only a tiny bear cub squeak came out. Well, you know what was coming. But, to everybody's astonishment the mountain lion lowered his head and ran off in the opposite direction. The camera panned back to the proud little cub still standing tall on his hind legs. And then all the viewers saw what that little cub Could Not: a few yards behind him, at full, ferocious height, his sharp, white teeth bared in a snarl, stood Daddy bear. He may not have made a sound, but he was there. And even though the cub couldn't see his father, his father stood guard, protecting his young. The little cub had power available greater than anything he could produce on his own. There was a greater power watching over him. Jesus said, [21] "They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them." Billy D. Strayhorn, What Difference Does It Make? The devil is watching and waiting to get us each and every day. Waiting for that moment when we are all alone, and he come in peace to destroy us. Jesus has taught us how to protect ourselves, how to make it through. If we believe start to see the presence of the spirit in our lives, if we start to do what we see the spirit do – that power is always with us in ways we may not even know. If we are willing to go through the motions. Then the spirit will do the work. ________________________ A Place of Peace Jesus was preparing his disciples for tough times. He was about to ascend to the Father and they would be on their own -- left to find their way through this world alone. And yet, they would not be alone. For he would be with them in the presence of the Comforter, the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. In 1520 Ferdinand Magellan battled for an entire year to find a passage around South America. There at the very tip of the continent, in its icy waters he encountered some of the worst weather anywhere on earth. Raging seas, towering ice floes, and a mutinous crew plagued his efforts. When he finally made his way through those straits (which today bear his name -- the Straits of Magellan), he entered into a great body of water that lay beyond, and as he and his men lifted their faces to heaven and gave thanks to God, he named the new ocean "The Peaceful One -- the Pacific Ocean." In his words this morning, Jesus desires to lead us in the same way to a place of peace. It is his hope to direct our feet and steer our lives from the paths that would lead to hell to his place of peace. "Let not your hearts be troubled," he says, "neither let them be afraid." Lee Griess, Sermons for Lent/Easter, CSS Publishing Company ___________________

The Power of the Congregation

September 30, 2012 James 5:13-20 Mark 9:38-50 “The Power of the Congregation” 18th Sunday after Pentecost Year B Cut your bills in half A man was recently arrested for a scam that he had going. He was advertising that he had a sure fire way to guaranteed to cut all of your bills in half. You had to order a kit with all the necessary tools that you need. The kit was $250. But inside the envelope was a pair of 50 cent scissors. A surefire way to cut bills in half As we look at the last chapter of James this morning. It may not offer a surefire way to cut your bills in half. But it does offer a surefire way to cut your worry in half. And that surefire way is through prayer. But for James, it is more complicated than that. In chapter 5 – James talks about the power of prayer – but he more specifically talks about the power of the prayers of the righteous. The righteous are those who follow the ways of the righteous. Elijah and the righteous There is a story of Elijah visiting his rabbi on a regular basis. And one day he was six hours late. When he finally arrived, the rabbi asked what took him so long. Elijah said that he had a very important task. First he had to wake up Abraham, wash his hands, wait while he prayed, and then put him back to sleep again. The he had to wake up Issaac, wash his hands and put him back to sleep. And then he had to wake up Jacob, wash his hands in purification, wait for him to pray and put him back to sleep. The rabbi asked why he didn’t just wake them all up at the same time and let them pray together. Oh if I Let them pray together, their prayer would have been too powerful. The world can only take them so much goodness in one place. James says that there is power in the prayers of the righteous. As a matter of fact, James says that there is power in coming together as a congregation once a week. There is power in our worship for ourselves and for the world. Are you suffering, then pray, are you celebrating – then sing, are you sick, then call the elders to pray over you. The church was the first HMO – the church was the place where you come if you have a problem. The church is a place of healing and well being. The people of the church have the power to change things. James says that when you are sick – you should have the elders pray for you and anoint you. But who are the elders? In the United Methodist Church elders are ordained clergy. In many other denominations elders are lay people who have been special training or special authority to do the work of the church. But I think that it is important to point out today that is not James understanding of elder. Because for James – an elder is someone who is a part of the church. You don’t have to have special training, or be of a certain age. You just have to have a relationship with God that is lived out in the church. If you know God – you know all that you need to know to be an elder. We all have the power of healing – the power of healing is given to ordinary church members – with the understanding that faithful church members are not ordinary. We get our power from God. From trusting in God and following Jesus. John Wesley says that everything that happens to us is a result of prayer. God hears the prayers of the faithful. If you look in Mark 9 – it talks about what it means to be a faithful follower of Jesus. To be a disciple. There is a lot in Mark 9 – but I want to talk about the middle verse, where Jesus says that if our hand sins, it is better to cut it off then to go to hell with it, or because of it. A man’s arm goes to jail I heard a story of a man in court because he had robbed a store. The lawyer’s defense was that it was the hand and not the man who was guilty. The hand was not a part of the man’s body, and did something the man did not want. The judge sentenced the hand to ten years in jail. The judge said that the hand had to pay for what it had done. The man was free to accompany the hand to jail, or he could leave it behind. Everyone in the court room was surprised when the defendant thanks the judge – detached his artificial arm and walked away. In our ordinariness, we are still human and we are still prone to sin. James reminds us to stay connected to our community. Mark reminds us to disconnect ourselves from the parts of us that make us sin. Of course Jesus would know that the sin is not in our hands, or our feet, or our eyes. The sin is in our heart. Remember what goes in our ears and eyes, comes out of our mouth, lives in our heart and is acted upon with our hands and feet. It is the sin in our hearts, not the sin our hands and feet that lead us down the wrong path. Have you wandered away from righteousness, James says – let the elders lead you back to God. Confess what is in your heart James says that one of the most important aspect of being a disciple is being able to confess what is in our hearts and to let it our, so that we can be free. The community of elders should always be a safe place for us to confess and be held accountable. Confession is healthy, because it releases us from bitterness. If we hold it in our hearts, it destroys us. If we let it go – we can move on. The good news Bishop Woodie White, a retired United Methodist pastor – lives in Chicago for awhile. But he said that no matter how bad things get in our lives – everything always ends with the good news of Christ. It has been an interesting ride through the book of James. He has said some pretty harsh things to us. but he ends in the good news. Are you suffering – pray, are you in need of testifying about what God has done for you – sing; are you sick – ask the elders to pray for you – and if you have sinned – confess and ask forgiveness. The good news for today is that there is power in the prayers of the righteous – all of us together are the righteous. We are the elders of the church. Not because of what we know, but because of who we serve. Our strength is in how we work and trust together. Faithful – let us unleash the power of God - Let us pray…..

Jesus Cures it All

Year B 2 Samuel 1:1,17-27 Mark 5:21-43 “Jesus Cures it All” Fifth Sunday after Pentecost Our clothes are important Every morning all humans do the same thing. We get up, take a shower, brush our teeth, and then decide what we are going to wear. Generally in western culture it remains true that “Clothes make the man,” or in the name of a popular website, “Clothes make the girl.” Got a teenager? Then you know what I’m talking about. Then you know oh-so-purse-painfully how important it is to have the “right look.” To wear the “right duds” so you can be the “right dudes.” Even if you are not a “fashionista,” it is almost impossible not to be influenced by what the current culture says is “cool” (or “hot”). Who doesn’t want to “look good” and so “feel good” about themselves? Every week the tabloids are filled with planted or paparazzi celebrity photos — either looking their best or revealing their worst. But whatever shape they are in, what those celebrities are sporting influences the fashion choices of thousands. Designers count on it. In fact they literally “bank” on it. If someone fabulous and famous wears something, it will sell. The “knock ‘em dead” designs on red carpet runways are immediately copied into much cheaper “knock-offs” so that those with a bit of disposable income can outfit themselves like royalty. Even countries without “royal families” have their “royalty.” But while all of us — whether teenager or ladder climbing corporate bureaucrat — think that our clothes lend use power and prestige. People believed that clothes were an extension of who you are It was the same in Jesus day. It was believed that your clothes were an extension of who you were. It was believed that your clothes contained the essence of who you were. If you were a holy man or woman, then your clothes were holy also. If I can just touch the hem of his garment Perhaps that is why the woman felt that if I can just touch the hem of his garment, then everything will be okay for me. The holiness that he has inside will rub off on me. Jewish mean wore tassels of faith Not just Jesus, but all jewish men were expected to wear a tassel on each corner of their outer garment. That represented their faith in God. I had a woman make a robe for me, I cant wear the robe anymore, but she explained that the tassel represented spiritual power, and that the spirit had told her that I needed a tassel on my robe. The woman felt that if she could just touch the tassel, then everything would be okay. This woman had been suffering for a long time That woman is like a lot of us- she went through 12 year of suffering in silence. 12 years of dealing with life, even though no one really knew what was going on inside of her. Whenever she heard of a cure – she didn’t discuss it with others, but she tried it. The literature of the day gives 10 different cures for her problem, such as carrying the ashes of an ostrich egg in a rag. Nothing seemed to work. Scripture says that even back then, she went to the doctor, doctor after doctor. They took her money, but could do nothing to help her. I heard someone say the other day that God is the only doctor that will not send you a bill. She had heard that maybe this man Jesus could help her with her problem. She has tried everything else, she might as well try him. The messiah can take care of our deep need The lesson that Mark is teaching us in these miracle stories, is that Jesus is not ordinary man of faith. He has power that the others don’t have. He has access to God, he is the messiah. Last week as Jesus calmed the storm, the question was who is this that the wind and the waves obey. Today the question is who is this that can take care of my deepest need, my most taxing problem? This woman’s problem was so deep, that she couldn’t even talk about it in public. Yet Jesus was able to take care of it. Because Jesus has the power to reach to heaven and bring that peace to earth. The power of faith to overcome a 3% chance There was a man who woke up in the hospital after a horrible accident. The doctor told him that he had a 3% chance of ever walking again. I will take it said the man, God has worked against greater odds. He asked if he would be able to play the violin. The doctor told him the if he would walk out of the hospital, then he could play the violin. The man said he never played the violin, but if God could make him walk, then we would play. That man is walking well, and living happily ever after. All because he believed in the power of God. Jesus has the power to make the power of God real in our lives. Some say that you have to see it to believe it. When you have faith in God you have to believe it in order to see it. Our power comes from something bigger than anything in this world. Jesus gives her more than she expects This woman went through 12 years of pain, 12 years of being locked in a personal prison. Because of her problem, she was not allowed to be around people, she was to live in isolation. She was smiling on the outside, but on the inside she was suffering. She just wanted to get better. She didn’t want anything else from Jesus, she didn’t expect anything else. As a matter of fact, she was planning on walking away as soon as she touched him. She got what she wanted, now she needed to go on with her life. We are all just the same. We hang around Jesus, we pray, we have faith, we are waiting for a change. But if that change were to come tomorrow, would we still be faithful? 12 years this woman was waiting for a cure, If everything in life was given to us as we wanted it, would we even bother to pray? Jesus taught the woman that touching is a 2way street. We can touch, but we also have to be prepared to be touched. We can be transformed, but we are transformed in order to transform. Compassion is Jesus showed her compassion. Compassion literally means coming with passion. Compassion means to suffer along side of someone. When you show pity- you can remain at a distance. When you show sympathy it means that you are somehow better than the person. Charity is what the rich do for the poor. Compassion means to genuinely care for someone. Jesus genuinely cared for this woman. She got more than she bargained for – she was expecting to get her healing and to just walk away. If Jesus was an ordinary faithful man – he could have just observed what she was doing and let her walk away. But Jesus wants her to know who healed her, and how deep her healing really was. He wanted her to know that God had truly healed her. He stopped, looked her in the eye, introduced himself, and told her that she does not get to just walk away and go on with her life. She had been touched by the soul of God. Have you had the deep personal moment when God has touched your soul and said it is not okay to just walk away. I feel your pain, I have made you whole, walk with me. 12 connection to Jairus’ daughter 12 years this woman has been suffering. 12 years a little girl had been growing and living, and now she lay close to death. This is a story within a story. Because as Jesus is healing this woman, he has been asked to come and heal this little girl. 12 years old and near death. Once the woman is healed, they tell him that it is too late. She is dead. We give up so easily, when God never does. In order to be resurrected, we have to experience death. I am not hugging you to death, hugging youto life A business executive became depressed. Things were not going well at work, and he was bringing his problems home with him every night. Every evening he would eat his dinner in silence, shutting out his wife and five-year-old daughter. Then he would go into the den and read the paper using the newspaper to wall his family out of his life. After several nights of this, one evening his daughter took her little hand and pushed the newspaper down. She then jumped into her father’s lap, wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him strongly. The father said abruptly, “Honey, you are hugging me to death!” “No, Daddy,” the little girl said, “I’m hugging you to life!” about human nature that makes us put off the most important things until a crisis Then, one day it is too late, we have waited too long. We are like the Rabbi who did not run to Jesus until his daughter was “at the point of death .” Take a moment to examine your life today. What is at the “eschatos” — the point of death — in your life right now? What part of your spiritual or relational life is barely breathing? Find ways to make those areas (family, friendships and faith) a higher priority than career and income. Do something different this week. Before scheduling anything else, book time with God, schedule an appointment with those in your own family. Then, after prioritizing God and your family, then set up the rest of the week. Where are the dead spots in our life? The good news is that it is in those dead spots that God will show up. There are some things in our life that are dead for a reason, and some that are dead for a season. Some of those places are where God will show up in touch us in an unexpected way. Jesus was not ordinary man of faith, God’s love for us is no ordinary love. When you are touched by God, you can walk again. Compassion brings new life. Talitha cumi – it is time for us to arise When Jesus bought Jairus’ daughter back to life he said – Talitha Cumi – little lambkin, get up and arise. What is Jesus calling you out of , and telling you it is time to come to live and move one. The last words that Jesus said to the woman with a deep personal problem – go in peace and take good care of yourself, your faith has made you whole. Jesus is calling… do you believe in his words? Let us pray….

By what authority do you speak?

Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Mark 1:21-28 Fourth Sunday after Epiphany Year B By What Authority Do you speak? Introduction: the authority to get a ticket I should have known that the offer was too good to be true. I saw in the paper, and add that said that a new movie theater was opening, and that all movies were free on that day. There was even an ad for free popcorn. So off to the movies I went that night. The movie was free, the popcorn was free. The speeding ticket that I got while driving to the theater was $90. The policeman turned on his lights, stopped me, and told me what I did wrong, and rubbed it in, and was it really worth it to speed to the theater. What is the authority of the police officer or pastor – the office I tell that story, because we all know that if we see flashing lights behind us that we need to stop. We know that the law tells us that we are to cooperate with the police whenever they stop us. but by what authority does a police officer have control over our actions? It is not in who the police officer is, it is in his/her office. Their authority is in those flashing lights, in that uniform, in who they are as a police officer, not in who they are as a person. It is sort of like being a pastor- the authority of what I preach, teach, and manage is in the office of pastor, not in the personhood of Harriette Cross. Today we are going to talk about power and authority. Where does power and authority come from. What was it that gave Jesus power and authority? Why was he able to speak with such authority? How did Jesus end of speaking in the synagogue? Jewish society was a very ordered society. Jewish worship was very ordered. There were assigned roles for everyone. It was the rabbi who spoke and interpreted the scripture. The synagogue was the place of teaching and remembering. Worship consisted of coming to the synagogue, listening to a lay person read scripture and the rabbi interpreting it. There was no singing, no liturgy, and no work of the people. It was a very ordered service. When Jesus starts his ministry in Capernaum, he goes to the synagogue every Sabbath, every Friday night. But for some reason, the rabbi allowed him to give the message. He speaks on a regular basis. But you still have to ask the question, what was it about Jesus that gave him power and authority to speak. He had no formal training, no office, no clergy robe, and no assigned role – and yet he was able to speak – and his words always seemed to hit the spot and make a difference in the lives of those he was talking to. Even when the rabbi and the scribes would speak – they did not speak under their own authority. They didn’t use their own words, they would always say – scripture says. Mark 1:21-22 says – he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. I wanted to avoid this sermon It is funny how the Holy Spirit works, because as I prepared for this sermon, my plan was to play it safe and talk just about the power and authority of Jesus. I had no intention of speaking on the situation at hand of Jesus driving out an evil spirit from a man. I didn’t want to talk about evil spirits. But unfortunately, the scripture never tells what Jesus taught, or what made his talk so powerful. It says that a demon recognized Jesus and started to speak. Spirits in the ancient world What was the demon doing in the church in the first place? Spirits were a part of the understanding of the world of the early church. Spirits would have been a part of the understanding of the world of the Jews of Jesus time. The Jews inherited the belief from the Persians and the Babylonians, and the Canaanites. Ancient people believed that spirits were present everywhere. But they particularly liked to hang out in unclean places. They were in the cemeteries, and places where shady things were done. Spirits were responsible for everything. Spirits in the Disney world Spirits are a part of the world view of almost every group of people in the world. I found it interesting to learn that there is an underlying spirituality even in the creation of Disney world. Disney speaks of magic, of fairy dust, and other things that are a part of the European understanding of the spiritual world. If you go to the magical kingdom, you will see no depiction of anything African or Asian. When you speak of conjuring spirits (as Mickey as the sorcerer is depicting as doing)- there is a whole difference understanding of spirits in Europe than in Africa or Asia. Not wanting to be involved in spirituality that they didn’t understand, they just left it alone. Until 20-30 years later when they developed Animal Kingdom, instead of the Magical Kingdom that deals specifically with African and Asian culture. They realized that when they excluded the spirituality of a people, they also excluded the culture of a people. I first went to Disney the first year that the animal kingdom was opened and decided that it was one of those spiritual places for me. I have been to the magical kingdom 2 times, but every time I go to Orlando I have to visit animal kingdom to be in touch with its spiritual nature. Spirits in the Israel world Spirits had a large place in the worldview of Israel also. They believed that spirits were everywhere. They believed that there were 10,000 spirits on your right side, and 10,000 spirits on your left side. They believed that they were responsible for all manner of situations on one’s life. If you were sick, it was caused by a spirit. There is a Jewish book in the apocrypha – that comes between the old testament and the new testament – called the Testament of Solomon. In this book, you can find the names of certain demons, how they can harm you, and how to get rid of them. Interesting. It was believed that if you called a demon by name, you had power over it and you could control it and get rid of it. If you look at our scripture, Jesus doesn’t call any demon by name. It is the demons that call Jesus by name – They call him Jesus of Nazareth, The holy one of God. Deuteronomy says that there will be a prophet who is responsible for speaking the word of God to the people. That is the power of Jesus. How did the demon get in the church? What I find interesting about this story was how did the demon get in the church in the first place. Demons were supposed to hang out in unclean places, and wasn’t the house of God a holy place – a clean place? If all of the people were spiritually pure – how did a demon get in the church? The church had an open door policy – anyone was welcome to come in, no matter where they were spiritually. I found it interesting that even in the story, people weren’t so concerned about the fact that a demon had made its way in the church, but that Jesus knew exactly what to say to it to get it to respond. Demons that cause harm It was believed that all wrong was caused by demons. The Hebrew name for demon was Mazakim – one who does harm. But it was also believed that a person would know when they were possessed, and that they had to the power to ask to be healed. There were demons in the church back then, and the truth is that there are demons in the church today. Some say that demons love to come to church – because it reminds them of heaven. But I want to be clear that I am not speaking about people. Not speaking about who people are – we are all children of God, we are all from heaven. But the truth is that there are things inside of all of our souls that do us harm. There is good and evil inside of each of us. We are all struggling with those things inside of us that can destroy us. Demons inside of us Kathleen Norris – a spiritual writer says “when I think of demons that I need to exorcise, I have to look inward to my heart and soul. The demon inside of her was her anger. Her husband pointed out that she could be very mean at times. She realized that her anger was destroying her marriage. First she needed to recognize it, then acknowledge the damage it was doing and make a commitment to change. Another friend – a pastor. Talked about getting a divorce, and experiencing all sorts of negative emotions – anger, shame, jealousy, and pain. He didn’t have to strength to preach, but he needed to be in the church. He needed to be in the presence of God, in the presence of the Word, the worship, in the presence of Jesus. What is it about Jesus that invites the unclean spirit, the disturbed soul, the diseased life to come out of hiding and cry out? And can we trust the power of God to be there - to be here, to hold it all together and bring healing and wholeness to us in a way we never quite master? Can the order of our worship of God somehow include the dis-order of our lives and of the world around us? He asks. There is power in the presence of God that heals us, that transforms us, that takes away our pain. God’s word is awesome, overpowering, and touches us deep inside. What is the demon doing in the church? The spirit inside of us knows Jesus, and it asks for healing. I want to end with this famous story.. "There is a wonderful story from a renowned professor of preaching named Fred Craddock. He often tells the story of a young minister, newly graduated from the seminary who is serving in his first church. He gets a call telling him that a church member, an elderly woman who has given nearly her entire life to the church, is in the hospital and not doing well. The woman suffers from severe breathing problems and now has pneumonia and doesn’t appear to be getting any better. She is so weak that she cannot get up out of bed and the doctors are not holding out any hope for her recovery. So with this dire situation the family calls the church and asked for the young pastor to come and pray with her, anoints her and gives her a final communion. All the way to the hospital he is thinking about what to say to this Christian woman, what words of comfort he can give her to prepare her for her eminent death. He thinks of how young he is and how completely unprepared for this moment and he mumbles a quick prayer that God will give him the strength and courage he needs. When he finally arrives at the hospital he heads up to her room for a visit. The room is darkened and the hospital wing is quiet. The nurses move in and out of the room gently so as not to disturb her final hours. The young pastor sits on a chair next to the bed and talks with her for a few minutes, just small talk really, nothing earth shattering. When he finally makes ready to leave he asks the old woman if she would like him to pray for her and she answers, Yes of course. That’s why I wanted you to come. He then politely asks, And what would you like me to pray for? The old woman looks him straight in the eye and says in a bit of a surprised voice, Why, I want you to pray that God will heal me. The young pastor is a bit surprised by the question and he takes her hands and starts fumbling over the words. Still, somewhere in the entire blizzard of words he ends up praying for what she asked – that God would heal her. When he finally says the Amen at the end of the prayer, the woman says, You know, I think it worked! I think I’m healed! And she gets out of bed and begins to run up and down the hallway of the hospital yelling, Praise God! I’m healed! Praise God! I’m healed! Meanwhile, the young pastor in a stupor, stumbles to the stairwell, walks down five flights of stairs, makes his way to the parking lot and somehow manages to find his car. As he fumbles to get his keys out of his pocket, he slumps back in the seat and looks heavenward and yells, Don’t you ever do that to me again! The power of the word of God There is power in the Word of God. Jesus was empowered to use that power and authority on our behalf. Jesus’ authority over unclean spirits lies in his ability to speak directly to our hearts, to speak directly to our needs, to call the negative our and leave us only with the love that God gives. If we listen to his voice and obey… Let us pray…