tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89699525143228124522024-02-07T03:10:27.794-05:00The Leaky PulpitThis is my attempt at having an ongoing conversation about the Word of God, life and ministry - especially thoughts on the daily lectionary and the movement of the Spirit of God at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (although everything contained herein is strictly my own thoughts and not the view of GSPC) or something like thatAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.comBlogger150125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-33905835246887299612016-06-13T11:01:00.000-04:002016-06-13T11:01:26.042-04:00Responding to tragedy: Pointing fingers or asking questionsWords seem to fail at times like this, to adequately convey the range of emotions that a tragedy like the Orlando shootings bring forth: sadness, fear, anger, resentment, frustration, helplessness, hopelessness and more.<br />
<br />
Yet, this morning, I have felt compelled to add some more words to the conversation. Truth be told, I have <i>lots </i>of words that I have wanted to share: I have a whole list of tweets ready to send off that highlight and blame all the things/policies/people that I think contributed to this tragedy; There are people I want to scream about and scream at; There are friends and relatives I want to call and ask - 'do you get it now?' <br />
<br />
But, somewhere in all of this, there has been a still, small voice that at first just seemed to be saying 'no - don't send that tweet. no - don't post that rant to facebook or send that email'. So, I haven't (but to be clear - I had some devastating tweets/points aimed at those I disagree with!) This morning, that voice - God's Holy Spirit (I hope) - started speaking more than simply, 'no' and started asking 'why?'<br />
<br />
The 'Whys' I have been wrestling with this morning:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><i>Why do you really want to post those tweets and facebook rants? Why do you want to start conversations with phrases like, 'Now do you get it?' </i> Could it be that I want to be right, that I want to feel better and like a schoolyard bully, the easiest way to do that is to pick on someone else? </li>
<li><i>Why am I so quick to blame everyone that I disagree with - politically, theologically, socially? </i> Could it be that assigning blame to those I disagree with or that look/act/believe differently than I do might also make me feel, at least a little better about all of this?</li>
<li><i>Why am I just as quick to absolve everyone that shares my beliefs (political/theological/social)? </i>Could it be that I am more interested in expressing my 'righteous anger' than in pursuing constructive, cooperative solutions - especially if I might have to change or sacrifice in some way to achieve them? </li>
</ul>
So today, in the vain of Jesus' teaching in Luke 7 to remove the plank from my own eye before talking about the speck in yours, I have resolved to stop pointing fingers and instead respond to this tragedy by looking in the mirror and asking the following questions:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Are there areas of my life where I have allowed subordinate beliefs (political, cultural, social or even theological) to supercede the rule of love that Jesus Christ both calls us to and modeled for us? </li>
<ul>
<li>Jesus' words and life is to be our model and guide in this life: His response to those that came to arrest them was to heal the soldier arresting him and call his followers to put away their swords. Jesus, as he was being crucified, asked for forgiveness for those who put him on the cross. </li>
<ul>
<li><i>How do we speak about and act towards those that attack or vilify us or our beliefs?</i></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><i> </i>Do I seek out those that are mistreated, targeted for abuse (verbal, physical, psychological, et al) threatened or persecuted and then actively work to help, support and protect them - working and sacrificing to bring them justice and peace in God's name, no matter who they are, where they are from or what they believe? </li>
<ul>
<li>Jesus healed leapers, gave sight the blind and he made a habit of sharing grace and justice where societal/cultural norms would have expected judgement - the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, syrophoenician woman, the criminal he was crucified with, etc. </li>
<ul>
<li><i>Do we show and share God's love to all those in need or just those that we like, look like or agree with?</i></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>How do I respond when those who share my beliefs and/or views in one (or more) area promote hate/violence/bigotry or discrimination? Another, more direct way to ask this is: what are my true priorities? Am I first a Christian or an American? Am I first a follower of Jesus or a Republican/Democrat? Am I first a child of God or a believer in the 1st/2nd amendment? </li>
<ul>
<li>Jesus, quite literally, sacrificed everything out of love for us - so that we might know God's love. Almost without exception, Jesus' anger was reserved for the religious authorities - those in power - who used that power to help themselves and/or oppress others. </li>
<ul>
<li><i>Do we, like Jesus, work and sacrifice Justice for all - or only those that agree with us?</i></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li>Does my life - my words, my actions, who people know me to be - point those I encounter to God's love, grace and forgiveness or am I known by what I am against? </li>
<ul>
<li>In his interactions with people Jesus always lead with grace, love, forgiveness and healing - after someone had encountered Jesus and been changed by that interaction, only then did Jesus call for repentance and a changed life. If we as individuals, churches and Christians are known for what we judge rather than who has forgiven us - we are not following in the way of Christ. If people - the LBGTQ community or anyone other individual or community - only hears about our love (or our 'thoughts and prayers) after a tragedy, but the rest of the time only hear our condemnation - how can we expect them to accept or see God's love for them in and through us? </li>
<ul>
<li><i>Do people see Christ's love or my judgement in and through my life?</i></li>
</ul>
</ul>
</ul>
In the coming days I am going to continue to wrestle with these questions and I would invite you to wrestle with me (not against me!)as we seek to live into our call to take part in the work of the family of God - to share God's love with the world and invite everyone into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. <br />
<br />
Hug your family and friends, cherish the time and share the love and peace of Jesus Christ with all.<br />
<br />
In Christ,<br />
<br />Chip<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-88581137537231134342012-11-04T16:48:00.001-05:002012-11-04T16:48:09.763-05:00Who Approved your message?<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Below is the message (including scriptures) I shared with Good Shepherd on Sunday Nov. 4th. It was not originally my plan or intention to talk 'about' the election this Sunday, but over the course of the week, I felt a real call to share these thoughts - maybe it was the robocall from Matt Damon . . . . anyway here it is</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Matthew 22:34-40 (Today's New International Version)<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></h3>
<h5>
<i><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span class="sup"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif; line-height: 115%;">34</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">Hearing that Jesus had
silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="sup"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif; line-height: 115%;">35</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">One of them, an expert in
the law, tested him with this question:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="sup"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif; line-height: 115%;">36</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">"Teacher, which is
the greatest commandment in the Law?" </span></span></span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><span class="sup"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">37</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.'<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><sup><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022%20:34-40;&version=72;#fen-TNIV-23914a#fen-TNIV-23914a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</span></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span class="sup"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">38</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">This is the first and
greatest commandment.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span class="sup"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">39</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">And the second is like it:
'Love your neighbor as yourself.'<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><sup><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2022%20:34-40;&version=72;#fen-TNIV-23916b#fen-TNIV-23916b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]</span></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span class="sup"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">40</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">All the Law and the
Prophets hang on these two commandments."</span></span></i></h5>
<h4>
<i><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">2 Corinthians 3 </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(The Message)</span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></h4>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span class="sup"><b><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">1-3</span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">Does it sound like we're patting ourselves on the back, insisting
on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we're not. Neither do we
need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a
letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not
with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved
into human lives—and we publish it.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (The Message)<o:p></o:p></i></span></h3>
<i><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span><span class="sup"><b><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif; font-size: 8pt;">4</span></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">Attention, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Israel</st1:country-region></st1:place>! <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>, our God!<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the one and only! </span><span class="sup"><b><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif; font-size: 8pt;">5</span></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">Love<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>, your God, with your whole heart:
love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span><span class="sup"><b><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif; font-size: 8pt;">6-9</span></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"> </span></span></i><span style="font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;"><i>Write these commandments
that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you and then get
them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or
walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning
to when you fall into bed at night. Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a
reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.</i><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I feel like I should
begin by saying something like ‘I’m Chip Stapleton and I approved this message. But if I never hear another political ad
begin or end that way, I would be happy. <span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the culminating days
of a national election it seems that everyone gets defined by who they are
voting for or what party they are in.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But the passages we just
heard from Matthew & Deuteronomy remind
us that republican, democrat or even American is not the primary way we ought
to define ourselves – rather, we are first citizens of heaven. We are Children of God and that comes with
its own set of responsibilities. The
passages detail our primary responsibilities as the people of God – as citizens
of heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Simply put we are to Love God and Love people.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the world of 24 hour
news – everything matters in an election: words, facial expressions, clothes. Everything.
Likewise, all that we do each day sends a message to the world around us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As we go about our lives
we are sharing a message to those we meet.
What does that message look and sound like? Sometimes we are very intentional about the
message we send – and we use visual aids – like lawn signs, bumper stickers or
t-shirts. We use images to help communicate
the message we want to send <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we want to be clear
about the message we are sending we make sure to reinforce it: we use our
words, our actions and even our clothes, stickers or signs.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">People then hear, read or
see the messages we send in a variety of ways and often times make judgments
about us based on the messages we send. Just like in campaigns, when it comes to the
message we send every day in life everything matters, but especially our words
and actions matter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">So the question is – do
our words and actions match up with the message that has been approved for you
by God, the simple message Jesus echoed to the Pharisee in Matthew?: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love God<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love others<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As we think about if we
are living up to the actual message we have been ‘approved’ to give. Let’s look at what this two part message from
God might look like.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love of God - This is simply putting God first – having
your love of God and your relationship with him at the forefront of your life –
that means it has to invade every area of your life:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">School<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Work<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Friends<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Family<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Even Politics<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jesus Christ has to be at the center
of all we do – the base from which all that we do begins and ends.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The way we talk has to be colored by our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The way we act has to be colored by our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The way we live has to be totally colored by our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love of Neighbor - This one is a
little trickier for us. It is often
easier said than done.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How are we doing in
actually loving our neighbors? Are the
conversations we have with our neighbors laced with the love of God?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What about the neighbors
that have different signs in their front yard?
Maybe we simply ignore them: What kind of love is that showing?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jesus was clear about
this. The parable of the good Samaritan
– the famous story Jesus tells to explain who we should view as our neighbor -
is so powerful because of the back-story between the Jews and the Samaritans. They didn’t disagree about economic policy or
tax rates, they were real enemies – bitter rivals for centuries. That was not an accident or a minor element
of the story, It was the point of the story.
Jesus was saying that is the kind of love we are supposed to have for
everybody<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Not ‘even’ those we
disagree with or are our ‘enemies’ but especially them. Maybe you could care less about politics but
the point is still true – you too have things you are passionate about and that
people disagree about. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is the first place you have to make sure you allow the
love of God to invade in your life<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When we identify ourselves as
Christians – by what we wear, what we say or what we do – even if it is ‘just’
by coming to church. We are putting
‘Jesus Christ approved this message’ at the beginning and end of everything we
do<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There is a recent book,
based on years of work from the Barna research group about what non-Christians
think about those of us that call ourselves Christians. The book was particularly focused on 17 to 30
year olds - the ‘quote, unquote’ next
generation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Book, titled,
‘UnChristian’, paints a chilling picture of just what message those outside the
church see, hear and perceive from Christians.
%87 thought Christians were
judgmental. %85 felt like Christians
were hypocritical. %70 saw Christians as
insensitive to others.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At one point, the author
states: The primary reason outsiders
feel hostile toward Christians, is not because of any specific theological
perspective. . . . The growing hostility toward Christians is very much a
reflection of what outsiders feel they receive from believers. ‘Christians cannot generally live peacefully
with anyone who doesn’t believe what they believe’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The final, staggering
insight is that we, as Christians have become famous for what we oppose, rather
than what we stand for.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But is that really a
surprise –We see, not just in politics, but seemingly in all areas of our lives
that to lift myself up, I have to pull you down. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nobody likes ‘negative’ attack politics, but it works, so
people keep doing it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But remember, It was God
that spoke his name in the beginning of our lives – and who’s Spirit emanates
every aspect of our life and message – if we allow him to. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This way of communicating
is not the only way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In a book written by an
Anglican priest called ‘Never Silent’ I came across a story that highlights exactly
how to live the message approved by God, even in the face of extraordinary
circumstances. In a section called, ‘I
love Idi Amin’ by an Episcopalian Bishop from Uganda – <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The bishop, Festo
Kivengere writes: I had to face my own attitude towards President Amin and his
agents. The Holy Spirit showed me that I
was getting hard in my spirit, and that hardness and bitterness toward those
who were persecuting us could only bring spiritual loss. This would take away my ability to
communicate the love of God. . . . So I had to ask for forgiveness from the
Lord, and for the grace to love President Amin more . . . for he is one of
those for whom Christ shed His precious blood.
As long as he is still alive . . . Pray for him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is the message we have been
approved to share:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love God, Love people<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Bishop Kivengere sought,
through the power of the Holy Spirit to find love for a murderous, terrorist,
dictator of a ‘president’. He found a way
to love even the man that was directly responsible for unspeakable acts of
violence and persecution. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kivengere sought to love
him – so that he could communicate the message he had been approved – that he
had been called to give. Love. Love God.
Love People.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Many of us spend too much
time focused on whatever our differences may be – and make no mistake we have
real differences and disagreements.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But Christ calls us to be
known and marked by our love and we can and we will – through the power of the
Holy Spirit change the message outsiders hear and see when they see us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Democrats and
Republicans, all of us, children of God can be united in bringing one message
to the world – Love.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love God, Love People.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Every day, everywhere you go and you will change the world in
a way no election ever could<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Together, through the power of the
Holy Spirit we can change the world by spreading the message of Jesus Christ’s
saving, redeeming love to every single person we meet – starting with our
neighbor that is voting the ‘other’ way on Tuesday.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because our primary
message and concern can’t be about taxes or jobs or the economy or anything but
Love. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The Love Christ first showed us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The love we return to God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The love we share with others as a
response to the transformational work of the Holy Spirit in and through us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Love. Nothing more, but nothing less is the message
we have been approved to share.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Amen.</span><span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-50203797044778710612011-09-28T15:23:00.001-04:002011-09-28T15:23:52.827-04:00Choosing WiselyAs part of the 'sermon catch-up project' I am also going to be posting some of the short 'meditations' that I have been sharing as part of our monthly Shepherd 701 service. After the meditation there is usually a time to interact with the Word and think about God's leading in our hearts as we 'experience' the Word through various prayer stations. Obviously you don't have the chance to share in that part with us but I do hope that you hear God speaking in this meditation about Mary and Martha and the priorities we have and so often confuse. God Bless:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Luke 10:38-42<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <sup><span>38</span></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>As Jesus
and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named
Martha opened her home to him.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup><span>39</span></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>She had a sister called Mary, who sat
at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup><span>40</span></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But Martha was distracted by all the
preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you
care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”<span> </span> <sup><span>41</span></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Martha, Martha,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the Lord answered,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“you are worried and upset about many
things,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><sup><span>42</span></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>but few things are needed—or indeed
only one.<sup><span>[</span></sup></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2010:38-42&version=NIV#fen-NIV-25406a" title="See footnote a"><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: 'Charis SIL', serif;">a</span></sup></a></span><sup><span style="background: white; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">]</span></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="background: white; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away
from her.”</span><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Prayer:
God, as we have gathered together this night, help us remember and focus on
what is important and essential and let the rest fall away.<span> </span>Help us to fix our eyes, hearts and minds on
you and fill us with your Spirit so that we might be led according to your
will.<span> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I don’t know about you, but
the start of the school year is a crazy time for our family.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There just seems to be more
than there is time to do.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is a time of year where I
particularly identify with Martha.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Martha who welcomes company
into her house – and of course not just any company, but Jesus! – and she
expects her sister to help.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But instead, Mary just sits
there and soaks in what Jesus has to say.<span>
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When she can no longer stand
it, Martha’s frustration boils over and she asks Jesus to make her sister help
her.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead of chastising Mary,
Jesus instead explains to Martha (I like to think gently) that Mary has chosen
correctly.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And while it would be easy to
simply leave it at that, that Mary got it right and Martha got it wrong.<span> </span>I don’t think that is what we are supposed to
take from this passage.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus isn’t saying that
inaction is better than action; that listening is better than doing.<span> </span>What Jesus is really trying to do is clarify
where our priorities should be.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus was primarily concerned
with relationships.<span> </span>In this instance, in
this culture that placed an incredibly high value on hospitality.<span> </span>What Jesus was saying is that being with
someone and being there for them is of a higher value and is a higher priority
that what you do for them.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our relationship with God
isn’t based on what we give to God or do for God and, although Jesus saving act
on the cross is central, our relationship with God is first based on WHO God
is.<span> </span>And who we are able to be because of
who God is.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Everything that we know about
God – including his willingness to send Christ to live and die for us – flows
out of who he is.<span> </span>All that we do – all
that we are able to do – and all that we can become is in response to who God
is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">To get at who God is we must
be willing to first sit and the feet of Jesus and listen.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is why Mary chose the
better thing.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus is saying that he has to
be first.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Knowing the person of Jesus
Christ has to be the highest priority thing that we do.<span> </span>It has to come first in our lives.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When we put Jesus first, then
that relationship and the person of Jesus Christ can be the only thing.<span> </span>Because it, because Jesus is enough.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When we make Jesus the first
thing in our lives all that we need to be and everything that we need to do
flows naturally out of and from Jesus and our relationship with him through the
Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-25878936635298322652011-09-22T09:41:00.000-04:002011-09-22T09:41:59.674-04:00Sermon Catch-up Project: Soul Print Week 6 (The<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Over the Summer I got very lax with the blog and even stopped uploading the messages I gave. So over the next week or so I will be 'catching up' on the messages that I haven't shared. I then hope to start blogging again regularly, but we will see. This first message really should have uploaded a long time ago as it is the sixth and final message in a series based on Mark Batterson's book, 'Soul Print'. Sorry it took so long for those of you (must be thousands, right?) that have been waiting.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Revelation 2:17</span></i></b><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> (NIV)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b><sup>17</sup></b> Whoever has
ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious,
I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white
stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">2
Samuel 7:1-21</span></i><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">(NIV)</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></h3>
<div class="txt-sm" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b><sup>1</sup></b></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After the king was settled
in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">he said to Nathan the
prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains
in a tent.”</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>3</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Nathan
replied to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the
LORD is with you.”</span><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>4</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But
that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying:<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>5</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Go
and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to
build me a house to dwell in?<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>6</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I have not dwelt in a house from the
day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day. I have been moving
from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>7</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Wherever I have moved with all the
Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd
my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>8</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Now
then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty says: I took you
from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my
people Israel.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>9</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I have been with you wherever you have
gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your
name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>10</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And I will provide a place for my
people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and
no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they
did at the beginning<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>11</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and have done ever since the time I
appointed leaders<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%207:%201-21&version=NIV#fen-NIV-8192a" title="See footnote a"><span style="color: #651300;">a</span></a>]</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>over my people Israel. I will also
give you rest from all your enemies.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> “‘The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself
will establish a house for you:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>12</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When your days are over and you rest
with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own
flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>13</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He is the one who will build a house
for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>14</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I will be his father, and he will be
my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with
floggings inflicted by human hands.<b><sup>15</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But my love will never be taken away
from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>16</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Your house and your kingdom will endure
forever before me<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%207:%201-21&version=NIV#fen-NIV-8197b" title="See footnote b"><span style="color: #651300;">b</span></a>]</sup></b>;
your throne will be established forever.’”<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>17</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Nathan
reported to David all the words of this entire revelation.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b><sup>18</sup></b></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then King David went in
and sat before the LORD, and he said:</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> “Who am I, Sovereign LORD, and what is my
family, that you have brought me this far?<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>19</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And as if this were not enough in your
sight, Sovereign LORD, you have also spoken about the future of the house of
your servant—and this decree, Sovereign LORD, is for a mere human!<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Samuel%207:%201-21&version=NIV#fen-NIV-8200c" title="See footnote c"><span style="color: #651300;">c</span></a>]</sup></b></span><o:p></o:p></i><br />
<i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>20</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“What
more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Sovereign LORD.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>21</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>For the sake of your word and
according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to
your servant.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Prayer: God, we have gathered together to worship
you and to seek you and to know you more.<span>
</span>As we come into your presence, help us see you, but also help us see who
you have truly created us to be and who you are calling us to be today and
tomorrow.<span> </span>Guide us by your Spirit to
leave a legacy, a legacy shaped by not what we have done but by what you have
done through us.<span> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today we finish our series based on the book
‘Soulprint’, working towards understanding who God has uniquely made us to be
who we are and searching for the unique call and destiny that God has placed on
our lives. Over the last two months we have looked at five pieces that help us
get to understanding who God designed us and is calling us to be<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First, we are who we are on purpose, for a
purpose.<span> </span>The secondly, to be ourselves
we need a Holy Confidence in a God that is Holy, that loves us and that has
planned nothing but the best for us.<span>
</span>This Holy confidence is trusting and leaning on God.<span> </span>Third, we looked back at our lives and the
‘life symbols’ that help remind us that ‘the ultimate objective of every circumstance
is to cultivate the character of Christ in us<i>.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then we talked about integrity and how its directly
connected to our destiny.<span> </span>God is less
concerned with what we do than with who we are becoming in the process And God
won’t get you where God wants you to go until you become who God wants you to
be.<span> </span><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We also talked about how God can use even the
embarrassing moments of our lives to let us know who we are, who we aren’t and
what God might be calling us to do.<span> </span>Then,
finally, we looked at sin and how our sins affect our ability to reach how we
were called and created to be.<span> </span>But we
were reminded that it is not our mistakes or sins that define who we are but
rather the person of Jesus Christ<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All of that leads us to today and our final look at
the Soulprints God has given each and every one of us.<span> </span>Each of us has a unique destiny which only we
can fulfill and each of us has been given our own combination of gifts,
interests and abilities that fit perfectly with that destiny.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When we view our lives properly they are evidence of
God’s providence.<span> </span>But gaining the right
perspective on who we are and what we were made for requires not just asking
the ‘right’ questions, but also asking the right questions to the right person.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In our passage from 2 Samuel, David is asking the
right question, ‘Who am I?’.<span> </span>David is
not only asking the right question, but he is addressing the right person – as
the question is asked of God during prayer.<span>
</span>If David would have asked his father this question, he might have said
he was simply a shepherd.<span> </span>His brothers
likely saw an delivery boy that brought them their meals on the
battlefield.<span> </span>Saul at first saw him as
‘only a boy’.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">None of these people had the vision for David’s life
that God had.<span> </span>None of them saw who David
was designed and destined to become.<span> </span>Self
discovery begins with sitting in the presence of God and asking God – and no
one else, not even yourself – to define you<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Batterson says: The reason so many of us are
strangers to ourselves is because we don’t sit before the Lord.<span> </span>If you want to discover your destiny, you’ve
got to spend time in the presence of God.<span>
</span>There is no alternative.<span> </span>There is
no substitute.<span> </span>True self-discovery
happens only in the presence of God.<span>
</span>It’s only when you seek God that you will find yourself<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let me say that again: It is only when you seek God
that you will find yourself.<span> </span>And if you
try to find yourself in anything outside of a relationship with the one that
designed and created you, it will lead to a case of mistaken identity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am an only child and when Jack was born, I quickly
realized that our two boys were very different.<span>
</span>And as different people, with different personalities I began to
understand – and am still working to understand – that I needed to interact
differently and parent differently with each one of them.<span> </span>I needed to love each one of them uniquely,
because they are unique. <span> </span>This is how God
loves each of us – uniquely, as if there were only ever one of us – precisely
because there is only and will only ever be one of us.<span> </span>God’s love for you is unlike God’s love for
anyone else ever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And if you remember, that is where we began this
journey to understand and discover our soulprints - with the fact that God has
created us each to be unique, with no one else, ever just like us.<span> </span>But, this isn’t a testimony to us, it is a
testament to the God who created each of us.<span>
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our uniqueness is a gift from God.<span> </span>It is also our gift back to God.<span> </span>And it is our uniqueness that enables us to
worship, serve and share about God unlike anyone else.<span> </span>No one can worship God like you or for
you.<span> </span>And as we have talked about many
times, worship isn’t just about what we do during this hour in this place every
Sunday morning.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The best and truest form of worship is becoming the
best version of who God has created you to be.<span>
</span>Worship is more than a lifestyle.<span>
</span>Worship is a life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the passage we read a few minutes ago from the
book of Revelation, we hear described a time when we will hear the Voice of
God.<span> </span>And we will hear God call us by a
name that only God knows, a name we have never head, but a name we will
know.<span> </span>A name written on a white
stone.<span> </span>Our true name.<span> </span>That name, somehow, will encapsulate all that
we are and all that we have done.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All
the pain and all the joy.<span> </span>All the hopes
and fears.<span> </span>Everything.<span> </span>In that moment all of our lives will click
into place and make sense because God will reveal who we really are – as God
sees us.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our God-given name will capture the essence of who
you are and it will include all that we will become in an eternity spent in the
presence of God.<span> </span>In that moment our
Soulprint will be given its true name.<span> </span>Names
are an interesting thing.<span> </span>And names
carry meaning. <span> </span>Names and nicknames, what
we choose to call people, reveal thinks about how we view the people we are
naming.<span> </span>Nicknames especially reveal
different aspects of people’s personalities.<span>
</span>Nicknames reveal what we see in the people we are naming.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We usually get our nicknames from others, but
sometimes we ask to be called something because of how we want to be viewed.<span> </span>We had this experience when we went for
Charlie’s first parent teacher conference this past year.<span> </span>We discovered that while at school he was
asking to be called Charles.<span> </span>I don’t
think either Traci or I had ever called him by his full name.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over many discussions for the rest of the year we
gathered that he was asking to be called Charles at school – actually just in
his classroom – not because he liked it better than Charlie, but because he
sensed that it was the more formal or serious name.<span> </span>Charlie loves school, but he takes it very
seriously and he deemed Charles more appropriate than Charlie for his school
work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What we want to be called and what others choose to
call us tell us about how we want to be viewed and how others really see us.<span> </span>Jesus often called people by names that meant
something.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He
looked at Simon and saw Peter – the rock that he would build the church
on.<span> </span>He saw James and John as the ‘sons
of thunder’ calling out in them the potential buried deep within their
personalities.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Similarly,
when God looks at you, he sees the real you.<span>
</span>The you that He created you to become.<span>
</span>And in calling you your true name Jesus is calling us to live into the
destinies that we were created for.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Who are you?<span>
</span>How will you be remembered?<span> </span>What
is your legacy?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ultimately, our destinies are determined by the
choices we make – It is in our actions and our reactions that we live into the
name that defines us.<span> </span>That daunting idea
is made wonderful by this fact: In Jesus Christ we are redeemed and made clean.<span> </span>We are not defined by our bad choices or our
mistakes –what we have done wrong.<span>
</span>Instead we are redefined by what Christ has done right.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When
we accept the grace of Christ we are defined by His righteousness, His
perfection and His obedience.<span> </span>That is
both our destiny and God’s legacy.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It is never too late to become who God has called
and named you to be.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let
this be the moment that you begin to live into that name, by entering into the
presence of God and asking the question: Who am I?<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then
allow the Holy Spirit of God write the answer on your heart with the life you
live.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-31476927405214626502011-09-21T09:19:00.000-04:002011-09-21T09:19:18.742-04:00The Unfairness of God<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Below is the message I shared at Good Shepherd on Sunday morning. I hope you are able to hear God speaking to you through it. One of the texts for the message is embedded in the message (Exodus 16), but I also used Matthew 20:1-16 - The parable of the workers in the vineyard. That passage can be found <a href="http://bit.ly/of3U2e">here</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our scripture passages this morning are not paired together
by accident.<span> </span>They share a few common
themes.<span> </span>Primary among them is that they
both tell stories about complaining to God.<span>
</span>The gospel passage comes in the form of a parable, but like many
parables it isn’t that hard to imagine them playing out in real life.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span> </span>In the
gospel passage the workers that have been working the longest see that the
master has given those that had only worked one hour a full day’s wages.<span> </span>The long time workers suddenly expect to be
paid more than what they had agreed to.<span>
</span>They are disappointed to receive the same wage as all the other
workers.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span> </span>The workers
go as far as claiming that the master (God) is being unfair!<span> </span>Of course he is.<span> </span>But not to them, all the workers got exactly
what they were promised, he is a good master.<span>
</span>His unfairness comes from what he promised to the late-coming workers,
giving them far more than they deserve.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span> </span>What I
think we need to understand about this parable is that none of us are those
first workers.<span> </span>The ones there from the
very beginning, the ones that worked all day through – remember these were 1<sup>st</sup>
century workers, not 21<sup>st</sup> century ones, there was no lunch hour or
15 minute breaks. - Those ‘deserving’ workers had been there from the beginning
with the master and had never stopped working during the day.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span> </span>Can any of
us really say that we fit into that category with our master and our God?<span> </span>I know that I can’t.<span> </span>So we must realize who we really are in this
story – one of the undeserving workers (it doesn’t matter which ones) that are
undeserving recipients of God’s grace.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span> </span>When we
start looking at and coveting the gifts and blessings that others around us
receive, we run the risk of forgetting the blessings and gifts – all undeserved
– that God has given us.<span> </span>The reminder
from this parable for us this morning is to trust in the master that keeps his
promise to all of us and offers us that which we do not deserve, and not to be
so caught up in comparing our blessings or our level of ‘deservedness’ to
others.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
This morning’s other text, Exodus
16:2-15, deals with another problem and another case of God demonstrating his
unfairness for our benefit.<span> </span>The
Israelites are not comparing themselves to other people, but instead complaining
about the situation they are in as a result of following God.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
To get the whole story of the
Israelites, I am also going to be reading selections from the rest of the
chapter as well as doing a very quick summary of what has happened in the story
so far – a sort of ‘previously on . . . .’ .<span>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span> </span>So the
story so far:<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">Exodus 1:8 tells us that after the Israelites had lived in
Egypt for some time in relative peace, "a new king [pharaoh] arose over
Egypt, who did not know Joseph." That pharaoh oppressed the Israelites,
and their cries for help reached the ears of God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">We read in Exodus 2:24-25, "God heard their groanings,
and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God looked upon
the Israelites, and God took notice of them." God called to Moses from the
burning bush and sent him to demand that pharaoh allow the Israelites to leave
Egypt. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">A series of confrontations between Moses and pharaoh, in
which God demonstrated his power over the Egyptian gods, culminated in the
death of all the Egyptian first-born. Afterward, the Israelites left Egypt and
began their journey to the land God had promised to their ancestors (Exodus
6:7-8).</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">No sooner had the people left Egypt, however, than they
began to grumble against Moses and God. When they reached the shores of the Red
Sea and saw that the Egyptian army was pursuing, they cried, "Was it
because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the
wilderness?" (Exodus 14:11). As we talked about last week, God intervened,
allowing the Israelites to cross the Sea in safety. Exodus 15:1-21 records the
people's joyous celebration of their miraculous deliverance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">Only three days later, the people were thirsty, having
found only bitter water and they grumbled again, saying, "What shall we
drink?" (Exodus 15:24). God provided fresh water and they continued on
their journey. And here is where we pick up our reading for this morning:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">1-3</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">On the fifteenth day of
the second month after they had left Egypt, the whole company of Israel moved
on from Elim to the Wilderness of Sin which is between Elim and Sinai. The
whole company of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron there in the
wilderness. The Israelites said, "Why didn't</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-variant: small-caps;">God</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">let us die in comfort in
Egypt where we had lamb stew and all the bread we could eat? You've brought us
out into this wilderness to starve us to death, the whole company of
Israel!"<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"><span> </span>Did you catch
where we are in the time line – the 15<sup>th</sup> day of the second
month.<span> </span>45 days into their escape from
Egypt – even less time removed from their miraculous passage through the Red
Sea.<span> </span>45 days and already the Israelites
are drowning in their sorrows.<span> </span>Less than
two months removed from lives of captivity – lives of slavery so harsh and
cruel that their children were being killed – and they are already looking
back, across the sea to ‘better times’.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"><span> </span>The Israelites
are crying out </span><span style="color: black;">"If only we had . .
." Words of regret in the present, of fear for the future. "If only .
. ." they say again and again.<span> </span>But
just a few short months ago, the Israelites cried out to God in their
oppression under pharaoh. God sent Moses, Aaron and Miriam to lead them out of
their oppression. God guided them through the first perilous days of their
journey to freedom. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">God provided water when they felt they could go no further.
At every juncture, God was there. According to Exodus 13:21-22, "The LORD
went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day . . . and in a pillar of fire
by night . . . Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by
night left its place in front of the people." </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> So, when God hears
the people’s grumbling it would be very understandable, or we could say fair,
for God to be upset, even angry at the Israelites lack of trust, lack of
gratitude and lack of, well faith. <span> </span>But
as we continue the reading listen to how God responds:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">4-5</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-variant: small-caps;">God</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">said to Moses, "I'm going to rain
bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day's
ration. I'm going to test them to see if they'll live according to my Teaching
or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have gathered, it will
turn out to be twice as much as their daily ration."<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"><span> </span></span>Instead of greeting their
complaints with anger, which would have been the expected and ‘fair’ response, God
immediately states that he will continue to provide for every need that the
Israelites will have – including the need for food.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
But, God makes clear that there is
a catch to this provision.<span> </span>The catch is
played out in two almost contradictory ways: first, the Israelites must only
take enough manna for that day – they must not store it or try to ‘stock up’ on
it.<span> </span>Second, on Fridays they must collect
and make enough to last through the next day’s Sabbath.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span> </span>You see God
was calling them to live by faith, trusting in him to continue to provide for
them.<span> </span>We often tend to think of faith as
an noun – it is almost like a possession, faith is something we ‘have’.<span> </span>But this is not the Hebrew understanding or
usage of the word.<span> </span>For the Israelites
faith was a verb, an action, something they did.<span> </span>And God was calling on them to act and live
in faith.<span> </span>God was calling them to
actively trust in his unfair provision for them– to live their faith in him
every day.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">And that is why every seventh day God commanded that humans
stop, individually and as a community and put aside their daily chore of
gathering bread, and marvel at God's care for them. In the wilderness, God
forged a relationship with the people that called them to trust God to provide
for their every need, not just for today, but for tomorrow as well. </span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span>Continuing
at v. 6</div>
<span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">6-7</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">Moses and Aaron told the People of Israel, "This evening you
will know that it is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>who
brought you out of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the Glory of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>.
Yes, he's listened to your complaints against him. You haven't been complaining
against us, you know, but against <span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>."<span> </span> </span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">8</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">Moses said, "Since it will be<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>who gives you meat for your meal in
the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, it's<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>who will have listened to your complaints
against him. Who are we in all this? You haven't been complaining to us—you've
been complaining to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>!"<span> </span> </span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">9</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">Moses instructed Aaron: "Tell the whole company of Israel:
'Come near to<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>. He's heard your complaints.'"<span> </span></span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">10</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">When Aaron gave out the instructions to the whole company of
Israel, they turned to face the wilderness. And there it was: the Glory of<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>visible in the Cloud.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"><span> </span></span><span style="color: black;">Moses
has Aaron tell the people to ‘come near to God’ because from the very beginning
what God wants, what God desires from the Israelites and from us is a
relationship. The Glory of God that was ever present with them in the
wilderness, a cloud in the daylight and a ball of fire at night.<span> </span>It was a constant visual reminder that God
was, quite literally with them.<span> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">11-12</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-variant: small-caps;">God</span></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">spoke to Moses, "I've listened to the complaints of the
Israelites. Now tell them: 'At dusk you will eat meat and at dawn you'll eat
your fill of bread; and you'll realize that I am<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span>your</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>God.'" </span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">13-15</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">That evening quail flew in and covered the camp and in the morning
there was a layer of dew all over the camp. When the layer of dew had lifted,
there on the wilderness ground was a fine flaky something, fine as frost on the
ground. The Israelites took one look and said to one another,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span>man-hu</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(What is it?). They had no idea what
it was. </span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">15-16</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">So Moses told them, "It's the bread<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>has given you to eat. And these are<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>'s
instructions: 'Gather enough for each person, about two quarts per person;
gather enough for everyone in your tent.'" </span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">19</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">Moses said to them, "Don't leave any of it until
morning." </span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">20</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">But they didn't listen to
Moses. A few of the men kept back some of it until morning. It got wormy and
smelled bad.<span> </span></span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">31</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">The Israelites named it manna (What is it?). It looked like
coriander seed, whitish. And it tasted like a cracker with honey.<span> </span> </span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">32</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">Moses said, "This is<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span style="font-variant: small-caps;">God</span>'s command: 'Keep a two-quart jar of
it, an omer, for future generations so they can see the bread that I fed you in
the wilderness after I brought you out of Egypt.'" <span class="apple-style-span"> </span></span></i><span class="sup"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif"; font-size: 8.0pt;">35</span></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Charis SIL","serif";">The Israelites ate the
manna for forty years until they arrived at the land where they would settle
down. They ate manna until they reached the border into Canaan.<o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">The manna found in the desert was a gift to our ancestors
in faith and it was a test. The gift was food for the journey; the test was of
faith in God's promise of good provisions.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
God providing the manna and the
quail for the Israelites has always been the most interesting aspect of the
story to me I have often wondered if there was any way to explain the miracle.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
Well, I was quickly able to find a
well documented natural phenomenon that occurs in the Sinai Peninsula (which,
as it turns out is located between Egypt and ancient Israel).<span> </span>A type of plant lice punctures the fruit of
the tamarisk tree and excretes a substance from this juice, a yellowish-white
flake or ball.<span> </span>During the warmth of the
day it disintegrates, but it congeals when it is cold.<span> </span>It has a sweet taste.<span> </span>Rich in carbohydrates and sugar, it is still
gathered today and baked into a kind of bread (called mana).<span> </span>The food, though, decays very quickly and
attracts ants and other insects.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
As for the quail, apparently
migratory birds flying in from Africa or blown in from the Mediterranean are
fairly common and are often exhausted enough from their flight to be caught
easily by hand.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
So, you see.<span> </span>The Manna and the Quail were not really a
response by God to the complaints of the Israelites.<span> </span>Rather they were part of God’s divine plan –
from the very beginning – to care for and provide for the Israelites while they
labored in the wilderness of the desert.<span>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
If you begin to take away the
(quote, unquote) miraculous aspect of this story – God raining down bread and
providing quail out of nowhere – the level of God’s provision actually
increases and becomes more profound.<span> </span>In
the setting up of the world, he made allowance to provide for His people as
they struggled through the wilderness.<span>
</span>At the beginning of time, during the formation of the world God was
thinking of His people.<span> </span>God was thinking
of the Israelites and God was thinking about you and me.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
The kind of God that would do that
– set up a naturally occurring source of sustenance for the Israelites from the
beginning of time.<span> </span>That kind of God is
not a reactionary God, only stepping into our lives or getting involved at the
bleakest moments with a miraculous turn.<span>
</span>No the God that would order the world to provide in this way – our God -
is a God that is a presence in our daily lives and a God that desires a
connection with us every day.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
God doesn’t go about making a show,
he has no interest or need with such things.<span>
</span>Instead all that God does, whether obviously miraculous or seemingly
ordinary is done because he loves us and is done with the purpose of showing
that love and grace and bringing us into a relationship with God.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
With a God like this – one that is
so unfair to our benefit, giving us much more than we deserve - the only
question that remains is – why would we doubt, why would we worry?<span> </span>Why would we ever lack trust in a God that
not only knew that his beloved people would be hungry and thirsty in the
desert, but a God that also was able to provide the food and water that was
needed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
We are blessed to live in a world
where we are surrounded by conveniences and products to meet ‘needs’ that we
don’t even know we have – but yet we are still plagued by worry and doubt about
so much.<span> </span>We wonder how we will get by in
this new, more volatile economy.<span> </span>We wonder
how we will continue to pay all the bills when we pay $4 a gallon for gas and
the price of everything seems to be rapidly rising.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
We wonder, and in our wondering we
eventually find ourselves in the middle of the wilderness.<span> </span>A wilderness where we are filled with fear,
where we doubt that we will be taken care of or that we will make it through
this time of trial. We find ourselves standing in a desert, thirsty with no
water in sight and hungry with nothing to eat.<span>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
God invites us into the wilderness
and allows us to be there so that we can begin to understand his care for
us.<span> </span>Too often in our world, surrounded
by all that ‘we’ have made and that ‘we’ have provided we lose sight of God
working in the everyday rhythms and patterns of life.<span> </span>And we begin to see only ourselves.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
God invites us into the wilderness
so that we can experience God’s love, care and providence.<span> </span>It is only in the wilderness of our lives,
where our eyes are opened to the needs that we have, needs that we can’t
fulfill on our own.<span> </span>It is in the
wilderness that these needs are clearly separated from the passing ‘wants’ that
change by the day and don’t really satisfy.<span>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
And just like it was for the
Israelites it is in the wilderness that we can most easily and clearly see and
feel God’s presence working in our lives and through all of creation.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Israelites spent 40 years in the desert slowly learning
the lesson of trust in God – They remained in the wilderness until they began
to fully trust in God – a whole generation had to pass before that transition
could be complete.<span> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
How long are we going to remain in
the wilderness of not really trusting on God? <span> </span>Of wishing for anywhere but where God has
placed us? <span> </span>Of not seeing God working in
and through all of creation to care and provide for us?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">Manna from God, in whatever form it takes in our daily
lives, is God's promise to provide for us; it is God’s promise to give us more
than we deserve and be unfair to our benefit; it is up to us to gather the
manna during the days it is given and to trust in God that it will be there
again tomorrow.<span> </span>God provides and cares
for us always – but often we must go into the wilderness to see it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black;">Amen.</span></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-54288954697278301932011-09-13T11:56:00.001-04:002011-09-13T11:58:18.019-04:00Talking about forgiveness 10 years after 9/11 <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Below is the message I shared on Sunday, which was as you all know was the 10 year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. All last week I heard a lot of other pastors wrestling with the fact that the lectionary passages dealt with forgiveness and how difficult that might be. I found it to be good. Until Sunday morning when I was getting ready for church and I had the TV on and was watching Pres. Obama read Psalm 46 and I heard the 2 moments of silence (if that makes any sense). It hit me much more powerfully than I had imagined it would. Anyway, I really believe forgiveness - our forgiveness of others - is how we most powerfully share God's love with the world. Anyway, here you go:</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #5c1101; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;">
<b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #5c1101; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Exodus
14:19-31<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>19</sup></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Then the
angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and
went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind
them,</span> <b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">20</span></sup></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel.
Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to
the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>21</sup></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Then Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea
back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were
divided,</span> <b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">22</span></sup></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground,
with a wall of water on their right and on their left.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>23</sup></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">The
Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen
followed them into the sea.</span> <b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">24</span></sup></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">During the last watch of the night the LORD looked
down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into
confusion.</span> <b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">25</span></sup></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">He jammed<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2014:19-31&version=NIV#fen-NIV-1915a" title="See footnote a"><span style="color: #651300;">a</span></a>]</sup></b></span> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">the wheels of their chariots so that they had
difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the
Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>26</sup></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Then the
LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may
flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”</span> <b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">27</span></sup></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Moses
stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its
place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2014:19-31&version=NIV#fen-NIV-1917b" title="See footnote b"><span style="color: #651300;">b</span></a>]</sup></b></span> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">it, and the LORD swept them into the sea.</span> <b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">28</span></sup></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">The
water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of
Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them
survived.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>29</sup></b></span><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">But the
Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their
right and on their left.</span> <b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">30</span></sup></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the
Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.</span> <b><sup><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">31</span></sup></b> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">And
when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians,
the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #5c1101; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">Matthew
18:21-35<o:p></o:p></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b><sup>21</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then Peter came to Jesus and asked,
“Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?
Up to seven times?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>22</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jesus
answered,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“I tell you, not seven
times, but seventy-seven times.<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2018:21-35&version=NIV#fen-NIV-23750a" title="See footnote a"><span style="color: #651300;">a</span></a>]</sup></b><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>23</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is
like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.<b><sup>24</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>As he began the settlement, a man who
owed him ten thousand bags of gold<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2018:21-35&version=NIV#fen-NIV-23752b" title="See footnote b"><span style="color: #651300;">b</span></a>]</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>was brought to him.<b><sup>25</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Since he was not able to pay, the
master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be
sold to repay the debt.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>26</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“At this the servant fell on his knees
before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>27</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The servant’s master took pity on him,
canceled the debt and let him go.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>28</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“But when that servant went out, he
found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins.<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2018:21-35&version=NIV#fen-NIV-23756c" title="See footnote c"><span style="color: #651300;">c</span></a>]</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He grabbed him and began to choke him.
‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>29</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“His fellow servant fell to his knees
and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>30</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“But he refused. Instead, he went off
and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>31</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When the other servants saw what had
happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had
happened.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>32</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Then the master called the servant
in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because
you begged me to.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>33</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your
fellow servant just as I had on you?’<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>34</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>In anger his master handed him over to
the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <b><sup>35</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“This is how my heavenly Father will
treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Prayer: God, as we
gather together to worship you this day we ask that would open our hearts and
our minds so that we might hear and understand your Word for our lives. We ask your Spirit to work in us to transform
first our hearts and then our lives.
Guide us Lord to move from our personal transformation to becoming
instruments of transformation for the world around us. Use us Lord to bring your kingdom near. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 19.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">"Seventy times seven" is a lot of
forgiveness. Once is tough enough. Twice, almost unreasonable. "Seventy
seven times?" It Almost seems ridiculous, yet that is precisely what Jesus
commanded in his dialogue with Simon Peter. Keep on forgiving, he counseled,
even when forgiveness seems illogical. For often forgiveness is more of a gift
we give ourselves than a favor we bestow on others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 19.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">These are interesting and challenging words for
us on this particular day – but appropriate words as we look to the start of a
new school year and we think about the fresh start each new beginning gives
us. A new beginning that begins with the
principal of importance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 19.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus illustrated that principle with the story
of a servant who owed the king a fortune. "Ten thousand talents," to
be exact—several years, maybe even a lifetimes wages. No way possible he could
ever pay up! But his pleading for mercy touched a tender chord in the gracious
king, and the servant was forgiven. His account was marked "paid in
full."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 19.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">However, the servant soon met another man who
owed him a mere handful of denarii—several days wages. The debtor pleaded for
mercy but received a sentence to debtors' prison instead. The king, upon
hearing of the first servant's refusal to forgive, rescinded his former offer,
and the servant wound up on the locked side of a prison cell "until he
would pay his entire debt" (v. 34). His refusal to forgive was his
undoing. So it usually goes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 19.2pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; text-indent: .5in; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Practicing forgiveness illustrates an awareness
of God's love for all of us. A love that
was shown to us without us first ‘deserving it’. God’s forgiveness represents a fresh start or
new beginning for each of us. When we
practice forgiveness in our own lives it allows space for God to cultivate new
relationships, fresh starts and the exact new beginning that we need.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">We see this
evidenced in our scripture lesson from Exodus<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">The Israelites, through the Spirit of God, were granted a
miraculous passage through the Red Sea. They
are God’s chosen people, and they were delivered from the hand of Pharaoh so
that they could follow and worship God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">They were given a new start – not just because – but so that
they could live the lives they were created for. So that they could worship God with all of
their lives and they could worship God. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">In order to fully and truly worship God and to really begin
their new lives they couldn’t dwell on what had happened to them - and it took them 40 years of wandering in
the desert before they were willing and able – before they were ready to move
on and move into the lives that God had saved them for. That God had created them for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">In our own lives, we can’t move on from what we are and what
has happened to us into the new beginning and the new, transformed lives that
God has for us without forgiveness. This
idea – the importance of forgiveness and the connection between the receiving
and the giving of forgiveness – is the meaning behind the parable of the
unforgiving servant in Matt. 18.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">A new life in Christ begins with the forgiveness we have in,
through and because of Jesus Christ. But that forgiveness is only the
beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">We can only fully receive the forgiveness of God and only
truly be transformed into the new creations God is calling us to be when we
begin to share that forgiveness with those in our own lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">We have to let God’s forgiveness take root in our hearts and
lives and flow out of us – even to those, maybe even especially to those that
have hurt us the most deeply and those that probably don’t deserve it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #222222; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Because
If Jesus loves others enough to die for them, perhaps our refusal to forgive
them is spiritually inappropriate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">And the truth of our situation is that we don’t deserve Jesus
Christ any more than those people that we are struggling to forgive – but Jesus
chose to come and live his life for us and eventually to die for us so that we
might spread the love and Kingdom of God – a love none of us deserve to every
person and every corner of this world – God’s world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">This is only possible when we move from looking at the world
through the lens of ‘what has happened to us’ or ‘what people have done to us’
and begin to see the world through the lens of Jesus Christ. So that when we see the world we don’t see
the pain we have suffered but the healing and transformation we have received
through Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Our view and
interaction with the world needs to be motivated not by the world’s actions to
us, but by Jesus Christ’s action for us!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-29512947886225168692011-06-29T13:51:00.000-04:002011-06-29T13:51:05.605-04:00Let's talk about Sin - Soulprint Week #5<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared on Sunday at Good Shepherd. I talk about sin and its consequences and also how God sometimes uses our hurt to help those around us. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<h3 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: #5c1101; font-size: 11.0pt;">2 Samuel 11-12<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></h3><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <div class="txt-sm" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt;"> <b><sup>1</sup></b></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt;">In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt;"> <b><sup>2</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>3</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>4</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>5</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.” <b><sup>14</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>15</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.” <b><sup>16</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>17</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died. <b><sup>26</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>27</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><h4><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">2 Samuel 12<o:p></o:p></span></h4><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <b><sup>1</sup></b></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">2</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">3</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <b><sup>4</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.” <b><sup>5</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die!<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>6</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.” <b><sup>7</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>8</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>9</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>10</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ <b><sup>11</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>12</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’” <b><sup>13</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>14</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for<b><sup>[</sup></b></span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2Samuel%2011-12%20&version=NIV#fen-NIV-8301c" title="See footnote c"><b><sup><span style="color: #651300;">c</span></sup></b></a><b><sup><span style="color: black;">]</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">the LORD, the son born to you will die.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today we have the next to the last message in our ‘Soulprint’ series, as we work towards understanding who God has uniquely made us to be who we are and searching for the unique call and destiny that God has placed on our lives. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week we looked at how God can use even the embarrassing moments of our lives to let us know who we are, who we aren’t and what God might be calling us to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today, we shift gears a little bit – we only have two weeks left of talking about and looking for our soulprints and we are now getting down to the nitty gritty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are going to talk about sin and how our sins affect our ability to reach how we were called and created to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before we do that, though, we are going to talk about a critical element of discovering your soulprint – beginning to see yourself as God see’s you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Batterson says: Until your see yourself through his eyes, you’ll never get a vision of who you can become.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The key to self-discovery is allowing the One who knit you together in your mother’s womb to reveal things you do not and cannot know about yourself without His revelation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God knows you better than you know you, because He designed you, so if you want to get to know yourself, you’ve got to get to know God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As C.S. Lewis explains in Mere Christianity – ‘Your real, new self . . . will not come as long as you are looking for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It will come when you are looking for Him.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Opening our eyes and asking God to show us who and what we really are is not a one time thing – it is an ongoing, life long process.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">David has seen, time and time again who he is in God’s eyes, who he really is. But as we catch up with him in this morning’s passage something has changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe he is bored – he is used to leading the battles, being at the center of all the action – but instead he is up pacing his rooftop at night as his army is off at war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But whatever the reason, he feels a void in his life and doesn’t wait on God to fill it. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the book this is called ‘legitimate illegitimate sin’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we attempt to meet a legitimate need, but do it in a illegitimate way, a way other than God’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This happens when we aren’t patient enough to wait for God to meet the need in his way and in his timing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We legitimize our sin by saying things like, ‘God wants us to be happy’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is definitely true, but whenever we take a sinful shortcut to that happiness we miss out on the real happiness and joy that God offers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sin often yields a moment of pleasure, but the long term result and side effect is always misery.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply put, sin is selling yourself – and God – short.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And sin keeps you from fulfilling your true destiny, doing and becoming who you were meant to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More than anything else, the biggest consequence of the continued and persistent presence of sin – especially a repeated sin -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>is that we begin to forget not just who we are – who we really are, but we also forget WHOSE we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And remembering whose we are is the key to happiness, joy and living into our soulprint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we try to do for ourselves that which only God can do for us – like struggling in quicksand, our ‘best efforts’ usually only leave us deeper in the pit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>try and try to fix our own brokenness, but there are problems that are beyond our ability, pain and hurt beyond our capacity for healing and memories too strong to forget and move on from.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The only way out and past these things to who we are meant to be is through allowing God to rebuild and restore our hearts, our minds and our spirits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we recognize and accept the truth that we can’t fix or save or heal ourselves, but rather we need God to do that, the process of restoration can begin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Each and every one of us was created as<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a palace – the temple of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in order for our hearts, minds and lives to be suitable for God to dwell in – more than a quick redecoration is required.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our lives often require major renovation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you have ever been through a major renovation, then you probably know all too well, that it usually begins with some demolition.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the midst of wrestling with his own brokenness David wrote Psalm 51, where, in verse 17 he says:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes God can use the brokenness that comes from our sinfulness and disobedience to bless us and those around us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we allow God to lead us in working through our own tragedies, our own pain and the problems we face – God prepares us to help others with their problems, their pain and their tragedies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are times when our soulprints and destinies are shaped through moments of beauty and joy, but there are other times when our destinies are shaped by the moments that take that joy from us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes there is no discernable reason for our pain – no redemption that can be found.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In those moments we hold to the fact that we are never alone – we serve and worship a God that feels our pain and lives it with us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are other times, however, that our pain comes from the breaking down of strongholds in our hearts, minds and lives that need breaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Strongholds like: pride, Lust, anger, jealousy and bitterness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Until we let God break these things down and away from our lives, we will never be able to fulfill our destinies and become who God made us to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In David’s life, his eyes were opened to the strongholds that he had allowed sin to build in his life by the prophet Nathan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nathan, in telling David the story about himself, became a mirror to David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nathan showed David the depth of his sin and his need for repentance. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mirrors that allow us to see into the dark corners and blind spots of our lives are critical and they come in many forms – friends, family members, words from the pulpit or from a member of the church.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But there is no more important, valuable or accurate mirror for our lives and our hearts that Scripture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The best form of self-examination is simply reading Scripture and meditating on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scripture is a perfect mirror because it reveals how our Designer and Creator sees us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There are of course, bad mirrors too, and most of our identity problems are the result of looking in the wrong mirrors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For some there is the mirror of culture, for others the mirror is what other people think of them, and so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we want to discover our soulprints, we have to begin and end with Scripture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Batterson writes these insightful words: If you aren’t reading your Bible as much as you could or should, you’ll have identity issues.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And let me go out on a limb.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you aren’t reading your Bible like you could, it is probably because of some sin in your life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t want to look in the mirror because it’s convicting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>. . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you ignore it, it will get worse . . . The Bible is not only the best cure for identity problems.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also the best prevention<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But, as always with God, there is good news.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David, in spite of his sinfulness was not defined by that sinfulness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 1Kings 15 we read that David was counted in the company of kings that did right in the eyes of the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David, just like you and I is defined not by what we do right, what we are good at or even by our sinfulness, but rather we are all defined by the grace of God.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When we are in Christ we are no longer defined by what we have done wrong, but by what Christ has done right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The righteousness of Christ is our identity and our destiny<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because of that good news there is even more good news: It is never too late to be who you might have been.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Your mistakes may define your past, but they don’t have to define your present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And they certainly don’t have to define your future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you are still breathing, it means that God isn’t finished with you yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God is still remodeling and restoring you in his image.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God is still setting the captive free and creating the unique masterpiece that is you.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-87089741898305762992011-06-28T12:43:00.000-04:002011-06-28T12:43:25.718-04:00Soulprint Week #4 - Embarrassing moments with God<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared with Good Shepherd last Sunday as we continued to work through the book Soulprint by Mark Batterson. We looked specifically at how embarrassing or bad moments can help shape us and confirm who we are and who we aren't. We also talk about being willing to be embarrassed for the 'right' reasons. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br />
</span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-outline-level: 3;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">2 Samuel 6:12-22<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b><sup>12</sup></b> Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. <b><sup>13</sup></b> When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. <b><sup>14</sup></b> Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the LORD with all his might, <b><sup>15</sup></b> while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <b><sup>16</sup></b> As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <b><sup>17</sup></b> They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. <b><sup>18</sup></b> After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. <b><sup>19</sup></b> Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <b><sup>20</sup></b> When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <b><sup>21</sup></b> David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. <b><sup>22</sup></b> I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><h3 style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Matthew 7:24-27<o:p></o:p></span></i></h3><div class="MsoNormal"><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">24</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">25</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">26</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">27</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Today we continue our series based on the book ‘Soulprint’, working towards understanding who God has uniquely made us to be who we are and searching for the unique call and destiny that God has placed on our lives. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">As we took a break in the series last week, with the wonderful Pentecost worship lead by our youth, as quick review of the first three weeks of our Soulprint series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">First, we are who we are on purpose, for a purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The secondly, to be ourselves we need a Holy Confidence in a God that is Holy, that loves us and that has planned nothing but the best for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Holy confidence is trusting and leaning on God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Third, we look back at our lives and we Keep ‘life symbols’ of the times that God has been especially present and active in our lives to help us remember: ‘the ultimate objective of every circumstance is to cultivate the character of Christ in us<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></i>Then finally we talked about integrity and how its directly connected to our destiny.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">God is less concerned with what we do than with who we are becoming in the process And God won’t get you where God wants you to go until you become who God wants you to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we continue to think about talk about discovering exactly what God has uniquely designed us for – and how we can get there, we are going to spend a little time thinking about embarrassing and awkward moments in our lives.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Most of us, myself included work hard at avoiding any type of embarrassment or awkwardness – I think that is a perfectly natural reaction to those two emotions. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But Soulprint makes the suggestion that we need a little embarrassment and awkwardness because they help keep us humble – and humility is a key to fulfilling our destiny.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In fact, if we stay humble – and grounded in our dependence on God there is nothing God cannot do in us and through us. But back to those embarrassing moments – they tend to mark our lives and stick in our memories in unique and powerful ways.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Apart from keeping us humble and giving us reason to laugh at ourselves, the embarrassing moments in our lives can help us define and come to terms with who we are – and who we are not – Embarrassment often follows our attempts to be something we aren’t.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One of my most embarrassing moments in ministry came from a different source – not from trying to do something that I wasn’t good at or be something I wasn’t, but from the area of ministry that I thought I had the most gifts for.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">This moment occurred about a week or two into my first job out of college.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I was one of two youth ministers at a large church in Pittsburgh that I had interned at while I was finishing school.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Even though I knew many of the youth, my fellow youth minister and the church, there were still lots of things I was nervous about.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Speaking to the youth group, though, wasn’t one of those things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honestly, preaching and speaking has always been something I was good at: from my first speech, to the PA state senate as a 4<sup>th</sup> grader to public speaking in high school, to my times as a youth leader and camp counselor in college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just always came naturally to me and my talks always seemed well received.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Add to that the fact that the other youth minister I was working with really wasn’t very gifted when it came to speaking – so I felt like I would look pretty good in comparison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Looking back, I am astonished at how unprepared I was – but I remember back then thinking I had it all under control and maybe even ahead of the game<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I had a title and a theme for the talk, which was to be the first of a series: ‘The facts of Life’ (The fact that I was using a sitcom that none of the youth had been alive to watch should have been a tipoff that this wasn’t going to go well, but I digress .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>.. )<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Anyway, the time for youth group came, kids showed up and eventually it was time for me to get up and give my talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I got up with my notes – which were, as I recall, very rough in nature – and, well I can’t really explain what happened except to say that it didn’t go well.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In fact it went horribly – and as I was up there I knew it wasn’t going well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It went so badly that two things happened:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">First, at one point in the talk, as I could feel my face getting redder and redder, I seriously contemplated just leaving and never coming back. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, after youth group was over, the other youth minister (the one that wasn’t a very gifted speaker) said to me, in what I think was intended to be a gentle way that ‘maybe we might need to work on our talks’<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">That was, without a doubt a terrible, and horrible experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no question embarrassing moments are horrible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they can also be wonderful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are wonderful because few things are as freeing as being embarrassed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Embarrassment frees us from the burden of pretense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in a way is a part of dying to self so that we can allow Christ to live in us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">My embarrassment was the result of poor planning and preparation, and while it served a purpose in making me humble and helping me rely on God instead of myself, it was totally avoidable.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">There are times, however, if we are following God’s call for our lives when we will have to make a choice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we will have to decide if we are going to let fear of embarrassment get between us and God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">We might be too embarrassed to share our faith, walk away from a sinful situation or confront a friend that is making hurtful choices. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But embarrassment that comes from doing what is right is holy embarrassment and it’s the foundation of a life open to being used by God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we are following God’s call there will be times when embarrassment is the only way we can remain faithful to God and true to yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Will we choice embarrassment or hypocrisy, embarrassment or sin?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It is a choice that David makes in our scripture reading this morning. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David made a choice to rejoice in the Lord and represent his joy by dancing at the city gates as he came triumphantly into the capital city as its victorious king, instead of accepting all the praise and honor the people were giving him.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">David choose to risk embarrassment, the breaching of political protocol and even the contempt of his wife in order to demonstrate his thankfulness to God for what he had done in his life and the place to which God had brought him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Part of the embarrassment of what David did had to have come from the fact that he didn’t just dance – he disrobed first, stripping down, essentially to his underwear – and then danced.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">This isn’t a minor detail, but rather a powerful statement of humility and submission to God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The royal robes that David took off represent David’s identity and security as the king of Israel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a very real way those robes represented David’s authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But David didn’t find either his security or identity in his status as king. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David found his true identity and true security as a worshipper of the almighty God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disrobing was a symbol of his humility – stripped down, naked and humble before God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Disrobing also was a signal of his dependence on God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">David didn’t find his identity and security as the king of the Israelites, or through anything else that he was or that he did, rather David found his security and identity in the King of kings a& the Lord of lords.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For us to truly find our soulprints – who we are meant to be and what we were created to do – we have to first be stripped of the things we find our identity in and the things we find our security in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">For me, I had to lose confidence in my own abilities as a public speaker and a preacher before I could open myself up to be used by God and to use my gifts through my preaching and speaking.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Discovering your soulprint, your purpose in life, your calling begins with finding your identity and security in Christ alone.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Disrobing means dying to self and that begins with identifying the things we find our identity and security in outside of our relationship with Christ. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as David’s example shows us – we aren’t just talking about bad habits or ‘problems’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God had made David king – but David knew he couldn’t let the gift – being made king – become more important than the One who gave it to us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Our identity and security needs to be located in the person of the gift giver – Jesus Christ – not the gifts themselves. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Because, we need to remember the lesson we heard from Matthew a few minutes ago – what you build your foundation on matters. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Batterson says, and I think he is right, that God has ‘hardwired us for worship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, no matter what, we are going to worship something.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The question is simply who or what are we going to worship?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Are we going to worship God with a capital G or the gods with a lowercase g, the god of you, what you can do, what you are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">If we choose to worship our own lowercase g gods it will end in disappointment for you and anyone else that might worship you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our identity issues all stem from worshiping the wrong thing or the wrong person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">When we build our identities on the things in your life or on ‘who you are as you do certain things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s like building your house on the shifting sand. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might base your identity on school and how you do at school – but you are going to graduate. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You might base your identity on your job – but you might lose it or you might need to find a different one and eventually you will retire.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">You might base your identity on a relationship: a marriage, a close friendship, or between parent and child – but we all know too well that not all of those relationships will last and none of us are guaranteed tomorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">All of those things: school, jobs and careers, marriage and other relationships are good things, gifts from God even.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they are not the rock upon which to base your identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And you cannot find security in them.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">When you graduate from school the student dies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you turn twenty the teenager dies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you get married, the single person dies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you retire, the vocation dies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 18px;">Each of these ‘little deaths’ can cause an incredible crisis. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if you base your identity on Christ, you avoid these crises altogether.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your security – your foundation – is rooted in the steadfast love of the Lord that never ceases.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your identity is found in the One who is the same yesterday, today and forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Jesus Christ becomes your cornerstone. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With Jesus as your cornerstone you can find the courage to step out into whatever God has called you to – even if it brings with it embarrassment or awkwardness. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Because count on this: Doing the will of God almost is almost always accompanied by feelings of awkwardness, uneasiness, and unreadyness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like David – dancing in his underwear as he was supposed to be entering into the capital as the triumphant king – you might end up looking ‘crazy’ to the rest of the world.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">But what if that embarrassment and awkwardness was the only thing standing between you and your destiny?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Would you be willing to embrace it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Take off your royal robes, lose the alter ego that is founded on anything but Jesus Christ and step into your destiny by risking embarrassment to live into the life God created you for.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Amen.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-75579011894006278532011-06-07T12:11:00.000-04:002011-06-07T12:11:59.365-04:00Soulprint Week #3 - The Crags of the Wild Goats<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared with Good Shepherd on Sunday. It is the third in a six week series based on the life of David and the book Soulprint. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The focus of this week's message really has been resonating with me, and sticking with me: simply, that in our search for purpose, meaning and fulfillment in life, in our journey to live into the call that God has placed on our lives nothing is more important than our integrity. It is our integrity that opens the door of our lives for God to work most fully in and through them. God Bless.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1 Samuel 24 (NIV)</span></i></b><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1</span></sup></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2024&version=NIV#fen-NIV-7841a" title="See footnote a"><span style="color: #651300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">a</span></a>]</sup></b>After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the Desert of En Gedi.”<b><sup>2</sup></b> So Saul took three thousand able young men from all Israel and set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.<b><sup>3</sup></b> He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. <b><sup>4</sup></b> The men said, “This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said<b><sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2024&version=NIV#fen-NIV-7844b" title="See footnote b"><span style="color: #651300; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">b</span></a>]</sup></b> to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. <b><sup>5</sup></b> Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. <b><sup>6</sup></b> He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the LORD.” <b><sup>7</sup></b> With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way. <b><sup>8</sup></b> Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. <b><sup>9</sup></b> He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? <b><sup>10</sup></b> This day you have seen with your own eyes how the LORD delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the LORD’s anointed.’ <b><sup>11</sup></b> See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. <b><sup>12</sup></b> May the LORD judge between you and me. And may the LORD avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. <b><sup>13</sup></b> As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><sup>14</sup></b> “Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Who are you pursuing? A dead dog? A flea? <b><sup>15</sup></b> May the LORD be our judge and decide between us. May he consider my cause and uphold it; may he vindicate me by delivering me from your hand.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><sup>16</sup></b> When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud. <b><sup>17</sup></b> “You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. <b><sup>18</sup></b> You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the LORD delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. <b><sup>19</sup></b> When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the LORD reward you well for the way you treated me today. <b><sup>20</sup></b> I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. <b><sup>21</sup></b> Now swear to me by the LORD that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><sup>22</sup></b> So David gave his oath to Saul. Then Saul returned home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today we continue our series based on the book ‘Soulprint’, working towards understanding who God has uniquely made us to be who we are and searching for the unique call and destiny that God has placed on our lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A quick review of the last two weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First, we are who we are on purpose, for a purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The secondly, to be ourselves we need a Holy Confidence in a God that is Holy, that loves us and that has planned nothing but the best for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This Holy confidence is trusting and leaning on God.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Moving forward in that Holy confidence, we first look back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We Look back at where we have been in our lives can help us see the way that God has always been working in, around and through all of our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We Keep mementos, reminders or ‘life symbols’ of the times that God has been especially present and active in our lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We carry these life symbols to help us remember that ‘the ultimate objective of every circumstance is to cultivate the character of Christ in us<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">You would need many, many words to even begin to fully describe the character of Christ, but a good place to start might be with the word integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Integrity is, as Batterson puts it, what the latter we climb up through our lives leans against.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without integrity – he says – you cannot fulfill your destiny, because your integrity is your destiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Integrity is so important because it correctly highlights what is important.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Batterson continues:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The goal is not accomplishing the dream god has given to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dream is a secondary issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The primary issue is who you become in the process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We fixate on what and when and where.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s primary concern is always who.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And He won’t get you where He wants you to go until you become who He wants you to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Having integrity doesn’t just matter after you have been given a dream or destiny from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is how that dream or destiny becomes clear. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is only when we stop living for selfish purposes that the pressure comes off of us, we rely on the dream giver and destiny fulfiller, that our destiny can come into focus.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before David could fulfill his destiny, he had to pass a supreme test of his integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That test comes in the ‘crags of the wild goats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lot has happened in David’s life since we saw him last week defeating Goliath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David’s favor with God and popularity with the people of Israel have grown substantially since God allowed him to defeat Goliath. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every job or mission that David goes on for king Saul is an epic success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as David is being blessed by God and showing the power of his anointing by God – remember He has already been anointed by the prophet Samuel as the next king of Israel. – The anointing and the Spirit of God has left Saul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Lord’s anointing has gone from Saul because he lost his intergrity.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This is illustrated clearly in three ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, that Saul stopped making alters to remember what God had done for him and the people of Israel and began making alters to himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second, he became overwhelmed with jealousy against David – the song the people sang ‘Saul has killed his hundreds, but David has killed thousands’ didn’t help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finally, he broke his promise to his son (David’s best friend) and his daughter (now David’s wife) not to try and harm or kill him<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So because of this David, along with a few handfuls of his most loyal men are on the run from Saul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are on the run for their lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so it is that they are hiding in a cave amidst the crags of the wild goats.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Can you imagine the scene: David and his men are hiding, silently in the cave and as they are hiding there – Saul enters into the very cave they are hiding in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, of course this is where the story takes a little turn for the strange (and funny), because Saul isn’t in the cave looking for David.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead he is there to, well, relieve himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David has so much time while Saul is – doing his business – that he is able to sneak up and cut off a piece of Saul’s robe.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But David’s men see this a chance to do much more and urge him to take this ‘golden opportunity’ to kill Saul – as certainly Saul would have done if the roles were reversed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But David, knowing that it is wrong (and illegal) to kill the anointed King of Israel – even if you have been anointed to be the next king.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So David, repented in front of his men for even cutting off the piece of Saul’s robe and ordered them not to harm him.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">David passed the test of integrity because he knew an opportunity isn’t really an opportunity if you have to compromise your integrity for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you get something by compromising your integrity you are likely to have to keep compromising it to keep it – whatever it is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The end never justifies the means from God’s prospective – remember, for God it is about who we are becoming not so much what we accomplish <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our goal as Christians is to become more and more like Christ, to be continually cultivating the mind and character of Christ within us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christ, who had unmatched and unquestioned integrity – but who’s life ended on one of the world’s most prominent and painful signs of failure – the cross.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">David – just like Jesus – must have been tempted to take the easy way out – to compromise his integrity and his call from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It must have been incredibly tempting to take a short cut to the throne that God had anointed him for.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if David had given in and killed Saul by stabbing him in the back, while he was relieving himself, he would have always been looking over his own shoulder.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is what happens when you compromise your integrity. Instead of being able to focus all of your energy on looking ahead, you waste energy looking back, covering us where you<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>have been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not killing Saul in the cave is a defining moment for David – maybe even more so than killing Goliath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, if you think about it, it may have been harder not to kill Saul than it was to kill Goliath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Killing Goliath was an act of power – but not killing Saul was an act of willpower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Willpower might be the purest or truest form of power we can have.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the New Testament, in the original language, there is a distinction between made between two types of power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dunamis – the origin of our English word, Dynamite – is the ability to do things beyond your natural ability.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exousia is the ability to not do things you have the ability to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no clearer example of this second type of power than the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scripture is explicitly clear on this point – in John 10 – Jesus says 4 different times that he is willingly laying down his life, using the word we translate as ‘authority’: I have the authority to lay it down and the authority to take it up again. That authority is that second kind of power, the willpower to not to that which you could do.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ultimately it is not the power of what Jesus did that mattered most – his ability to heal, turn water into wine and multiply food for the hungry – but what he could have done and chose not to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus could have, at any point right up until he ‘gave up his Spirit’ – that in itself phrased as an act of willpower – made the choice to abandon his suffering, call on the legions of angels and he would have been saved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end the only thing really keeping Jesus on the cross was not a mighty empire, not scheming religious authorities, but the willpower of Jesus – the choice to love us enough to die for us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus knew the truth that you can’t fulfill your God given destiny with integrity and willpower.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God doesn’t ‘need us’ to do things on our own or take matters ‘into our own hands’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God asks us to prove we are willing and able to wait on God’s timing and God’s plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God wants us to show that we have the integrity to do the right thing, even when no one is watching.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Two final points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first one is about who you want advocating with you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Soul print one of the points made is that when you compromise your conscience or integrity it is your own reputation at risk, but obeying God and living within the ‘guardrails of a conscience that is fine-tuned to the Holy Spirit and Holy Scripture, then it is God’s reputation that is at risk.’<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And what that means is this: who do you want to rely on in the end – yourself or God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who do you want to Advocate for you, yourself or God?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When we submit our lives to God’s authority by living with integrity, then we come under the umbrella of God’s authority.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That ‘umbrella’ shelters us, provides us with a supernatural coving and it also takes all the pressure to succeed or achieve off of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The second point I want to leave you with is the idea of control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Batterson says that ‘we waste far too much emotional energy allowing others to control us in unhealthy and unholy ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By treating them the way they treat us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David showed integrity by refusing to go to Saul’s level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He let God, not those around him, be the guide for his behavior<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With the power of God’s Holy Spirit we can control ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t lie because others lie.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t gossip because they gossip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t cheat because they cheat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t get negative because they get negative.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t downgrade your integrity to the level of the people around you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The lesson from David – and from so many others in the Bible (Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego among others) is that if you want to fulfill your destiny, don’t compromise your integrity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And remember that it is often the little compromises that lead to major problems.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Integrity won’t stop us from difficult times – from facing giants, from the fiery furnace, from facing anger and jealousy from those around you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But integrity – the choice to do what is right, even when no one is looking – will allow us to lean on God and rest under the umbrella of God’s protection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Integrity will also convict those around you and invite them into relationship with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Integrity stopped David from grabbing the crown of Israel by stabbing Saul in the back – but that integrity is why God eventually placed him on the throne.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our integrity<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- while not allowing us to cut corners or take short cuts – will never hinder the pursuit of our dreams and destinies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, without integrity, we will simply never get to the place or become the people God intends for us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen.</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-27941754771230121822011-06-03T15:27:00.000-04:002011-06-03T15:27:56.602-04:00Soulprint Week #2 - Life Symbols or remembering God in our past<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared last week at Good Shepherd. It is the second in a series based on the book, <i>Soul Print by Mark Batterson. </i>The first message is contained in an earlier post if you are interested. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Remembering where we have been - and how God was present and active in the moments of our past is an important element of beginning to move forward toward who God has called us to be. Hope you hear God speaking to you here.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">1 Samuel 17: 41 – 54 (NIV)</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">41</span></sup></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">42</span></sup> He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome, and he despised him. <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">43</span></sup> He said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">44</span></sup> “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds and the wild animals!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">45</span></sup> David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">46</span></sup> This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">47</span></sup> All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">48</span></sup></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">49</span></sup> Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">50</span></sup> So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">51</span></sup> David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">52</span></sup> Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel%2017&version=NIV#fen-NIV-7671f" title="See footnote f"><span style="color: blue;">f</span></a>]</sup> and to the gates of Ekron. Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. <sup><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">53</span></sup> When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today we continue our series based on the book ‘Soulprint’, working towards understanding who God has uniquely made us to be who we are and searching for the unique call and destiny that God has placed on our lives. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Last week, as we began the series, we focused on two things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, on the importance of not trying to be anything that we are not – and simply living into who and what we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This idea was reinforced for me this week on Monday as I came across two quotes from very different sources that dealt with being who you are:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first is from Oscar Wilde, and he simply advises: ‘Be yourself, everyone else is taken.’<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The second is a Jewish proverb I was told, which goes: ‘If I am like someone else, who will be like me?<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The point of these quotes and of our time last week was the simple, but important reminder that we are who we are for a reason.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are who we are on purpose, for a purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second point from last week was that in order to be ourselves, even in difficult we need confidence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But this confidence isn’t in ourselves and doesn’t come from ourselves, but rather we need to have a Holy Confidence in a God that is Holy, that loves us and that has planned nothing but the best for us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Moving forward in that Holy confidence, we move forward by looking back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Looking back at where we have been in our lives can help us see the way that God has always been working in, around and through all of our lives.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We all keep things from our past – you saw a few of the things I have kept a few minutes ago during the children’s message – but we don’t always end up keeping things that really have any meaning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And rarely do we keep physical reminders of the spiritual lessons we have learned along the way – or to mark those particular times where God has interceded powerfully in our lives.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the Old Testament these physical reminders were sometimes called ‘Ebenezers’ – in Soulprint they are called ‘Life symbols’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David, took a life symbol from his battle with Goliath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Making what must have been an extraordinary effort, after making sure Goliath was dead, David took the time and effort to remove each piece of the giants armor from him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you do the conversions and add them all up Goliath’s armor and weapons the total is 125 pounds and 15 ounces.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David likely didn’t way much more than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Why?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because we quickly forget, not just the little things that God has done and is doing for us – but even the earth shaking, giant felling things that God does can sometimes be, if not forgotten, at least moved to the back of our thoughts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We have forgotten the practice of alter making that the Jews travelling in the desert knew so well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leaving an Ebenezer to make the place of God’s intersection with our lives and remind all about God’s faithfulness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In claiming Life symbols, surrounding ourselves with physical reminders of God’s work in our lives we can remember God’s faithfulness and renew our own Holy Confidence in a God for whom nothing is impossible<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The word remember is found and repeated over 250 times in the Bible, because God knows the importance of remembering the right things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our lives we most often lose faith in God because we forget God’s ‘faith-fullness’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the business of life and with our narrow and often short-sighted vision we miss or forget just how present God has been.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We forget how faithful God has been in caring for us, in providing for us in reaching out to us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the most critical things we must do as we look back at our past is not simply focus on the obvious – what happened – but look deeper, through the lens of God’s plan and call on our lives and think about the why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is especially true of the failures, difficulties or pain that lies in your past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Batterson says in Soulprint that: ‘why is more important that what.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not our experiences that make us or break us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s our interpretation of and explanation for those experiences that ultimately determines who we become.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your explanations are more important than your experiences.’<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With this in mind it is critically important to remember that ‘the ultimate objective of every circumstance is to cultivate the character of Christ in us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As Christians we claim Christ not just as our savior and our Lord, but also as our model for how to live life and to interpret life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christ understood so clearly the ‘why’ of the suffering that he endured.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Because of that understanding Jesus saw beauty, power and purpose in the persecution and suffering he bore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is why some of the best things come out of the worst circumstances – because they help us identify with the sufferings of Christ.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">David lived through difficult experiences before his triumph over Goliath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He wasn’t deemed worthy of a place on the battlefield (a place of honor) with his brothers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But before that, when Samuel was lining up the sons of Jesse to anoint the next king, Jesse – David’s own father – didn’t even bother to mention David, let alone bring him before Samuel to be considered.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">David faced a choice that each of us face –regardless of the nature and depth of the difficulties we face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The struggles and trials we face (divorce, cancer, heartbreak, disappointment or loss – whatever they might be) don’t have to define us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t have to define us, if we let God use them to refine us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That is the choice we are faced with in looking at the difficulties and struggles in our lives: define or refine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if we trust in God enough to let them refine us, then God will use even those negative experiences in our lives to help redefine us.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Corrie ten Boom, the heroic and famed survivor of Nazi concentration camps during WWII spent many years of her life speaking to people around the world, sharing her experiences and her insights, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">When she spoke to people, it was often with her head down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was not because she was shy or because she was reading her notes, but rather she was usually working on a piece of needlepoint.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At the end of her story, the story of atrocities experienced at the hands of the Nazis, she would show the audience the needlepoint she had been working on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, she would hold up the backside, which would just be a mishmash of threads and colors with no recognizable pattern.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then she would say: ‘That’s how we see our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes it makes no sense’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But then she would turn over the needlepoint to show the finished side.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she would say: ‘This is how God views your life, and someday we will have the privilege of seeing it from His point of view.’<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">She would often end with this poem:<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My life is but a weaving between my God and me, I do not choose the colors, He works so steadily, Oft times He weaves in sorrow, and I in foolish pride, Forget He sees the upper, and I the underside.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Not till the loom is silent, and the shuttles cease to fly will God unroll the canvas and explain the reason why.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dark threads are as needful in the Weaver’s skillful hand, as the threads of gold and silver in the pattern He has planned.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our soulprints are like the needlepoint,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>identity is the underside and destiny is the upper side.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Lifesymbols can be for us the connecting threads between these two sides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are the colors that mark defining moments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are the frames that help us explain our experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They are the ‘shuttles’ that refine and define us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if we will simply put ourselves on the loom, God will weave a masterpiece in us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-37348426496312682282011-05-31T14:03:00.000-04:002011-05-31T14:03:28.919-04:00No such thing as 'over-confident' in God<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On Sunday I shared the second in a series of messages based on a book written by Mark Batterson. The book called, <i>Soul Print,</i> is about claiming who God created you to be so that you can live into the life and destiny God has planned for you. Below is the first message in the series. I will be following with the second tomorrow. I hope you are called into at least thinking about who God made you to be, and why God might have made you the way you are. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Mark Batterson is a pastor in Washington, D.C. and is one of my favorite authors and communicators, here is a link to buy the book, if you are so inclined: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Soulprint-Discovering-your-Divine-Destiny/dp/1610450515/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306864895&sr=8-1">here</a></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<h2 style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1 Samuel 17:32-40 (NIV)<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div style="line-height: 115%;"><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">32</span></sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”<b><sup>33</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” <b><sup>34</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>35</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>36</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>37</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The LORD who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Saul said to David, “Go, and the LORD be with you.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b><sup>38</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then Saul dressed David in his own tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>39</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off.<b><sup>40</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the next several weeks we will be looking at the unique design that God has for each of our lives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We will be doing this in part, through a book, called ‘Soul Print’ by Mark Batterson<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As we think about, talk about and seek out what God might have planned for each of our lives we will consistently look the life of David for examples of important turning points or defining moments in his life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As we look at those defining moments in David’s life, we will (hopefully at least) gain insight into the potential defining moments in our own lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But before we skip ahead to David’s story, or even our own, I want to share with you why I chose to share this book – and the ideas that came to me from it – <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mark Batterson is one of my favorite Christian authors.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have heard him speak several times and something about the way that he is able to communicate the Word of God really speaks to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">So, when I heard he had a new book coming out, I was pretty excited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I saw the title, read the description and (to be honest) got a little less excited.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The book sounded like a typical ‘self-help’ book with some Christian language thrown in for good measure.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">That type of book simply doesn’t appeal to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Don’t get me wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that we all need help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I really believe that as long as we are talking about how we can ‘help ourselves’ we are looking to the wrong place for help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I think all of our big, important problems are, simply, beyond us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But, as I really like Batterson’s work, I got the book anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And I read the first page:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">‘There has never been and never will be anyone else like you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that isn’t a testament to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a testament to the God who created you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You are unlike anyone who has ever lived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that uniqueness isn’t a virtue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s a responsibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Uniqueness is God’s gift to you, and uniqueness is your gift to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You owe it to yourself to be yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But more important, you owe it to the One who designed you and destined you.’<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After making clear that this isn’t a ‘self-help’ book he continues: ‘So let me be blunt: you aren’t good enough or gifted enough to get where God wants you to go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not without His help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But here is the good news: there is nothing God cannot do in you and through you I f you simply yield your life to Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All of you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This book is all about you, but it’s not about you at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The fact that there never has been and never will be anyone like you simply means that no one can worship God like you or for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were created to worship God in a way that no one else can.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By living a life no one else can – your life<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And with that, the book had me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had be because I think it clearly communicates two seemingly opposing, but actually linked and complementary truths that we often miss today: We aren’t nearly as great – or capable – as we often think we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there is nothing – really nothing, not anything – that is impossible for us when we have fully submitted our lives to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We have a unique and irreplaceable role to play in the story God is telling in the world and playing the role designed for us begins with understanding – or maybe better – discovering who we really are in God’s eyes and who God created us to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I mentioned the title of the book, Soul Print, that is a term I had never heard before and it is a term worth defining as we begin to seek out who we really are<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A soulprint, like a fingerprint is a unique way of identifying who you are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A fingerprint, however, is only skin deep.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A soulprint is a unique identifier that runs not skin deep, but soul deep.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our soulprint is a hardwired identifier of our true identity and our true destiny or calling.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our ultimate purpose or calling is central to understanding who we really are, because even though we move ‘forward’ in a progression through life – God works the other way around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our God always begins (in our hearts, in our minds and in our lives) with the end in mind.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God hasn’t called us to be anyone other than who we are – than who God created us to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We are not ‘just’ anything – we are, each and every one of us, masterpieces of God’s hand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To think of ourselves as anything other than that is to distort and devalue our true identity<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before David was King, and before he became mighty warrior, he was just the youngest brother in a big family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A shepherd boy and nothing more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But that wasn’t who he was – that wasn’t David’s true identity or his true purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David was a giant killer, a mighty warrior and a great king.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Over the course of the next several weeks as we seek our own soulprint, we will look at 5 defining moments in David’s life that helped him discover his.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The first of these, which came as he was preparing to face the giant Goliath, was in some ways the most important, as it paved the way for all that would come after it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">David had a chance, as he went out to fight the mighty giant, to wear the kings own armor, and carry the king’s own sword.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The finest protection and the best weaponry available to anyone in the world at that time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But they weren’t right for David, because simply, they weren’t his.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sword and the armor were Saul’s and David wasn’t Saul.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Instead David took what he was used to, part of what defined who he was – the slingshot that he used daily to protect his father’s flock and grabbed 5 smooth stones and was ready to make history.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All because he was willing to take off Saul’s armor and be himself – exactly who God had called him to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Today’s sermon is subtitled Holy Confidence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holy Confidence is not about being confident in what we can do our how well we can do it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holy Confidence, is about who we are confident in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our confidence becomes Holy only when it is placed on God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another word for this ‘Holy Confidence’ is trust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Trusting in God, having the Holy Confidence that God is in control and we are not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Putting our trust or confidence in God is never more important than when we are waiting for something to happen or waiting for our life to start.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No one ever tells us when ‘our moment’ is going to come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>David didn’t wake up the morning he defeated Goliath and know that that day was going to be the day that defined who he was and that set his life on a different course.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">And if David was anything like me – or like most of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can imagine that he spent many of his days out in the fields tending his father’s sheep, waiting for his life to ‘really begin’.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But here is the great lesson for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the skills he learned as a shepherd (a slingshot is a shepherd’s tool, not a soldiers weapon) that prepared him for his big moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no skill, experience or event that is unredeemable or unusable in God’s eyes and in God’s plan.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Finding our true identity and true, God ordained destiny begins with the courage to take off Saul’s armor – or anything else that doesn’t belong on us or to us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The next step is letting go of the attempt to control our lives – even the timing of ‘when they will begin’ and having a Holy Confidence that God is intending what is best for us and loves us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-18756930026497329072011-05-30T18:15:00.000-04:002011-05-30T18:15:06.510-04:00In Memory / In Honor of - some thoughts on memorial day<h2 style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>1-2</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
</div><h2 style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Ephesians 2:1-10 (The Message)<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>1-6</sup></b>It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"> <b><sup>7-10</sup></b>Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Memorial Day, like many of our holidays, serves to focus our attention – for one day at least – on an important topic or event.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Holiday marks something that has meaning for all of us, but for one reason or another tends to get lost in the ebb and flow of our busy daily lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so holidays serve as markers, reminders or signposts that point us to an event or subject that is worry of our attention. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Memorial Day, of course, is the day we set aside to honor all of those that have paid the ultimate price in protecting the freedoms and liberties we enjoy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The brave men and women we honor deserve to be remembered and deserve to be honored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that we do this weekend – and in truth much more frequently than one weekend a year – should be done in their memory and to their honor.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">For most of us I think it is difficult to picture or to really understand what these men and women do and have done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Until you have actually been in the position of risking your life to protect someone else’s I don’t know that you can really have a full understanding of what that looks and feels like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">I can’t even begin to compare any of my life experiences with that situation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, the closest I have come to some level of understanding of what that sacrifice might look like is through the movie Saving Private Ryan.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">The highly acclaimed and Oscar winning Steven Spielberg movie is loosely based on actual events from WWII.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The story begins with 4 brothers going off to war in different theatres of the fighting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In one day, just before D-Day, three of the brothers are killed in action.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The army realizing the sheer tragedy of the situation decides to pull the last surviving Ryan brother from action and send him home to his family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is complicated by the fact that James Ryan, played by Matt Damon, is a paratrooper and has just jumped behind enemy lines as part of the D-Day invasion.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">The rest of the movie follows an Army ranger captain, played by Tom Hanks, and his squad of soldiers as they search the frontlines of the battle for Ryan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually they find him and his unit in defense of a key bridge that is about to be attacked by the German army.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">Vastly outnumbered, the paratroopers and the rangers hold off the Germans until reinforcements arrive.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the course of the battle all but one of the rangers sent to find and save Private Ryan are killed, including Tom Hanks’ character – who dies from his wounds just as it becomes clear that the reinforcements have turned the tide in favor of the American troops.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">With his dying breaths the captain pulls private Ryan close and he says ‘earn this . . . earn this’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The movie ends with an elderly James Ryan, family in tow, kneeling at the grave of the captain that saved his life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He explains that not a day goes by that he doesn’t think about the sacrifice that was made for him and that he has tried every day to live up to that sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breaking down emotionally, with his children and grandchildren looking on he turns to his wife and asks, almost begging: ‘tell me I have been a good man, tell me I have lived a good life.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She does and the movie ends as emotionally as any I have ever seen.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">This is an example of the type of sacrifice we are honoring this weekend, and for many of us, it is the only time of year that we are think about just how much has been sacrificed for us and for our freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">Few, if any of us will ever physically experience being saved like Private Ryan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trauma of a moment, of an experience like that, it is little wonder that he says not a day goes by without thinking about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How could something like that every escape your mind.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">If any of us had ever had an experience like that, remembering it, celebrating it and honoring those that made it possible would certainly not be a once a year thing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But – and you all probably know where this is going -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the truth is all of us have been saved in an even more extraordinary way, in a more profound way and in a more complete way.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">Christ stepped into history walked among us, lived and then died on the cross to save you and to save me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christ paid the ultimate price, made the highest sacrifice for each and everyone of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, Christ – unlike Tom Hanks and the other soldiers in the movie – chose to sacrifice, chose to trade places with you and with me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Christ, who is perfectly blameless, holy and in fact God, in making the ultimate sacrifice paid the price for our failures, our shortcomings and selfishness - our sins.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">The obvious question then becomes – what should/could/must we do in memory and honor of what God, through Christ has done for us?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clearly one day, one weekend is not enough to recognize this kind of sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all know that, but what can be done that can properly honor this kind of sacrifice.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">Before we can even begin to answer that question, I think we must closely examine just what exactly it is that Christ did for us:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 1.25in; mso-list: l0 level3 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.25in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-bidi-font-family: Wingdings; mso-fareast-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">§<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->This passage from Ephesians 2 puts it into clear perspective:</div><h3 style="line-height: 115%;">Ephesians 2:1-6 (The Message)</h3><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"> <span class="sup">1-6 </span>It wasn't so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn't know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It's a wonder God didn't lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah. </div><div style="line-height: 115%;"> <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>And, of course, we all know this story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all know how Jesus did all of this for us – all by himself, willingly he choose to humble himself from his throne in heaven, willingly Jesus walked all the way to the painful, shameful death on a cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Willingly Jesus came to live and die, to suffer pain and anguish and fear and rejection and eventually to conquer death and bring freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All for us, all for you and for me Jesus laid down his own life for ours.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .5in;">In some ways this is where the illustration with the movie must end:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, there is no way we can live up to the charge that Tom Hanks’ captain puts on Private Ryan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Simply put there is nothing we can do to earn or live up to what Christ has already done for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It just can’t be done, all of us have already fallen short of that mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is emphasized in the conclusion of the passage from Ephesians 2 – v. 7 – 10:</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="sup">7-10</span>Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">While we can’t earn what Christ has done for us, we are not only able, but we are called to respond to Christ’s sacrifice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To live our lives in light of and in response to what God has done for us. Listen again to the end of the Ephesians passage, as it sheds some light on what that response should look like:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>joining in on the ‘good work’ Christ has already begun and has prepared us to do.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .25in; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->There is also insight into what this might look like from this morning’s passage from Romans, lets first look at v.2: </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Romans 12:2</b> Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">Embracing what God does for you is joining in on the ‘good work’ that he is already doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It isn’t all about us, responding to Christ’s sacrificial love is instead about working with Christ in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is about living into the life Christ has saved you for.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">Again, what becomes clear from both of these verses is that even our response is not about us – the best response we can have – that which will honor God most is simply being who he made us to be. Daily remembering Christ’s sacrifice and focusing our attention on him is the only way to see what he has planned for you and to know what he is calling you to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">This brings me back to the last connection to Memorial Day and to Saving Private Ryan and a central aspect to the life that we have in Christ – Freedom. We all know that Our soldiers daily put their lives on the line, and sometimes give up those lives for your freedom and mine.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">In the movie Tom Hanks and his squad of heroes gave their lives for Ryan’s freedom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But as many people say, and we all recognize as true, ‘freedom isn’t free’ – freedom bought at that price comes with more than a little bit of responsibility.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">Private Ryan, very understandably, felt a very real responsibility to live up to the life he had been given, the life that those soldiers’ lives had bought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He felt a need to ‘live a good life’ and to be a ‘good man’ in response to that gift</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">We have each been given the gift of freedom as well, that is what Christ won for us on the cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we all know that it was a costly, costly gift.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And just like it was for Private Ryan, our freedom bears with it a measure of responsibility.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">We were not freed for ourselves and for whatever desires or impulses we might have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rather we were freed from our bondage to sin and to the death that sin brings. Sin, the thing which traps us, trips us up and turns us into what we are not, were not created to be and don’t want to be. </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">We are freed to follow the call of Christ, to jump into the kingdom life of a child of God and to become the person that God has made us to be.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">It is important to remember, however that our freedom, our salvation, our calling isn’t about special events, holidays or one weekend a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our faith, and the life lived in response to Christ’s love isn’t about showing up once a week on a Sunday morning to put in your time and do your duty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, as the Romans’ passage says, ‘Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">Honoring and remembering what Christ has done for you is about living your life, every day, every moment in light of the love and work of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know just who or what God made you to be – I have a hard enough time figuring that out for myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I do know that everyday, as we try to work out what it is we are supposed to be doing and who it is we are called to be, we are to live each day, each hour, each moment in the light of Christ’s sacrificial love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Holidays and celebrations are all well and good, but it is in your everyday live, your eating, sleeping, hanging out with friends, going to work, doing work around the house, going to school life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is that life – the one you live in everyday that has to be placed as an offering to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">It is in our everyday lives where we can show that we honor, remember and understand what it is that Christ did for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In his immense mercy and with his incredible love Jesus, despite our egos and our faults and all our sins, Jesus embraces us with his incredible, undeniable, sacrificial love.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">And with that love of God we went from dead in our sins to alive – alive and free in Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That love of Christ, and the life and freedom it brings us is what we are called to remember, honor and celebrate every day.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: .25in;">Amen.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-62893492154099025052011-05-10T14:31:00.000-04:002011-05-10T14:31:43.151-04:00'Doubting' Thomas gets a bad rap . . and other thoughts after Easter<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Two days in a row, hopefully I am getting back into a rhythm with the blogging. Today, I want to share the message I gave at Good Shepherd the Sunday after Easter. It is an exploration of the question, 'What now?' after Easter, but more than that it is a look at the disciple we know as 'Doubting Thomas' and how he can actually serve as an example to us of how to respond to the truth of the resurrected Jesus. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">John 20:19-31 (NIV)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>19</sup></b> On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” <b><sup>20</sup></b> After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>21</sup></b> Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” <b><sup>22</sup></b> And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. <b><sup>23</sup></b> If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>24</sup></b> Now Thomas (also known as Didymus<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020:19-31&version=NIV#fen-NIV-26892a" title="See footnote a"><span style="color: blue;">a</span></a>]</sup>), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. <b><sup>25</sup></b> So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>26</sup></b> A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” <b><sup>27</sup></b> Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>28</sup></b> Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>29</sup></b> Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>30</sup></b> Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. <b><sup>31</sup></b> But these are written that you may believe<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2020:19-31&version=NIV#fen-NIV-26899b" title="See footnote b"><span style="color: blue;">b</span></a>]</sup> that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In many corners of the church this Sunday in our Christian calendar is called ‘low Sunday’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The reason for this is that in many, if not most churches this is the lowest attended Sunday of the year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In fact many of my first opportunities to share the Word of God in worship were on one of the two ‘low Sunday’s’ of the year (the other being the Sunday after Christmas).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is because it is fairly common, even for pastors, to take this Sunday off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a way, I guess, this makes sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lent is a busy time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Holy Week, is in many places, including our church, a time of many opportunities for worship and study – opportunities that require extra time and commitment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But the idea of taking the Sunday after Easter ‘off’ really doesn’t make sense at all<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- not we really understand what it was we were celebrating last week, and what we are called to proclaim this and every day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">The ‘Low Sunday’ after Christmas, kind of makes sense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taking some time to rest and recuperate after we have had a baby is understandable; it takes a lot of out of the Body, but after a resurrection? It seems like that would be energizing, revolutionary, invigorating, and world changing. A lot of babies have been born, but no body has ever risen from the dead before. After declaring the resurrection, I would think the following Sunday would be packed.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">This weeks Gospel reading seems to support the idea, that it is not a week to take off, but a time to get a lot done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">As we are hear living in the light of the resurrection, we ask the simple but all important question: What now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that Jesus has risen, what now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that death and sin have been conquered, what now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that Jesus has given us freedom, live eternal and a full, whole life in the present, what now?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We will be trying to answer that question over the next two weeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And we will do that by looking at how those first disciples of Jesus answered the question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This morning we will focus on Thomas<span style="color: #1e1e1e;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have always felt sorry for Thomas, because I think he gets a bad rap.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For whatever reason, he wasn’t in the upper room when Jesus first appears to the disciples (He could have been anywhere – getting lunch for the group, gathering information, seeking out friends).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Although ‘doubt’ is the word we most often associate with Thomas, maybe it should be another word, like ‘brave’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After all, in chapter 11 of John’s gospel it is Thomas that urges the disciples to follow Jesus to Jerusalem, ‘so that we may die with him’; and he is the one that leaves the upper room, again for whatever reason, when the rest of the disciples are there, hiding from those that were responsible for killing Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But, understandably maybe, Thomas says he wants to see the Body, see the wounds – which if we remember all of the other disciples have seen with their own eyes at this point. Jesus arrives and very graphically shows him the wounds, and in a very intimate gesture, invites him to place his finger and hand inside them. There can be no doubt that this is the Body of Jesus the Christ, very man, very God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">That Jesus literally, physically rose from the dead<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><em>is</em><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>the foundation of the Christian faith.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: #1e1e1e; font-size: 12pt;">The living, breathing body of Christ is the proof Thomas and the other disciples needed to believe in all that Jesus had told them and to begin to live into that faith in a new way, with a new understanding.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This new understanding is seen in the confession that Thomas makes after seeing Jesus:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"My Lord and my God," essentially summarize the entire Gospel. One should capitalize, bold, or italicize the "and" in his statement. Jesus is Lord, our Lord, but Jesus is also God, the "I AM," the dwelling of God in the flesh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And notice the pronoun -- "my" Lord and "my" God, not "the" Lord and "the" God because this confession is not about intellectual assent to a certain understanding but a claim about relationship. A relationship that changes everything, a relationship that transformed who Thomas was and transforms who we are if we enter into it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If we have been successful in getting ourselves unstuck from centuries of giving Thomas a bad rap, we now find ourselves behind closed doors. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Twice in this passage Jesus comes through locked doors to meet the disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not an accident, and it recalls earlier moments from this gospel, in chapter 10 and 18, where Jesus tells his disciples that he is the door – the way, the truth and the life – and that they can only and will enter into life and relationship with God, through him. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jesus as the door is a life giving image, providing pasture, protection, and provision. The provision that Jesus gives is fully realized in that locked room when Jesus breathes into them the Spirit. Thomas is not there for that first giving of the spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">The story of Thomas reminds us once again of the grace upon grace through Jesus. Jesus comes back for Thomas because as the parable Jesus tells in chapter 18 shows us, he will not lose a single one of those whom the Father gave him.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We tend to forget that the disciples who did happen to be in the room when Jesus became "the door" once again also needed to see for themselves. Jesus' first resurrection appearance is for Mary in the garden, to which she responds by going to the disciples and saying, "I have seen the Lord!" <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Now, the disciples do not say "Great! That's amazing! We believe you!" There is no response to her announcement. Instead, Jesus finds them<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>huddled somewhere without Thomas – but full of fear.</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">They have to have their own encounter with Jesus. He appears to them and they rejoice when they</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">see</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">the Lord (20:20). The disciples then say the same words of Mary to Thomas, "We have seen the Lord," but Thomas has to have his own encounter with the risen Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Having to have your own encounter with Jesus is not a new development with the resurrection – we saw it a few weeks ago in the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. With the towns people saying to her: "It is no longer what you said, but we have heard for ourselves." <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is not a slight against her but confirmation that believing in Jesus is not about believing in someone else's experience of Jesus, but having your own encounter with the Word made flesh. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">On this first Sunday after Easter, these words are for us. You can believe in the resurrection all you want, but in the end that's not the point. The resurrection is not only</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">just</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">the resurrection, as incredible as that is, but that Jesus is the Resurrection</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">and</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">the life. Belief and life are synonyms in the Fourth Gospel, as promise for our future, and as grace in our present.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are here, sitting in this place and worshipping our God because at some point in our lives each of us has encountered Jesus Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It could have been as a child, at a Christian camp, through the words of a friend or loved one in a time of need.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But whenever it was and whatever it looked like.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We have had that experience, and it was for us a ‘resurrection appearance’ – a time when the body of Christ and the truth of the resurrection was real enough to see, to touch and to know.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">The purpose of these resurrection appearances, like the ones that the disciples experienced is not so much to prove the resurrection as it is to send us as Jesus has been sent. </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Easter is not just coming to a wonderful, inspiring worship service, it is being sent back into the world, empowered by the Holy Spirit, to bear witness to the identity of God as revealed in Jesus.</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But we know that there is no longer a body to be seen, felt or touched<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>– so how do we continue in faith and how do we begin to share that faith with others?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The answer is as simple as looking around this room – we are the body of Christ – the world will see, know , feel and be touched by the body of Christ – or not – because of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Not only does God love us – but God trusts us with this all important task – showing the world the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of full, kingdom life that the living, breathing, walking, talking, serving body of Christ holds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amen.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-10135316095474533022011-05-09T11:21:00.000-04:002011-05-09T11:21:59.872-04:00Cleopas and some other guy . . . and you and me<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sorry that it has been quite a while since I have posted anything. It has been a very busy few weeks. Anyway, over the next few days I will be posting my last few sermons, and some other blogs as the opportunity arrives. First in the line is the message I shared yesterday. It is a second in a series of two messages that asks the question, 'Whats next?' after we have been presented with the truth of Easter. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I do hope to be more regular with the blogging again and I do hope, that some how, these words might find meaning for you. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">God Bless.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<h2><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Luke 24:13-35 (NIV)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></h2><div class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup id="en-NIV-26005">13</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles<sup value="[<a href="#fen-NIV-26005a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2024:13-35&version=NIV#fen-NIV-26005a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup>from Jerusalem.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26006">14</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26007">15</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26008">16</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>but they were kept from recognizing him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup id="en-NIV-26009">17</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He asked them,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“What are you discussing together as you walk along?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> They stood still, their faces downcast.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26010">18</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only one visiting Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup id="en-NIV-26011">19</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“What things?”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26012">20</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26013">21</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26014">22</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26015">23</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26016">24</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but they did not see Jesus.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup id="en-NIV-26017">25</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He said to them,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26018">26</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26019">27</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup id="en-NIV-26020">28</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26021">29</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup id="en-NIV-26022">30</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26023">31</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26024">32</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> <b><sup id="en-NIV-26025">33</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26026">34</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup id="en-NIV-26027">35</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today we again look back at Easter and ask the question, now what?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last week, we talked about Thomas, his need for ‘proof’ and then how he eventually responded to the truth of the resurrection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This week we look at another well known story, Jesus appearance on the road to Emmaus. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One of the major – and important – differences in these two stories is the obvious difference in who it is that Jesus appears to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the first story Jesus appears to Thomas and the other disciples.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pretty major characters in the story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In our lesson today we have Cleopas – who is mentioned here and nowhere else - and his travelling companion, who doesn’t even get named.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">They are not important people. They are "ordinary" people who have had the grand adventure of following Jesus and his disciples. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With Jesus’ death they have lost their faith and their hope. They are not looking for him; in fact, they don’t even recognize him when he joins them. </span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">Yet he chooses this place of loss to meet them. When he asks about their sorrow, they are so absorbed in that grief that they cannot believe that this person doesn’t know about their experience. They tell Jesus the story of his own ministry and death, and add the dubious news of his resurrection.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">Cleopas and his companion are nobodies who have no idea what God might be doing. They could be any one of us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their road to Emmaus is an ordinary road, the road each of us is on every day. This is what sets this story apart from other accounts of Jesus’ Easter appearances.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">The story resonates with a sense of the church and its mission and of the tremendous power of the word and the sacraments to connect us with the presence of God. </span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">But its image is of God and a church that walk alongside human confusion, human pain and a human loss of faith and hope. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emmaus invites us to expect God to find us, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and to allow our lives to be invitations for others to find God</i>. </span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">Emmaus challenges us to see that it isn’t our unshakable faith and deep spirituality that connect us with the risen Christ, but our smallest gestures of hospitality and friendship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">And it is in those small gestures and in living our ‘ordinary’ lives of faith that we share the love of Christ and spread that grace and peace in the world</i></span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There is no doubt that the story directs us to the church, where we may encounter Jesus in the word and the sacraments. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But not to "the church" that is equated only with this building and only with this time of worship. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are directed instead to the church that includes those things but also goes out into and meets ordinary people and interacts with the ordinary world, people and a world marked by human loss and human hospitality.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Church is You and Me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This story – at least in some way – is about living our ordinary lives in such a way that those around us are so intrigued by who we are, what we believe and how we live, that they are willing to twist our arms to share more about it with them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We miss that part of the story in our translations – but the words used to describe the travelers actions in asking Jesus to stay and eat with them might best be understood as ‘twisting his arm’ or compelling him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">For those travelers on the road to Emmaus, i</span><span style="color: black;">t was in Jesus' characteristic behavior of giving, of feeding, of caring for his sheep that they knew him. Suddenly. Fully. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So it is that in order to share the love, grace, peace and salvation of Jesus with others we must reach out with the Bread of Life – that is the Word of God written in Scripture & the bread of sustenance that feeds the very real physical needs of God’s children around us.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">In feeding others physically and spiritually, as well as in receiving the bread broken for us with thanksgiving, we are given Jesus.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">Cleopas and his companion are us. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They know a lot. They care a lot. They think about things and are saddened by their diminished hopes. And they don't even know that their eyes have been closed until suddenly they are opened. </span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black;">From this story, though, we might find hope that Jesus walks with us. We might find hope that in the breaking of the bread, we catch a glimpse of our Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We might give and share hope by giving and breaking bread (physical and spiritual) for those around us and around the world.</span><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span">St. Francis once said that</span><span class="apple-style-span"> </span><span class="apple-style-span">‘It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The meaning in that for us, is that having encountered the resurrected Jesus and the truth of Easter we respond by following the example of Christ</span><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span">We share the truth and wonder of Easter with those we meet by sharing the Word of God and the giving and breaking of bread.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And most importantly, we don’t just do that here, in this place.</span><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span">But we must share the truth of the risen Jesus as we go about the journey of our lives – headed wherever God might be calling us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span">We have to proclaim the truth and power of Easter by sharing our experience of Christ and sharing in the breaking and sharing of the bread</span><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span">We need to be willing to have our destination changed so that we can live lives that are invitations for others to experience Easter and the wonder of the resurrected Jesus for themselves.</span><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="apple-style-span">Ordinary lives, sometimes unnamed lives of service and kindess.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But lives that point to the extraordinary truth of Easter and the extraordinary love of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ordinary lives that invite those around us to share in the extraordinary life found in Jesus Christ. </span>Amen.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-49439752436427567612011-04-18T16:21:00.000-04:002011-04-18T16:21:08.825-04:00Whose Palm branches are you seeking after?<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared with Good Shepherd yesterday, Palm Sunday. It is a discussion about who we are seeking to get praise and acceptance from. I think it is an important question for us to think about and a appropriate one for Holy Week. God Bless. </span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <h2><span style="color: black;">Mark 11:1-11 (New International Version, ©2011)<o:p></o:p></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"> <b><sup>1</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>2</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>saying to them,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>3</sup></b>If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div><span style="color: black;"> <b><sup>4</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>5</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>6</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>7</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>8</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>9</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted,<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> “Hosanna!<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2011:1-11&version=NIV#fen-NIV-24650a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup>” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2011:1-11&version=NIV#fen-NIV-24650b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]</sup><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> <b><sup>10</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"> <b><sup>11</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Palm Sunday is a day of celebration. A day where we remember (and often reenact what is usually called Jesus’ ‘triumphal entry’ into Jerusalem. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is also the beginning of Holy Week, the most important week in the life of our church and our faith.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is also a Sunday of contradictions. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Palm Sunday usually is focused on the celebration<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Here comes David’s Son – the rightful and deserving King!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These are the words that ring out from the crowd of people that greet Jesus as he enters the streets of Jerusalem<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These are the words that are echoed in this church and in churches around the world on this and every ‘Palm’ Sunday<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And in other words Jesus is praised every week, everyday even.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But Palm Sunday, is also the start of Holy Week<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And we all know what Holy Week holds<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Maundy Thursday & Good Friday<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Judas betrayal, Peter’s denial, Jesus’ trial & Jesus’ suffering And finally Jesus crucifixion and death<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The contradiction between the praise of the triumphant entry on Palm Sunday and the jeers of ‘crucify him’ on Friday is as sharp as they come.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It’s the kind of contradiction that can only come from a crowd – a crowd seeking to be pleased, amazed, impressed and entertained. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A crowd that is quickly restless and easily led astray<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A crowd that led me to think about our focus for this morning: submitting our praise to God<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When it comes to submitting our praise to God I think it is really as simple as this: We must choose to submit our desire for ‘the praise of the crowd’ in order to really and truly seek after the ‘praise’ of God, praise that comes in being faithful to God’s call on our lives<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While Palm Sunday, and the cheering adoration of the crowd that followed Jesus is a familiar story for most of us – have we ever really stopped and thought about what it must have felt like to be greeted like that<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Can you imagine having people shouting your name, literally cheering your name and praising you? Bowing down to worship you? It must have been an intoxicating feeling. One that only a few people in our world can in any way relate to. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jesus must have been tempted here. Tempted to give the crowd what it wanted – whatever it wanted – to keep their praise. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But whatever temptation Jesus felt, he did not give into it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Instead of chasing after the cheers of the crowd, Jesus sought the praise and congratulations of his father in heaven, eventually saying ‘Your will, not mine be done.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Few of us will ever have the experience of praise from the world that Jesus had on that first Palm Sunday. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But all of us can strive for the praise that Jesus sought. The affirmation of ‘well done, my God and faithful servant’ spoken from the mouth of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our family recently watched a movie called, ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The movie (with its sequel now in theaters) is based on a successful series of books for young readers.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greg, the main character – spends most of the movie desperately trying to move up the social ladder during his first year of middle school. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the process (which involves a lot of laughter for the audience) he alienates, belittles and betrays the only people that are truly interesting in being his friend and that really care for him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Despite all of his attempts to win favor and gain acceptance and (literal) applause he doesn’t find it – even when he is doing something he is good at.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The closest he comes is when he has a chance to be a part in the school musical – he has a great voice – but due to circumstances almost entirely of his own making, he is first left out of the lead role, and then makes an embarrassing display during the performance, ruining the whole show<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All of Greg’s work and self-centered effort to become popular results not in acceptance and praise, but instead he ends up losing the only friends he had and is left totally alone. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is only when he makes a personal sacrifice – in a public way, that paints him in a decidedly ‘not cool’ light that he begins to find meaning, happiness and real acceptance. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The lure of popularity and applause can easily lead to selfish and misguided efforts that end not with happiness and fulfillment but empty achievements and loneliness<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The story also gives a positive contrast to Greg’s striving for acceptance and popularity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This contrast comes in the form of Rawley, Greg’s best friend – Rawley strive’s to ‘just be himself’ and do what makes him happy.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Throughout the film, Greg keeps trying to ‘help’ Rawley by steering him away from acting like who he really is and doing what he likes – because those things are usually not ‘cool’<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Greg is right, Rawley is not ‘cool’, the way he talks isn’t cool, the way he acts isn’t cool and the things he likes are, for the most part not ‘cool’. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But he sticks to what he likes, what he believe and who he is and In the process, he becomes more and more accepted, respected and liked than Greg, and even enjoys moments of actual popularity and acclaim.<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, now let’s head back to Palm Sunday, Jesus and the adoring crowd <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We know that Jesus made the choice to seek the will and the praise of God rather than chase after the continued praise of the crowd – a choice that makes all the difference for us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But w<span class="apple-style-span">hat motivated those crowds? Why were they there praising Jesus?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What were they looking for from Jesus?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">what motivates us to join the crowd around Jesus? <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do we seek in Jesus? <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What do we believe he has come to accomplish? <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Why do we pledge our allegiance to him on Sunday and yet all too often turn our attention elsewhere the rest of the week?<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These are questions we take with us, but whatever our motivation, we are called to submit to God in all areas of our lives. This means following the example of Jesus – even on Palm Sunday, even during Holy Week. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We can chase the praise of the world or instead follow after the will and call, and praise of God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But we have to choose which one we will seek after.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">the praise of the world is fleeting and fickle (Palm Sunday, the perfect example – praise on Sunday, only a few days before they began to shout ‘crucify him’)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Seeking God’s praise, on the other hand, will sometimes lead us to make choices that aren’t cool and that decidedly leave us out of the ‘in crowd’, and often are about making sacrifices, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But seeking after the will, call and praise of God is also the only way we can be who we were created to be. Who God calls us to be and who we were meant to be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is only in living into the selves that we were designed to be – not in chasing the approval and applause of the crowd – that we find true happiness, true joy and real fulfillment. <span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we submit our desire for the approval of the world, the roar of the crowd and the lure of popular acceptance so that we can seek after the praise of God we learn that God has already accepted us, and we begin to see who we really are – and what God is calling us to be.<span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amen.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-40772712413957217172011-04-14T14:47:00.000-04:002011-04-14T14:47:56.211-04:00Confessions of a nail biter<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As many of you know I have been trying to quit biting my fingernails as what I 'gave up' for Lent. I guess what I gave up would be 'nail biting'. I have to say, it is actually been going fairly well. You can see white at the tip of each of my 10 fingernails and I am certain that has never happened before in my adult life. Still a work in progress though. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In a prior post I talked about the spiritual aspects of this work - actually wanting to quit and how that relates to our lives in relationship with God, and about not dwelling in our failures so that we can live into what God has for us next. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I continue to see parallels between this exercise of not biting my nails and our faith journeys. Let's start with my nail biting. As I said, I am actually doing a pretty good job of not biting my nails. But an interesting (and for me unfortunate) thing has happened. Now that my fingers are not in my mouth any more, I have been eating a lot more. I noticed it the other day. I didn't even realize it but I had basically spent the whole afternoon snacking on one thing after another. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My nail biting had left a hole in my activity - and literally a space in my mouth - and I was filling it with eating food. Some of my nail biting could certainly be attributed to nervousness (I am nervous person), but a lot of it was simply habit. I was doing, without thinking, something I was used to doing.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I stopped doing it - or when I tried to stop doing it - I didn't intentionally put anything in its place. So, without any conscious thought on the subject, I found that I had replaced my nail biting with eating. Not good for the waistline. At. All. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But this is where the connection is for our lives of faith. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is good and important to stop things that we are doing that aren't life-giving, healthy or in line with God's will for our lives and the world. But, as we are doing that we have to be aware of the space in our lives and in our hearts that taking away those activities will leave. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have to make a decision about what we are going to fill that space with or it will get filled on its own. And if we aren't intentional about what we fill that space with, it will likely be filled with something just as harmful to us as what it is replacing (from a health standpoint, it would actually be better for me to go back to biting my nails and stop eating so much). </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we take something out of our lives - especially something that has been there for a long time - the space that is left exposed will be tender and sensitive. It hasn't seen the light of day in a while. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We have to be intentional about removing the things (habits, thoughts, attitudes, etc) from our life that don't fit with who God has called us to be. But we have to be just as intentional about what we put back into the space those things occupied. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A pastor I know was trying to quit smoking and was having a really difficult time. Eventually what helped him was finding a prayer that he could memorize and pray. The prayer took about 2-3 minutes to say all the way through, this was almost exactly as long as it took him to smoke a cigarette and about as long as one of his intense cravings would last. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If he was able to make it through the whole prayer without lighting a cigarette, he found that he almost always was able to resist the urge. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He had to fill the space before he could let go of those cigarettes. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course it isn't always as simple as 'insert prayer here', but it provides a model. I don't know what spaces you need to open in your life (I am busy identifying all of mine!) but I know that starting that process by inviting God into that space and asking the Holy Spirit to fill it is a good start. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I am a nail biter. I am trying to stop. I am asking God to open my eyes to how that space can be filled according to his will. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">More nail related thoughts tomorrow. <br />
God bless.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-48722140531479638032011-04-12T15:36:00.000-04:002011-04-12T15:36:21.307-04:00Finding our place in the story of Lazarus or you too can be a part of the resurrection<div class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hi all, I have been unable to post as much as I would like in the past couple of weeks. I have been busy focused on Holy Week and Easter. Interestingly enough, I have about 5 posts ready to go, I simply need to find the time to write them out. I know, I know you are waiting with baited breath. So, with no further ado, below is the message I shared on Sunday at Good Shepherd. It is a continuation of the Lenten series of submitting to God and it is also 'Lazarus Sunday' which is an event organized by the organization, One, that draws attention to the world AIDS/HIV epidemic and how we can (and are) making a difference. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><b><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><b><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Luke 12:48 (New International Version, ©2011)<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">48</span></sup></b><span style="color: black;"> But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><h2><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">John 11:1-45 (New International Version, ©2011)<o:p></o:p></span></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>1</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>2</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>3</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>4</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When he heard this, Jesus said,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>5</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.<b><sup>6</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>7</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and then he said to his disciples,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Let us go back to Judea.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>8</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>9</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jesus answered,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>10</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>11</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>After he had said this, he went on to tell them,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>12</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>13</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>14</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>So then he told them plainly,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Lazarus is dead,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>15</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>16</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then Thomas (also known as Didymus<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2011:1-45&version=NIV#fen-NIV-26540a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup>) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>17</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>18</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Now Bethany was less than two miles<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2011:1-45&version=NIV#fen-NIV-26542b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>from Jerusalem,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>19</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>20</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>21</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>22</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>23</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jesus said to her,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Your brother will rise again.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>24</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>25</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jesus said to her,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>26</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>27</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>28</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>29</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>30</sup></b>Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.<b><sup>31</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>32</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>33</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>34</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Where have you laid him?”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>he asked.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> “Come and see, Lord,” they replied.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>35</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jesus wept.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>36</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>37</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>38</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>39</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Take away the stone,”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>he said.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>40</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Then Jesus said,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>41</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Father, I thank you that you have heard me.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>42</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>43</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Lazarus, come out!”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>44</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> Jesus said to them,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>45</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Today, as we draw ever nearer to Holy Week, the cross and eventually the empty tomb. We find ourselves listening to a story that is hinting at the rest of the story to come. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The story of Lazarus and Jesus’ resurrection of him from the grave is an amazing and fantastic one - but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t connected to it – This isn’t one of the miracle stories, where we just say, ‘I wish I would have been there’, take it as proof of Jesus divinity and move on.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The story of Lazarus is more important than that because, at least in some small way, it is our story too.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lazarus’ story is, not just another miracle story, because the entire gospel hinges on resurrection – and in this story we can learn about what resurrection is really about and what it means for us.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is through the resurrection of Jesus Christ that death is defeated forever. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But the resurrection of Jesus and through Jesus is about som much more than that.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It also provides the starting point of a new reality.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">People with hope rooted in resurrection, by the very presence, power and reality of that hope, do God’s work in order to participate in God’s transformation of this world into the kingdom of God – a new reality that we can begin to live into right now, that is shaped by God’s grace.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Resurrection is both the promise we place our trust in and the reality that compels us to participate in God’s mission for the sake of the world.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The fundamental connection between our hope in the resurrection and our call to participate in the mission of God in this world, right now was made for me when I received an invitation for our congregation to participate in ‘Lazarus Sunday’<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lazarus Sunday, timed to coincide with our gospel reading for today, is an initiative of the advocacy organization ‘One’ – which was founded by Bono, the lead singer for the band U2. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lazarus Sunday is an effort to raise awareness about the global AIDS/HIV epidemic and encourage involvement in treatment and prevention.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The name for the day is drawn from the biblical story, but also from a something called ‘The Lazarus Effect’. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Lazarus effect is the incredible transformation of individuals who are dying of AIDS – nearly at deaths door – to making a full, vibrant recovery because of access to of access to effective, life-saving Anti-Retroviral drugs or ARV’s. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">AIDS is now both preventable and treatable, yet it has killed over 20 million people in Africa alone. Each day, however, these ARVs help people living with HIV/AIDS to stay alive.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The cost of these pills is about 40 cents a day, and they can miraculously transform the life of someone living with AIDs in as few as 40 days. Even at 40 cents a day, many families cannot afford this medicine. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In 2002 only 50,000 Africans we on ARVs, now there are 4 million with access to these life-saving drugs. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">How? Primarily through organizations like One and individuals like us advocating for our government to continue to lead the way in supporting these treatments through the Global Fund and PEPFAR<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And also through private non-profit and individual donations and efforts working with or in place of governmental agencies.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Simply put, by giving a little of themselves – their time, energy, possessions (or money that would have gone to buy possessions) - people are able to participate in what is almost literally a resurrection for those suffering from this disease. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I believe that as Christians our hope in the resurrection - and the new life to come, must lead us to work for, sustain and create whole, full and healthy life here and now. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On the face of it, it would seem an easy choice to make - give up a few possessions or buy a few less things and save some lives, provide for health and healing. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And put that way, it is simple. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But of course, it isn’t that simple. For good or bad – and usually both – we find much of our identity and our own worth in what we have: the clothes we wear, the car we drive, the house we live in, etc. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our possessions – our stuff, even if it doesn’t quite define us, give great insight into what is important to us, what and how we value.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But really following Jesus – truly submitting our lives to him - means laying even those things that define us down at his feet and giving them over to God.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is why Jesus told Peter, James & John to ‘lay down your nets and follow me’ – (Those nets & their work defined them)<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is why Jesus told the rich, young ruler to sell all of his possessions and then follow (He loved his wealth & what it bought him)<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is why he continually challenged the Pharisee’s to submit their letter of the law understanding of God to them (they could possess the written law – and they did. But in holding so tightly to the law they could grasp, they were literally missing their savior.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the story of Lazarus we see a fore shadow of the work and wonder that Jesus will accomplish on the cross. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But we also see a invitation to participate with God, in the here and now, in bringing the kingdom of God – and even resurrection into the world and to God’s children<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We are so often afraid of letting go of or submitting our possessions to God because we are afraid that God might take them away – That is a real possibility. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But we are not defined by our possessions – no matter what we might think<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Instead we are defined and shaped by the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and through Jesus Christ. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If we continue to seek out our identities in the stuff we have –even if it is good stuff, we will never truly ‘find’ ourselves.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But if we are willing to, as Jesus says ‘lose ourselves’ for his sake – and we have to be willing to lose or at the very least use what we have been given for the sake of Jesus and those Jesus loves. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is only then, in participating in the creation of the kingdom of God and the resurrection of the world that we can truly find ourselves. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jesus is telling us that it is in commitments to Him and the work that He has for us to do that we discover who we are and what our lives are all about.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, then. There are some questions for us to consider on this Lazarus Sunday:<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">What are you willing to do (or better what of yours are you willing to give up or have less of) in order to bring (new) life to the dying in the world around you?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Lazarus effect is an example of literally bringing life to those in need – but this only happens if people invest in the lives of other people, even people they will never meet<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Where can you be investing what you have (and who you are) in saving life and giving life to those around us?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As Jesus comes to Lazarus’ tomb he began to weep – We have to be moved by the plight of God’s children, our brothers and sisters. So moved that, just like Jesus, we are compelled to do something – anything that we can, giving anything that we have – to help them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After Jesus weeps, he then acts to rectify the situation, using what was available to him to bring (literal) resurrection to Lazarus (and of course, to the whole world).<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is our call to participate in and respond to the grace of resurrection. </span>To create our own Lazarus effect in the lives and the world around us.</span><i style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-10564850299510869032011-04-05T15:42:00.000-04:002011-04-05T15:42:14.465-04:00Bruno Mars, Pink, Jane's Addiction and the Body of Christ<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared on Sunday with Good Shepherd. It is part of our Lenten series on submitting ourselves to God. The topic on Sunday was submitting our bodies to God. It is an important, but often overlooked part of living our lives for God - what we do with our bodies. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i><span style="color: black;">Deuteronomy 6:1-9 (New International Version, ©2011)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="color: black;"> <b><sup>1</sup></b> These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, <b><sup>2</sup></b> so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. <b><sup>3</sup></b> Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. <b><sup>4</sup></b> Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%206:1-9&version=NIV#fen-NIV-5091a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup> <b><sup>5</sup></b> Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. <b><sup>6</sup></b> These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. <b><sup>7</sup></b> Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. <b><sup>8</sup></b> Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. <b><sup>9</sup></b> Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><h2><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt;">1 Corinthians 6:17, 19-20 (New International Version, ©2011)<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2><b><i><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt;">17</span></sup></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 11.0pt;">But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206:17-20&version=NIV#fen-NIV-28485a" title="See footnote a">a</a>] <b>19</b></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>20</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><b><i><span style="color: black;">Mark 12:28-34 (New International Version, ©2011)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="color: black;"> <b><sup>28</sup></b> One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” <b><sup>29</sup></b> “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012:28-34&version=NIV#fen-NIV-24703a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup> <b><sup>30</sup></b> Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012:28-34&version=NIV#fen-NIV-24704b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]</sup> <b><sup>31</sup></b> The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012:28-34&version=NIV#fen-NIV-24705c" title="See footnote c">c</a>]</sup>There is no commandment greater than these.” <b><sup>32</sup></b> “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. <b><sup>33</sup></b> To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” <b><sup>34</sup></b> When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">This week, for whatever reason, I really heard God speaking through music. Different parts of songs I heard were leading me to new understandings or thoughts about how we can fully submit to God with all of ourselves – meaning not just our minds, our hearts, our souls and will but with our bodies too.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">I think these new understandings begin with how we see ourselves and how we view our bodies. And this is where the first musical interlude broke into my thought process<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">There were actually two songs that are making a similar point, one is sort of an anthem of empowerment and encouragement to the singer and to the listener and the other is more of a traditional love song. The first song is by Pink and it is called ‘Perfect’ – the verses talk about making mistakes, being afraid and fighting against the negative voices inside our own minds. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Then the chorus has these words:</span></span><span style="color: #656565; font-size: 12pt;"> <i>Pretty pretty please, don't you ever ever feel Like you're less than, less than perfect . (Repeat) You are perfect to me! </i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">The second song, the love song, is called ‘Just the way you are’ by Bruno Mars. This is, as I said, basically a straight up love song, with the verses talking about different (all physical, by the way attributes) of this girl he loves. The chorus goes like this: <i>When I see your face, There's not a thing that I would change. Cause you're amazing. Just the way you are. And when you smile, The whole world stops and stares for awhile. Cause girl you're amazing. Just the way you are<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Both of these songs are pretty catchy and very popular at the moment, but as I kept catching parts of these songs this week, one thought kept sticking in my head – and it is a thought that I just couldn’t shake.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">These songs are lying. The message they are putting forth simply isn’t true. We aren’t perfect. None of us is at a place where there is nothing we should change<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">It’s not that they don’t have a good message (In fact I think Pink’s song, in particular has a very good message about liking and caring for yourself) or that the feelings aren’t genuine (although, I will mention again all of the attributes mentioned in the ‘love song’ are physical). It’s that regardless of what we might want to or like to believe – we know the truth. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">We all have things we could or should change, we all have ways that we could be better or different. That is just a simple fact of living in the broken and sinful world we call earth. How we deal with and think about our imperfection directly leads to how we treat and care for our bodies. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">I believe that our awareness (even if it isn’t a conscious thought) of our own physical imperfections often lead us to treat our bodies differently than we should.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">The final musical interlude is just a throwaway line from a song called ‘Jane Says’ by the band “Jane’s addiction’ The song is 25 years old, but somehow I heard this line at least 4 times this week. The song is about someone that loves someone that just doesn’t have a great deal of regard or care and concern for them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">The singer cries, ‘You treat me like a rental’. An interesting line.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">What does it mean to treat something or someone like a rental? At least in part, it means you don’t value or appreciate whatever it is. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Last week, while our van was having some work done we had a rental car for 2 day. The car was fine. But it clearly was a rental – it had less than 1,500 miles on it, but there was gum and garbage in the ash tray, several marks on the interior and it already had a few ‘dings’ on the outside of the car. This car hadn’t even had an oil change yet and it was already ‘used’. This car, clearly, was no one’s baby. No one took pride in this car. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">And while there are people paid to maintain that rental car and the countless others like it – no one claims it as their own. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Simply no one really VALUED the Car. Sure the rent-a-car place saw it as an investment, but the kind of value I am talking about is about much more than money. You care differently for something you value or that is valued by a friend or loved one. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">And when we had it, just like the other renters before us – we were careful not to do any damage – certainly not anything we would have to pay for – but if I am being honest, it was the bare minimum of care and concern. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Now contrast that to how we would have treated that care if we have borrowed it from a friend, neighbor or family member<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">When someone we know and care about has let us use something of theirs, we are usually very careful of how it gets treated –extra steps in protection and definitely in cleaning. Certainly more than we would if it were a rental or usually even if it were our own. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">What does this have to do with our bodies and with submitting them to God? I think everything. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">There is a Latin phrase that I learned in seminary, called Imago Dei and while it took me awhile to understand what it really meant, I believe that it is one of the most beautiful truths of our Christian faith and creation. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Basically the phrase, Imago Dei – simply translated as ‘The Image of God - is a reminder that each of us is created in the Image of God. Every single one of us was made to resemble God and to be a image bearer in this world for God’s love, grace and Spirit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333;">This truth is reinforced when we hear the words from the reading from 1Corintians: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="margin-left: .25in;"><i><span style="color: black;">But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Corinthians%206:17-20&version=NIV#fen-NIV-28485a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]<b>19</b></sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>20</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">We are united with Christ when we allow the Holy Spirit to enter into our lives. Once we have been united with Christ our bodies become temples of the Holy Spirit – that means our bodies are one of the places where the Holy Spirit of God is able to express the worship to God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">And did you catch the next to the last sentence, ‘You are not your own; you were bought at a price’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Our bodies are not some cheap throwaway that we have bought for ourselves. Our bodies are not rentals, that don’t really have an owner that cares for them or sees them as something other than property or an asset. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">No, our bodies are not our own, because they bear the Imago Dei, the Image of God and they are given to us, by God to steward and take care of. Our bodies are God’s bought with the heavy price of the blood of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Our bodies – no matter how we care for them and treat them are not perfect – we do have things we need to change: eating habits, smoking, exercise, all of those, whatever<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">But this doesn’t mean that we aren’t valuable, that how we treat our bodies and how we use our bodies doesn’t matter<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">And while we are not capable of making our bodies, or any other part of who we are perfect, we have access to perfection in use and purpose by allowing the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">When that happens we are united with Christ, and that union with Christ is union with the perfection of the one living and true God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">We have access to this perfection – but it comes with responsibility as well – the responsibility to treat our bodies, not like a rental and not even like they are our own, but rather to treat our bodies as what they truly are in, Jesus Christ’s.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">How would you care for Christ’s body?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Would you take care what you fed Jesus if you had the opportunity? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">While you would, of course want to share with him the tastiest food possible, would you not also take special care to make sure that what you were giving him was healthy? That it would sustain him? Would Jesus care about how the food got to his plate – was it grown and harvested sustainably? Were the farmers paid a fair price for it? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Would you make your best effort to make sure that Jesus’ body remained fit and healthy, if it was your responsibility? That it was treated like a temple – a vehicle for and location of the worship of God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Would you not endeavor to find every possible way to allow the body of Christ to actively worship God and spend time in communication with God?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Could you worship God through exercise? Could you worship God through dance? Could you worship God through using your body in prayer? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Yes! Yes! Yes! When we begin to look at our own bodies as bearers of the Image of God and even as the very body of Christ we can begin to see them not as broken and imperfect – but as vehicles for worship, opportunities to praise something of value and worth that must be carefully cared for. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">[See bottom of post for several ways of doing this including directions for a ‘Body prayer’ exercise. This exercise – which is really a devotion – has three sets of scripture readings, prayer ‘postures’ and then prayers to pray.]<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">We are called to love God, serve God and submit to God with all of who we are. Our mind, our soul, our spirit, our strength and all of our bodies. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">When we begin to see ourselves as image bearers for God and our bodies as the body of Christ, we can understand the value that our bodies have. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">And we see the ability to worship and praise that we have access to through our bodies, as well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Let us be ready to bear the image of God, in unity with Jesus Christ – through the power of the Holy Spirit with all of our hearts, all of our minds and all of our strength – all of us, all of what we have and all of who we are, as a response to the God that gave all –even his very body for us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;">Amen.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;"><br />
</span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #333333; font-size: 12pt;"></span></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 20.0pt;">Submitting our Bodies to God: Healthy Living Helps & Postures for Prayer<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">For information about how to get involved in the ‘Let’s Move’ Initiative head to this link: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/hunger/lets-move-1000-presbyterian-congregations/#participate">http://gamc.pcusa.org/ministries/hunger/lets-move-1000-presbyterian-congregations/#participate</a> & <a href="http://www.letsmove.gov/">http://www.letsmove.gov/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">For information about healthy eating habits and ways of thinking Biblically about what we eat, check out these links: </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><a href="http://www.letsmove.gov/eathealthy.php">http://www.letsmove.gov/eathealthy.php</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;">There are several ‘Christian’ options in this area, all can be found in various places, found through a simple search.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These include: The Daniel Fast, take back your temple, and ‘what would Jesus eat?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Prayer Posture One – <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Choose some object that might represent a symbol of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Extend your hands forward with palms up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tilt your head up, keeping your eyes fixed on the object.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before praying, reflect on the following questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How do you feel as you kneel in this position?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How do you think these feelings might affect how you pray?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Read Matthew 16:24-26:</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Then Jesus said to his disciples,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">25</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">For whoever wants to save their life<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2016:24-26&version=NIV#fen-NIV-23698a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">26</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?</span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What do you have to offer God that you are currently holding back?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l4 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">In giving your whole self over to God, what does God offer you?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Pray: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lord God, we give and receive from you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Help our desires to decrease so that your will and life through us might increase.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Prayer Posture Two – <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This is a position of submission.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For this position you will need to get on your knees and lean forward.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Place your forehead on the floor (or as close to it as possible, depending on your flexibility) and stretch your arms out in front of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If this position is too uncomfortable for you to maintain for the next few minutes, then you may alternatively lie face-down on the floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Turn your body so that you are pointing to an object that reminds you of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reflect on the following questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How do you feel as you kneel/lie in this position?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l5 level1 lfo3; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How do you think these feelings might affect how you pray?<o:p></o:p></span></div>Read James 4:6-10: <br />
<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black;">6</span></sup></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"> </span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>but shows favor to the humble.”<sup>[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=James%204:6-10&version=NIV#fen-NIV-30344a" title="See footnote a">a</a>] </sup> <b><sup>7</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>8</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>9</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>10</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.<o:p></o:p></span></i><br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What does it mean for you to submit to God?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo4; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">What, in your life, is more important than God?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: .25in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Pray: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Loving Lord, we lie here exposed and humble before you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Take our humility and build something new in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt;">Prayer Posture Three - <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This is a posture of rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lie on your back and place your arms by your sides or fold your hands across your torso and relax.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How do you feel?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo5; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">How will these feelings affect the way you pray?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Read Deuteronomy 5:14-15<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">14</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><sup><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">15</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.</span></i></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Lord does not demand that we work for God’s kingdom without resting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keeping a sabbath, or resting, keeps us close to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: normal; mso-list: l3 level1 lfo6; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Where, in your life, do you need rest?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Pray: God of rest and calm, you created the Sabbath for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Help us to remember the importance of rest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We ask that we might rest in your loving arms.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">These prayer postures represent our journey with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First, we receive God’s gifts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then we submit our lives to the God who makes our paths straight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lastly, we rest in the presence of God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><br />
</div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Pay attention to your body as you continue to pray throughout Lent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Try out different ways of positioning your body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you feel like your relationship with God is out of balance – try standing on one foot with you pray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you feel like you need God to take your somewhere new, pray while jogging, walking or riding a bike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Use your whole body as you pray.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-55636298027567918472011-03-29T15:42:00.000-04:002011-03-29T15:42:00.866-04:00Giving up Guilt for Lent<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I know that I have had a lot of Lent and particularly 'giving-things-up-for-Lent' themed posts lately, but as I continue to struggle with not biting my nails, I guess it has just been on my mind a lot. And, after all, it is Lent. So, its appropriate. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anyway, I was thinking about how our practice of giving something for Lent is a really similar and comparable to the ancient practice of sacrifices and/or burnt offerings. Of course I am not talking about human sacrifice or anything like that, but the kind of sacrifice we read about, primarily in the Old Testament, but was also present at the time of Jesus. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There are lots of different kinds of sacrifice talked about and explained in the Bible, but all of it shared a purpose. The sacrifices and the burnt offerings were to be gifts to God, symbols of our love and appreciation for what God has done for us. But they were also to be something more than that, they things (different types of animals) were sacrificed as a sort of penance for sins we had committed and the things we had done wrong. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finally, they were to cost us something and that cost was to be a reminder to us of the consequences of our actions and a reminder of what God had done for us. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is where the greatest similarity lies to our giving things up for Lent. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We don't give things up for Lent because God asks us to. (we will get to that in a second). Instead we give things up to remind us - daily - of what God, in Christ has done for us and to experience, on some small scale a sacrifice to help us appreciate the sacrifices Jesus made for us. That is good, and important - as long as it is done to help us grow closer to Christ and gain a better understanding of the depth of God's sacrificial love for us. Giving something up is about getting closer to God and knowing more of God's love. It isn't for or about God. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These thoughts crystallized for me as I read today's Old Testament passage from the Daily Lectionary (which can be found here: </span><a href="http://gamc.pcusa.org/devotion/daily/2011/3/29/">http://gamc.pcusa.org/devotion/daily/2011/3/29/</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> )</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The part that really stuck out to me as meaningful for us during Lent was this, from Jeremiah 7:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"><sup style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">1</sup></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;">Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"><sup style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">22</sup></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;">For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"><sup style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">23</sup></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;">But this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"><sup style="font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 0; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">24</sup></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;">Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #44473e; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 19px;"> </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">God doesn't want or ask for our offerings and sacrifices (that is why he says to eat the offerings - the sacrifices to God would have stayed at the temple and shared by the priests) God isn't interested in our offerings, but our obedience. God wants us to follow where he calls us and sends us. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Also, very interesting to me is that part of the problem for the people is that they were looking backward rather than forward. So often when we sacrifice something - to God or someone else - it is about penitence or repayment. We do it to make up for something we have done -or left undone. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But here God is saying that we are to simply look forward into what and where God is calling us now and not be worried about what we have done or not done in the past. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, maybe the best thing all of us can give up this year for Lent is guilt. God doesn't want our sacrifices because God isn't interested in our looking back on where we have messed up or not lived up. God simply asks us to obey him and that begins with turning around and facing forward into the future and the life that God has called you to. Not worried about the past, but ready for whatever God is going to call you to next.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-47663493635856623202011-03-28T16:02:00.001-04:002011-03-28T16:05:44.947-04:00You can't always get what you want . . . .<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Good Afternoon all. Below is the message I shared yesterday with Good Shepherd. The john 4 passage is a really long one, but I think it is important. Having said that, it is a familiar story, and I pull out the points I am talking about in the text. I have pasted it here, if you want to read it in its entirety. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The message is a continuation of our series on submitting to God, this week focusing on giving over our desires and requests to God. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Matthew 7:7-11 (New International Version, ©2011)</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>7</sup></b> “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. <b><sup>8</sup></b> For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>9</sup></b> “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? <b><sup>10</sup></b> Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? <b><sup>11</sup></b> If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><b><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">John 4:5-42 (The Message)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>4-6</sup></b>To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob's well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>7-8</sup></b>A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) <b><sup>9</sup></b>The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) <b><sup>10</sup></b>Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water." <b><sup>11-12</sup></b>The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>13-14</sup></b>Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>15</sup></b>The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!" <b><sup>16</sup></b>He said, "Go call your husband and then come back." <b><sup>17-18</sup></b>"I have no husband," she said.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> "That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>19-20</sup></b>"Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>21-23</sup></b>"Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>23-24</sup></b>"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>25</sup></b>The woman said, "I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>26</sup></b>"I am he," said Jesus. "You don't have to wait any longer or look any further."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>27</sup></b>Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>28-30</sup></b>The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?" And they went out to see for themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>31</sup></b>In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, "Rabbi, eat. Aren't you going to eat?" <b><sup>32</sup></b>He told them, "I have food to eat you know nothing about." <b><sup>33</sup></b>The disciples were puzzled. "Who could have brought him food?"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>34-35</sup></b>Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn't you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what's right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It's harvest time!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>36-38</sup></b>"The Harvester isn't waiting. He's taking his pay, gathering in this grain that's ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That's the truth of the saying, 'This one sows, that one harvests.' I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others."<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b><sup>39-42</sup></b>Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman's witness: "He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!" They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, "We're no longer taking this on your say-so. We've heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He's the Savior of the world!"<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">As we are continuing to look at submitting every aspect of our lives to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Today the focus is in submitting our petitions or our requests to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">On the face of it, this one seems like a no brainer. I mean, who else are we going to give our requests to? Isn’t submitting our requests and petitions to God what prayer is all about (or at least partly what it is about)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And the passage from Matthew 7 we read a few minutes ago seems to seems to reinforce this idea:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. <b><sup>8</sup></b> For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But I think actually submitting our requests and petitions to God is about more than just the asking for what we want<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And, as all of us already know – asking for something of God – whatever it is, is never quite so simple as ‘seek & you will find, ask & it shall be given, knock & the door will be opened.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We ask for things from God all the time that we don’t get. This is a simple, undeniable fact of life, one that we have to come to terms with. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">For as long as we go on pretending that getting what we ask for is always as simple as knocking on the right door, we will miss the ways God is trying to break into our lives while we wait to be given what we want.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Submitting our petitions or requests to God means not just handing our wish lists to God, but actually handing over our wish lists and letting go of the expectation that we might get exactly what it is we have asked for.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But really submitting our requests to God can move them from simply something we want to something that God is able to use to transform us and change the world around us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">As we look at our story from John 4, there are three specific places where I want us to focus. Three particular points that help us understand the details that fill out God’s invitation to Ask, seek and knock.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We pick up the story with Jesus hanging out at the local well, waiting for the disciples to return with lunch. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">A local Samaritan woman enters the scene – now we don’t have to be too clever to figure out her motivation, she is there to get water (it is, after all, a well)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And here we have the first real request: but it is not from the woman, it is from Jesus. Jesus asks her for water. This is how it works in our relationship with God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">God is always the first actor in relationship with us. And God wants us to submit our lives to him. But even though God could make us do whatever – forcing us to submit all of our lives to him<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But that isn’t God’s nature. Instead God sent Jesus to us. Jesus life serves as an invitation to relationship with God and a petition to willingly submit our lives to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Submitting our lives and our petitions to God begins with responding to God’s invitation. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">When this happens in the gospel passage there is a change – the woman is no longer being asked a question – instead after hearing about this ‘living water’ that Jesus is talking about, she is intrigued by what he has said and she asks him for this water<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">She realizes and believes that Jesus has something to offer her. She knows that he has something she needs. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">So, she submits her request, asking for the living water.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But it’s is very rarely as simple as lodging a request and receiving what you have asked for. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And that is the case here too – the woman likely still had to travel to that well every day for the rest of her life. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But in that moment Jesus gave her access to sustenance that even his own disciples had not yet received – or better, had not yet understood. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">The living water Jesus gives to her is the same as the food that keeps him fed and sustained – to do the work of God or to be who God called him and created him to be, wherever he was. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">That is the spiritual food Jesus ate and the living water he offered.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Interestingly, He doesn’t tell her that she isn’t good enough yet to get the water. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">In fact, in his description of how we are to submit to and worship God, Jesus makes it clear that we are not to have any pretenses when we come before God. We are to come to God as we are – honest about who we are. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">When we do that, and when in doing that we submit our lives and give them to God, then God will take our lives and transform them. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">When we allow God to reorder our lives. When we allow God to restore our vision, so that it matches his. When we submit all of our lives to God – then our needs are met, and our petitions and requests are answered in ways that we couldn’t have imagined. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Again this is what Jesus is trying to explain, he is sustained and fulfilled in following the call of his father. Submitting to the will of God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">We are here as the result of Jesus submission to God. We are here and we have the invitation to eternal life with God because Jesus did not simply list his requests to God, but instead submitted them to God, giving them up so that they might be transformed into God’s will. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">It isn’t likely, of course, that any of us will have the impact on our world that Jesus has had. But we can make a massive impact on the lives of our families and friends and the world around us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">To understand how this works, we need only to look at the Samaritan woman in our passage one more time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">After her encounter with Jesus, she returns to her village and can’t stop telling everybody about what she has just experienced. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">She is evangelizing her village, not because she is intending to per se, but rather because her experience of God is so fresh and her transformation so complete that she simply can’t keep quiet about it. She has to share what has happened to her – it is good news!<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">People begin to believe in Jesus - and long for the same transformation – simply because of her witness to them<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">She then persuades Jesus to stay a few days in the community and even more people are brought into a relationship with Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is what happens when we submit our desires, our wants, our requests and our lives to God:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Transformation happens within us, through us and around us. When we submit to God we get to be part of God’s work in and through this world.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">God takes our submission and uses it to do more than we can know or imagine - the Samaritan woman is changed, restored and transformed but it doesn’t stop there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Many in her village come to know and be in relationship with Jesus through her. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">When we let go of our requests, petitions and desires and submit them to God, we don’t usually get exactly what we ask for. But that is because God’s vision for our lives and for the world around us is so much bigger, clearer and better than our own. Submitting to God opens us up to a reality we wouldn’t have dared to ask for or even could have imagined without God.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ask, Seek Knock. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ask of God – and God will ask something of you. Asking you to submit even your wants and requests to him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Seek God – and you will find that God’s plan for you and the world is often different than yours<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Knock on the door to a relationship with God – and you will find that a world of change, service and sacrifice awaits.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">But you will see that you have:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Received maybe not what you have asked for, but in the grace, peace and love of Jesus Christ so much more than you could have imagined.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">You will find that in giving up what you want, and accepting where you are and who God has called you to be that you might not have the life you were seeking, but that the life you have has eternal meaning and real significance here and now.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">And you will see that in giving over your requests and your life to God what is opened to you is the door to a whole, full and fulfilled life as part of the kingdom of God now and forever. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: normal; margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-90675939838239357042011-03-23T16:19:00.000-04:002011-03-23T16:19:56.824-04:00Still biting<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">A quick thought for the day. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I have had a bit of a rough day or so with the whole 'not biting my fingernails' thing. Not a full relapse mind you, but I have definitely been biting. Trips to the car dealership and other moments of uncertainty will do it to me every time.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Which is so true, I think of what happens to us in many ways when we are trying to avoid temptation or sin. We are strong for a while and then there we find ourselves in a difficult time, we are stressed or around certain people and we - seemingly without even thinking about it - slip right back into our old patterns of living and being. Those patterns that are supposed to be dead so that the new and transformed us can rise with Christ. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But our lives are not so simple. It is just the fact of life that there will be steps back (not to mention steps sideways, etc.) just as we struggle to move forward. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we fail or relapse or give in to temptation there is a natural thought to dwell in that failure, to give up and give in saying that it (and we) are a lost cause. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But our mistakes and even our sin and giving into temptation is not failure, not really. The only real failure is to accept that as the end result of who we are and where we will be. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Paul, you know the guy that wrote like half of the New Testament and brought the gospel to countless people, struggled with a 'thorn in the flesh' that he said was from Satan. Nobody knows what that thorn was, some say it was a physical ailment, some a temptation, some say something else entirely. But whatever it was, 2 Corinthians 12 says that Paul asked to have it taken from him 3 times and that it wasn't.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So what? Well, I think for us there is peace and grace in Paul's response to the continued presence of this Thorn. He didn't look at it as a failure of his or of a reflection of who and what he 'really' was. Instead he says this, in verse 8:<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;">But he said to me,</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 16px;"> </span></i></span><span class="woj" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i>“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.</i>”</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The point is that our 'failures' and imperfections - even our sins are not to be burdens of guilt and despair for us, but rather reminders that it is not on our own merits that we are granted entrance into the family of God, but rather through the grace, peace, love and ultimately sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And that power is made perfect - and shines most brightly - in and through our weakness. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">***Disclaimer: this doesn't mean we are to sin more, but that is a post for another day - or just keep reading in 2 Corinthians. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">God Bless.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-39554889050882833802011-03-22T13:31:00.000-04:002011-03-22T13:31:46.987-04:00Choosing what to quit and who to serve<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared at Good Shepherd's new worship experience, 'Shepherd 701'. The message is actually based on a blog post I wrote last week, about biting my fingernails. So this post can serve as an update to that post, both in how I am doing with the nail biting and in that it is a more fully formed treatment of the idea of serving either the law of sin or the law of God. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Hope you find it meaningful. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">Romans 7:17-25 (New International Version, ©2011)<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">17</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. </span><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">18</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.</span><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 9pt;">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%207:17-25&version=NIV#fen-NIV-28110a" title="See footnote a"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">a</span></a>]</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. </span><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">19</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. </span><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">20</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. </span><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">21</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. </span><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">22</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; </span><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">23</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. </span><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">24</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? </span><b><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">25</span></sup></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature</span><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 9pt;">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%207:17-25&version=NIV#fen-NIV-28117b" title="See footnote b"><span style="color: blue; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">b</span></a>]</span></sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> a slave to the law of sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So here we are in this season of Lent. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It is a fairly common practice to give something up during Lent<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Truth be told, I am just not very good at this: I usually pick some type of food to give up. Then I end up fixating on the food and talking about it - or more likely complaining about not having it all the time<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I feel like this sort of defeats the purpose, so I was actually not going to give up anything this year. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But then I decided to try something a little different<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This year I am trying to give up biting my fingernails. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Which isn’t the typical thing to give up, I know, but I have been trying for literally years to stop, so I thought it was worth a try.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As I struggle with breaking this habit this week I was struck by Paul’s words in Romans 7, words we just heard a moment ago:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">‘For I don’t do the good I intend to do, but the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing.’ <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Isn’t this a great summary for much of our lives? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We, so often get caught up in doing the things that we don’t want to do and manage to miss the opportunities to do the things we want to do or know we should do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">This doesn’t seem to make any sense – why would we keep doing things that we don’t want to do?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Well, for most of us it just isn’t that simple<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I want to stop biting my nails – most of the time. Sometimes I do it without even realizing that I am doing it. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But, if I am being completely honest, there is often –in fact almost always – a moment of realization <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A moment when I know I am about to bite my nails. And in that moment, I don’t want to quit – I want to bite my nails, so that is exactly what I do. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s in moments like this, usually about things much more important than nail-biting, that we are giving in to the ‘law of sin’ or sinful nature living within us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In that moment we are presented with a choice between the freedom of following the law of God and slavery to the law of sin. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Too often we choice the law of sin. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We do it of course because there is some reward or satisfaction or pleasure. Sin usually looks or feels good – at least for a moment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But sin, choosing the law of sin, has consequences too<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Right now this is the first time I can ever remember that at least one of my fingers doesn’t actively hurt. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">That is a ridiculous but true statement. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The pain in my fingers is a consequence of giving into that momentary impulse. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But we need to understand that whenever we give into the law of sin in our lives – there is a consequence – that sin leaves a mark. Aching fingers, hurt feelings, broken and torn lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .75in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And the more often we give into any one sin, the deeper the wound, the longer it takes to heal, the bigger the scar in our lives, and relationships.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sin is about deception, tricking us to choose pain and brokenness and slavery over freedom, wholeness and fulfillment. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> It may not always seem like it, but we always have a choice: a choice to give into the sinful nature living within us or to accept and rely on the love, grace and power of Jesus Christ and the law of God that is at work within us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s a choice we make many times every day, and each time we give into sin we allow ourselves to become more enslaved by the very sin we seek pleasure from. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But, e<span class="apple-style-span">ach time we choose to rely on God we grow closer to God and also closer to who we are supposed to be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So, while we are incapable of always choosing freedom, wholeness and life our will power, strength and choice is not the end of the story<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color: #222222; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Listen again to the passage from Romans, this time in The Message translation, starting at verse 24:</span></span><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Romans 7:19-25 (The Message)</span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in;"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">24</span></sup></b><span style="color: black;">I've tried everything and nothing helps. I'm at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn't that the real question?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: .25in;"><b><sup><span style="color: black;">25</span></sup></b><span style="color: black;">The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The choice we are offered is to stop relying on ourselves and to lean on and lean into the love, grace and peace of Jesus Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus Christ who loves us, wants what is best for us and has the power to guide and save us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Through his actions he has set right even our hearts and minds and decisions if we would but choose him. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">And that is indeed good news. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .25in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-32353432584341906962011-03-21T14:15:00.000-04:002011-03-21T14:15:11.959-04:00Who do you work for?<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared yesterday at Good Shepherd as we are in the midst of a Lenten series focused on submitting our lives to God. This message is focused on submitting our work to God. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><b><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Colossians 3:22 - 25 (The Message)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup>22-25</sup></b>Servants, do what you're told by your earthly masters. And don't just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn't cover up bad work.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><h2><span style="color: black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">John 6:27-33 (The Message)<o:p></o:p></span></span></h2><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <b><sup id="en-MSG-11277">27</sup></b>"Don't waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last." <b><sup id="en-MSG-11278">28</sup></b>To that they said, "Well, what do we do then to get in on God's works?" <b><sup id="en-MSG-11279">29</sup></b>Jesus said, "Throw your lot in with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God's works." <b><sup id="en-MSG-11280">30-31</sup></b>They waffled: "Why don't you give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of what's going on? When we see what's up, we'll commit ourselves. Show us what you can do. Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the desert. It says so in the Scriptures: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" <b><sup id="en-MSG-11281">32-33</sup></b>Jesus responded, "The real significance of that Scripture is not that Moses gave you bread from heaven but that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world."<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"></span>This week we are continuing to look at submitting our lives to God in thanks for what God in Christ has done for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As we do that, our focus today is on submitting our work to God. Not all of us have a job – but all of us have work. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All of us do something – a job, school, parenting, chores, etc. When you think about it, most of us – if not all of us – do a lot more than one thing. All of us have and do work. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The question I want us to think about this morning is why? Why are we working? Not why do we have to work, but why are we working. Maybe a better way ask the question is like this: who or what are you doing your work for?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is a question that might seem to have a million different answers: We do our jobs for our bosses – and maybe for ourselves. We do chores and the work of parenting for our families. We do our schoolwork for ourselves maybe, but definitely our parents. Etc.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These answers are all probably ‘correct’ or true, and they point, I think, to the fragmented nature of much of our lives – we have a different person or reason for doing each piece or kind of work before us.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But this fragmented, piecemeal life of multiple and sometimes conflicting motivations is not the life that Christ calls and invites us to.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Submitting our work to God means beginning to let God really work in and through your life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It means, almost by default, that you are opening yourself up to not just little changes, but true transformation<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This transformation begins by recognizing that there is – or really should be – only one answer to the question of why or who we are working for. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One translation of verse 23 of our passage from Colossians says it this way: whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not human masters.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Understanding the work before us this way doesn’t allow us to compartmentalize our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Instead, when we begin to see that all that we do – from the most mundane act (taking out the garbage, for instance) to the most important act of service (providing food or clothing for a family in need, maybe) is all to be done as if it was done for God and to God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we look at our lives and our work that way everything matters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we look at the work before us – and the stuff that fills up our daily lives, our schedules begin to take on eternal meaning and significance.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we understand that everything we do, we are to do with our whole hearts and to do as if we are doing it for the Lord, that means that there is nothing that ‘doesn’t matter’ and that there is no ‘little’ or ‘small’ thing. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That can be an intimidating prospect – what I am doing matters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But what an exciting opportunity – to be able to say that something – anything (everything?) that I am doing, the work that is before me, matters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The work we have before us: the daily routines of our jobs, the unrewarding tasks of maintaining a healthy marriage or family, the work of our hands – all of it matters. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">All of it matters, not just to you or to me, but to God. That is crazy. And it is an amazing truth that points to the wonderful privilege that we are given to participate with Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit to bring the Kingdom of God near to our world. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But it means changing the way we view our lives and the things we do with them. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It means that submitting our work to God isn’t about what we do on Sunday mornings or ‘just’ when we are doing service or mission work. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is, instead about what we do – and why we do – everything.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was first exposed to this reality in a conversation with my mother when I was a teenager<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As many of you know I grew up heavily involved in service and mission projects. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For as long as I can remember mission work, whether local mission projects that take a few hours every couple of weeks or concentrated work that took place on mission trips, has been an important part of my life. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One Sunday night after a weekend spent with my youth group doing a few different mission projects, I was feeling pretty good about myself and the work that we had done. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">My mom, however, had a list of questions for me: Was my homework done? Why wasn’t my room clean? Was I planning on doing any of the chores that were my responsibility around the house? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was expecting to be able to relax and maybe even be pampered a little bit – I mean I had just spent the weekend doing ‘important’ work FOR GOD!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Instead I was greeted with those questions and one more piercing one: why was it so easy for me to serve others and be a great worker everywhere else but so hard for me at home? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As you might have already figured out, my mom doesn’t really pull any punches – but she wasn’t trying to be mean or make me feel guilty. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">She was asking me to consider what my real witness was and why I was or wasn’t doing something.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now, I am very much a work in progress and Traci will tell you it still isn’t always easy to get me to work on the chores that need done around the house<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But I have never forgotten that question my mother asked me and I believe it is one that we all need to keep in mind <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If we understand, as I think we should, that all the work that is put before us – from explicit service and mission work, to writing reports or memorizing facts for work or school, to taking out the garbage and cleaning our rooms <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If we understand all of it to be work that is to be done for God and to the glory of God then, at least in my life, it has to radically change the way that I go about my everyday life and my everyday work. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If we begin to respond to God’s call to do all things for God and for the glory of God, not only will be begin to be transformed, but we will begin to transform the lives around us, the community around us and even the world around us – bringing the kingdom of God near to all that see and experience the work of our hands and minds. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we begin to see the value, meaning and importance of even the little or seemingly insignificant things we do – it allows others to see the meaning, significance and value in their lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This is an amazing gift that can’t be overstated and this is a grace – a saving grace - that comes from God to those around us through the way we work at what is put before us. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This change doesn’t usually happen overnight, so begin with whatever you consider to be your primary work: your job, school, parental responsibilities, whatever. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Begin viewing each task that comes with that work as a job to be done for God and to God’s glory. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When we submit the work of our hands and minds to God, it transforms us and in that transformation invites others into relationship with God. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In all and whatever we do, then, let us do it with our whole hearts, as working for the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Amen.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-64057174172954368982011-03-15T15:07:00.000-04:002011-03-15T15:07:53.732-04:00I keep trying to give up . . . but I am no good at it.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Okay, I need all of you to stay with me for a few minutes on this post today, I have a point, but it may take a minute or two to get to. Thanks.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, right now my fingers hurt. Truth be told they hurt almost everyday. No, I don't have arthritis or any lamentable condition, except for the fact that I have been biting my nails for as long as I can remember.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So my fingers are sore from the fact that I bite my nails down almost to the bone, I really do and I will be the first to admit that it is pretty gross. Traci hates that I bite my nails and is always trying to get me to quit, often telling me to 'get your fingers out of your mouth!' Here is the strange thing though, I really don't want to quit. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Like I said, I know that it is gross and my fingernails look terrible, plus there is the whole fingers hurting everyday thing. And for the most part I don't really get any enjoyment - certainly no long term enjoyment - out of biting my fingernails. But there is the moment, the exact moment when I bite my nails, that there is some sort of psychological or emotional enjoyment out of it. Strangely, this momentary enjoyment is almost intensified if I have just been told not to do it. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So I can say that I would like to say that I do want to stop, but I don't seem to act that way. To this end I have given up biting my nails for Lent - I know not exactly a sacrifice, but it is worth a shot. Over the past week it is amazing how many times I find my fingers in my mouth without even realizing it. Again, gross, I know. I am doing okay, but far from perfect. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Each time I 'catch' myself about to start biting my nails there is this instant where I have to make a decision: do I stop - and avoid the instant of gratification, but a tiny bit closer to who I want to be and how I want to act or do I give in and bite away, which gives me the instant of satisfaction but leaves me not only with guilt but with the consequences of my actions - hurting fingers, gross looking hands, a wife annoyed with my nervous habit, etc. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As I was thinking about this today, I read Romans 7: </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i><sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-28111" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">19</sup> For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-28112" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">20</sup>Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-28113" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">21</sup> So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Interesting parallel, no? I don't think Paul's issue or struggle was with biting his nails, and of course my biggest real struggles aren't either. But there are parallels here. In each of our lives we get stuck in patterns of behavior where we do the things we don't want to do and we don't do the things we know we should or the things we actually want to do. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Sin is all about deception. While it can sometimes feel good, that feeling never lasts and sin always comes with consequences. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Romans 7 continues like this:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i></i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-28114" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">22</sup> For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-28115" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">23</sup> but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-28116" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">24</sup> What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? <sup class="versenum" id="en-NIV-28117" style="font-weight: bold; line-height: normal; vertical-align: text-top;">25</sup> Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><i> So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature<sup class="footnote" style="line-height: 0.5em;" value="[<a href="#fen-NIV-28117d" title="See footnote d">d</a>]">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+7&version=NIV#fen-NIV-28117d" title="See footnote d">d</a>]</sup> a slave to the law of sin.</i></span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It may not always seem like it, but we always have a choice: a choice to give into the sinful nature living within us or to accept and rely on the love, grace and power of Jesus Christ and the law of God that is at work within us. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is a choice that we make a hundred times a day, and each choice has consequences. Each time we choose to rely on God we grow closer to God and also closer to who we are supposed to be. Each time we give into sin we allow ourselves to become more enslaved by the very sin we seek pleasure from. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">As Paul says we are indeed wretched, but the good news of the gospel is that there is no bond of sin that is beyond the power of Jesus Christ to break and it only takes one choice to rely on God to set us right and on God's path of freedom and destiny for our lives. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The choice is ours. As for me, I am hoping for fingernails and pain-free hands. Amen.</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8969952514322812452.post-36680749510707090352011-03-14T15:08:00.000-04:002011-03-14T15:08:51.310-04:00Getting down the mountain is as easy as the person who is guiding you down<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Below is the message I shared yesterday at Good Shepherd. For Lent we are talking about submitting to God. This is not exactly an exciting topic, but I think it is a crucial one. I hope it holds for you a word from God.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-outline-level: 2;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;">James 4:7-10 (NIV)<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></i><b><i><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">7</span></sup></i></b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. </span></i><b><i><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">8</span></sup></i></b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. </span></i><b><i><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">9</span></sup></i></b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. </span></i><b><i><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt;">10</span></sup></i></b><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><h2><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">Mark 1:35-39 (New International Version, ©2011)<o:p></o:p></span></i></h2><div class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="color: black;"> </span></i><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-24251"><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">35</span></sup></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black;">Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-24252"><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">36</span></sup></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black;">Simon and his companions went to look for him,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-24253"><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">37</span></sup></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black;">and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!” </span></i><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-24254"><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">38</span></sup></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black;">Jesus replied,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>“Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span></i><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-24255"><span style="color: black; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;">39</span></sup></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black;">So he traveled throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and driving out demons.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As you have likely heard me say many times, in this season of Lent we will look at how we can submit or give over specific areas of our lives to God so that we might be able to more fully follow God and so that we might come closer to who God intended us and created us to be. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But I think it is important, before we talk about how we can submit more fully, that we talk about why we need to submit to God and what submitting really means.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">What does it mean to submit?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">For me, if I am being honest, the word doesn’t have a great context. Submitting is synonymous with losing or quitting or getting beaten at something. But this isn’t quite the real meaning of the word.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The word submit has a couple of possible meanings, the first two I found are the ones that I think are applicable for us: 1. To give over or yield to the power or authority of another. 2. To subject to some kind of treatment or influence. This is what we are doing when we submit to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We are choosing to yield to the power and authority of God and asking God, through the power and indwelling of the Holy Spirit to not just influence our lives, but to guide our thoughts, plans and actions. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As such, I think submitting begins with admitting that someone else has more knowledge, power or ability than you.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When we think about that, it makes sense that we often think of submitting as losing or admitting defeat<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In a world where independence and self-reliance is seen as maybe the ultimate value, admitting that someone – anyone, even God – is more capable of planning and guiding your life is a hard pill to swallow. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">But this is what we say we believe. We say that we believe that God has good things planned for us. We say in confession and in many other ways that we are not perfect and have fallen short of God’s – and our own – plans for our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We say that we have faith that God is good and wants the best for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So, submitting to God, if we believe what we say makes sense. God not only wants what is best for us, but knows what is best for us. God is in perfect position to guide our lives to be all that they can be, if we would simply submit to God’s power, authority and influence in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Even so, it is still hard – and in fact seems to go against our natural will, to submit to God, we want to rely on ourselves. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">No one had more right to think this way than Jesus – Jesus who, while being fully human was also fully God. Yet let’s look at how Jesus viewed his relationship with God and submitting to God’s authority:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">First, from Philippians 2:5-8 <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><b><i><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">5</span></sup></i></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: <b><sup id="en-NIV-29398">6</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>Who, being in very nature<sup value="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29398a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2&version=NIV#fen-NIV-29398a" title="See footnote a">a</a>]</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>God,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>7</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>rather, he made himself nothing<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>by taking the very nature<sup value="[<a href="#fen-NIV-29399b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]">[<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Philippians+2&version=NIV#fen-NIV-29399b" title="See footnote b">b</a>]</sup><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>of a servant,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> being made in human likeness.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><sup>8</sup></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>And being found in appearance as a man,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>he humbled himself<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>by becoming obedient to death—<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>even death on a cross!<o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span>And then a familiar scene from the last week of Jesus life, taken from Luke 22:<o:p></o:p></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b><sup id="en-NIV-25904">39</sup></b></span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-25905"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">40</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">On reaching the place, he said to them,“Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-25906"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">41</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-25907"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">42</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So in these two passages we see the depth of what it means to truly and fully submit to God<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In these passages, we see Jesus example of perfect submission – but Jesus also had something to say about submission, and I think it is important for us to look at that as well<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">In John 15, starting at verse 13 listen to what Jesus says about submitting :<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i><sup><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">13</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-26714"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">14</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">You are my friends if you do what I command.</span></i></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><i><sup id="en-NIV-26715"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">15</span></sup></i></b></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></i></span><span class="apple-style-span"><i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you</span></i></span><i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">We don’t normally think about submitting to a friend – but this is what Jesus offers us and asks of us<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus doesn’t force our submission, guilt it out of us or try to scare us into it. Instead Jesus invites us to follow him. Why? <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Because Jesus knows the way, knows what is best for you and has been where you are and knows where you need to go.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Submitting to friend is about trust and faith. Trust in the friend’s intentions – that they only want what is best for you. And faith, faith that the friend you are submitting to, the friend that you are following and listening to knows what they are doing.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When I was 12, I was away at a camp called Summer’s Best Two Weeks. As part of the camp we were on a 3 night camping trip. On the afternoon of the last day we were hiking down a fairly steep mountain and our group was faced with two options – follow the path as it zig zagged gently down the long way down the hill or take the more direct route, mostly straight down the hill – basically free climbing down the hill.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Did I mention we were 12 year old boys???? (as for our counselors, well, they were old boys too, 20 year old boys, but still just boys) so it’s not so surprising that they let us go straight down the hill. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">All was going fine – and it was quite a bit of fun - until I was about halfway down the hill.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I hadn’t even noticed, but I was the last one in the line going down the hill, and before I knew it everyone else was at the bottom and I was still only half way down.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Basically, there were a few tricky steps and I got nervous, then scared and then I just froze. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">One of my counselors came part way up the hill and tried to talk me down – but I didn’t budge. Nothing worked and I was still stuck halfway down the hill. That was until my friend, Artie, came partway up the hill and started talking to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Artie was one of my best friends at camp. He was a really good friend, but more than that he was the one that got me to go on this hiking trip. He was an avid hiker and rock climber and kept telling me about how much fun it would be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">When Artie reassured me that it would be fine, I believed him. And when he started to give me step by step instructions on how to get down, I listened and followed. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I trusted Artie because he was my friend and because I knew he cared about me and my safety.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">I had faith in Artie, because I knew he knew what he was talking about: He was a hiker, a camper and a rock climber – this was his element. He told me that he had just been where I was. He said that all I had to do was follow in his footsteps, do what he told me to do and I would be fine. He guided me along the path down, step by step and before I knew it, I was at the bottom of the hill.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our lives of following Christ are as simple as my way down that hill – we simply have to submit to our friend Jesus and do what he tells us to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus has been where you are today. Jesus knows where you need to go and Jesus knows how to get you there.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus invites us to listen to him, to follow him and submit to him because that is the only way we can be unstuck from our lives of missed opportunities, wrong turns and faults and get to the path that our lives were designed for.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Our response to Jesus invitation is to submit to God by trusting and having faith in him. Now as great of an idea as that is, it doesn’t happen magically or simply because we say that is what we are going to do.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Really, truly and fully submitting to God and learning to trust and have faith in Jesus takes time, work and discipline. And that is the bottom line for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">If we want to be who we were created to be. If we want to be who God is calling us to be we need to know Jesus well enough to trust him and to have faith in him.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Submitting to God begins with spending time dedicated and devoted to talking to – and listening to God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">As always Jesus is our role model, and we saw it in our Gospel lesson a few minutes ago. Jesus – as was his custom – up early to be alone in prayer with God. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Following God, submitting to God begins with submitting or giving of our time. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">So as we begin this season of Lent and we start to focus on Christ’s journey to the cross, we must begin to give God some (or some more) of our time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Make this the moment – as a Lenten discipline – to dedicate focused time to God each and every day. For you it maybe, like Jesus, that you get up early before anyone else is awake<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Maybe it is after everyone is asleep at night, or in the car to work or the bus home from school. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-indent: .5in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Where ever and whenever it is, if we submit time to God each and every day we begin to hear the voice of Christ and hearing that voice we can trust enough to follow the call of Christ. Knowing that in faith, the God that has been where we are, will lead us to where we need to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 0in; mso-add-space: auto;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Amen.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12740420406542694276noreply@blogger.com0