The Power Within

Sermon:  July 26, 2015

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

--Ephesians 3:14-21

Today’s scripture reading is a prayer. This was Paul’s prison cell at the time that the letter to the people of Ephesus was written.

First, Paul tells us that he kneels before the Father. Imagine him kneeling in there. Kneeling is a posture of submission. We have special cushions for kneeling in submission to God in prayer, yet Paul kneeled there on that stone floor.

Paul’s word choices here are intentional…he refers to God as Father and to all of the families under heaven and earth. It is important that you see our church as family. We are a family. And just as Paul prayed for the church in Ephesus (and in many other surrounding areas), we should also pray for our church…our extended family.

And in every family, there must be a certain amount of patience and understanding. We are all different and yet we must love one another, be kind to one another, confront each other when it’s necessary, and forgive each other. No family is perfect, but we are all important.

And, as I mentioned early, God is described as our Father. When we describe the Trinity we say “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”. God the Father is spirit, the Holy Spirit is spirit, and Jesus (the Son) was fully human and fully God—he is a physical being. But we need to understand that Jesus is the only member of the Trinity who had a human body. God is spirit. He is not an old white man with a long white beard…or, as many younger people may think, he is not an old black man in a white suit with the voice of Morgan Freeman. He is spirit.

So…why do we call him Father? Well, there are many who have begun to refer to God as Mother…or they alternate between both. However, I struggle with this. The Bible tells us that Jesus is God’s son. Jesus had a mother—Mary. Jesus refers to him as Father. Many references in the New Testament refer to God as the Father. So, I believe that God intends for us to see him as a Father. Dad. Daddy. 

Now, for people who did not have a good father figure in their lives, sometimes this reference is difficult. But keep in mind that God is the perfect father. He has none of the faults that our human fathers have. And just as a perfect father would love his children unconditionally, God also loves us in this way.

The prayer that Paul prays focuses on strengthening the young church with the power of the Holy Spirit. He prays that God will strengthen them “with power through his Spirit in their inner being”. He prays that “Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith”. And he prays that they “may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

Next Paul describes the power of the Holy Spirit: He says that the Holy Spirit is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.”

The Holy Spirit! The same Holy Spirit that lives within us today!

We talked last week about the splitting of the veil in the temple that symbolized God’s presence leaving the confinement of the Holy of Holies. God is with us…his church. But the Holy Spirit did not make himself known to the people until after Jesus ascension.

We celebrate this momentous occasion! It is called Pentecost.

(Famous painting by Jean Restout II in the Louvre.  15 ft by 26 ft.  The “Pentecost” was originally a much larger artwork. It was wider and had an arched top displaying a dove symbolizing the descent of the Holy Spirit. From this dove once radiated golden shafts of light that streamed down upon the apostles.)

Jesus told his followers when he was preparing to ascend into heaven that another was coming…a helper, the Holy Spirit. Here is what the book of Acts tells us about that day.

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” (Acts 2:1-4)

Yes, the gift of tongues is real. I don’t have it so don’t ask me to do it! Nor do I have the ability to translate tongues—but there are also those with that gift.

The point is…the Holy Spirit came to us and gives us special power. In Paul’s first letter to the people of Corinth, he tells them about these special gifts.

“Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.” (1 Corinthians 12:7-11)

And Paul tells us in our scripture reading this morning that the Holy Spirit is able to do immeasurable more than all we can ask or imagine.

Yet…are we allowing the Holy Spirit to give us this power in our lives? How can we access this amazing power of the Holy Spirit…this power that is living within us.

I believe that there are four things that we can do. And I got these four things from the work of John Piper. He’s a theologian and pastor that I respect. I learn from him and many other theologians on a regular basis.

First, we need to immerse ourselves in God’s Word.

Do you realize that when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, he responded to each temptation with scripture? There is POWER is scripture, folks. Yet, how can we defend ourselves with scripture if we don’t know any?

The bible is, by far, the bestselling book of all time. If you think about Bibles in your home, how many can you count in your head? I don’t even know how many we have—multiple translations from multiple events and occasions. We probably have more than 20.

Yet, when was the last time you read this best seller? When was the last time that you sat down in a quiet place and immersed yourself in God’s Word? And, even if you wanted to, it is often difficult to know where to even start!

It is not a normal book. It’s a library! A book full of books. Some of them are historical records, some are poems, some are songs, and some of them are prophecy.

I recommend starting with James. There are lots of recommended lists for “how to” read the Bible. Pick one and jump in. God will guide you.

The Bible is the primary way that God talks to us. He provided us with His Word. Read the Bible with the expectation that God will talk to you personally through the words that you read.

Secondly, we need to trust God.

Believe that the Bible is the truth and that God still speaks to us today through its enduring words. Know that you can trust that the Bible was written through the authority of God and inspired by God through the Holy Spirit. The writers of the scriptures were instruments that God used to pen His words. They were tools.

The Bible was written by men but inspired by God. Read it. Meditate on it. Believe it. And trust in its truth.

Faith is critical to our lives as Christians. Just ask the many who were healed and told by Jesus, “Your faith has healed you.” “Your faith has made you well.” 

The third thing we need to do is pray.

Prayer is another primary way that God talks to us. Yes, I know that we think of this as our primary way to talk to God, but we also need to take time in our prayers to just be still and listen.

And sometimes we are also called to fast. Fasting was used throughout Biblical times to speak to and hear from God. It is still a powerful tool today. In fact, John Wesley fasted every Wednesday and Friday…and he required his Pastors to do the same. It is important to know your physical limitations, talk with your doctor, and drink plenty of water when you fast.

But regardless of HOW you pray, know that God hears and answers prayer. That’s whether you pray constantly throughout the day in your mind, whether you pray aloud with your family, or whether you kneel and pray quietly. The Holy Spirit living within you makes sure that God knows your prayers before you even ask. In fact, the book of Romans tells us that the Holy Spirit knows what to pray for us even when we ourselves don’t know what to pray for.

Pray. Be intentional about it. Talk to God, your Father who loves you, and know he will answer. He won’t always answer in the way we think is best. But what do we know? Trust in his answers.

And finally, we need to be responsive to the nudging of the Holy Spirit.

If we want to take advantage of the power that we are offered through the Holy Spirit, we must be willing to do what the Holy Spirit prompts us to do. And it’s not always easy.

Have you felt the Holy Spirit urging you to visit someone, urging you to make a call, urging you to get involved in…something? All too often we ignore that prompting of the Holy Spirit because we don’t understand, or we’re scared, or we’re too proud.

When we resist the Holy Spirit, we are giving up this amazing power that God promises us. 

Sometimes I think it is unintentional. I think we can get so caught up in this world that we don’t even understand when God is trying to get our attention. But I will promise you that if you read God’s Word, if you pray earnestly and often, and if you believe…God and the Holy Spirit will find how to talk to you in a way that you understand.

When I work with youth, I encourage them to look for God Sightings. They begin noticing how God works in the world around them and before long they see how He is working in their own life. I encourage you to do the same.

Let’s use some of this mighty power that is right here within us to do amazing things for God in our community and in the world.

Seeds

Sermon:  Meade, June 14, 2015

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.  --Mark 4:26-34

My dad is a retired farmer. For many years he scattered seeds.

Well, it wasn’t that easy. He tilled the ground, planted the seeds, fertilized them, watered them, and worried about them. I remember many early mornings going out with him to change water. That meant opening and closing the gates on the water pipe back before everyone had sprinklers. My dad used a golf club for this task.

So he tilled, and planted, and fertilized, and watered, and worried. And when those seeds had grown into plants that produced grain, he harvested them. And he celebrated those good harvests.

I understand that process and so do you. And so did those people who heard this story from Jesus’ back on that day.

But keep in mind that he precedes the story with the sentence, “This is what the Kingdom of God is like.” He makes it clear that he is about to illustrate the Kingdom of God, something very complex, through a simple story.

After all that’s all a parable is…an allegory. Parables are analogies that use simple, common, and understandable stories to explain something more complex. This is how Jesus taught…and it’s genius.

On this morning, Jesus was down by the lake. But as the crowd grew, Jesus got on a small boat out on the lake and taught from there with the crowd along the shore at the water’s edge.

Can you hear the sounds of the water lapping on the shore? Can you smell the smells of a lake as you sit near the water and listen closely to hear his words?

Jesus uses the concept of seeds several times in his parables on this day…this day that will end with Jesus calming a storm on this very lake.

You and I are scatterers of seeds. In talking about God’s kingdom, you and I as Christians are responsible for scattering those seeds.

Sometimes the process is very formal. Remember when I mentioned that my father tilled the ground. Well, sometimes we do that.

For example, a youth pastor may spend a lot of time with youth preparing their hearts for the Word of God. Maybe they do team building activities together, sing together, open up with each other about the challenges in their lives. Those young people are such fertile ground. Lots of time and effort is often put into preparing young people to hear and receive the Word of God.

But seeds may be planted intentionally or unintentionally.

Let me use the same example with the youth. That youth pastor will carefully plant seeds of God’s truth into the life of the student through his words and actions. That is intentional.

However, suppose that a youth director has spent lots of time “tilling the soil” then a student watches them cuss out a referee at a local high school basketball game or make an obscene hand gesture to someone who cut him off in traffic. These are also seeds…but seeds that we do not want to plant in such impressionable soil.

But the good seeds, well, we take care of them. Going back to my example, we nurture God’s truth in the hearts and minds of our young people. We reinforce them and work hard to make them grow. 

And just as my father worried about his crops, we worry about ours. What seeds are other people planting in the minds and hearts of my child? Am I fertilizing and watering all the right seeds? 

Because we know a harvest is coming.

Now, this doesn’t only apply to youth pastors and young people. As I mentioned before, you and I are scatters of seeds. What words or actions have you been scattering around? Will the seeds that you are throwing be helpful in furthering God’s kingdom? 

“Well, it was just a little seed,” you may argue.

Ahhh. The Kingdom of God is just like that. A little tiny seed, even the very tiniest of seeds, can grow into a plant that is huge.

Have you ever seen a mustard seed? My daughter has a necklace with one in a magnified locket to remind her of these very verses.

There are lots of different varieties of mustard plants. But the mustard plant that Jesus refers to in here is one that grows large enough for birds to roost in its branches.

For simplicity’s sake, I’ll pick a plant that we are more familiar with…cottonwood trees. Picture a cottonwood tree seed. I would estimate them at a millimeter in diameter and 2 millimeters long…connected to fluff that allows them to travel through the air long distances.

Now, trees take years to grow, unlike the mustard seed in the story. However, the analogy can still be made. A tiny seed makes a plant so large that we use its shade, birds and other creatures make their homes in them, and their branches extend out in all directions.

When I was growing up, my father planted a Cottonless Cottonwood tree in our front yard and one in our backyard. I remember the stakes in the ground to hold them in place as they fought the southwest Kansas wind to grow big and strong.

I was surprised when the trees grew taller than me and then grew taller than the house. And I’m still surprised when I drive by my childhood home and see how tall they are today… providing shade for the entire yard.

All of that, from just one tiny little seed.

Friends, the seeds we plant work the same way. Whether we tend them or not, the seeds have the ability to grow under the right conditions.

Sometimes we don’t provide the conditions. Sometimes we plant a seed and walk away not knowing it someone else will come along to nurture it. Sometimes we plant a seed and that tender heart where we planted it turns away from us.

Don’t give up hope! This parable tells us that sometimes we do not ever know what makes a seed grow. We may not be around, we may not understand.

But God is a grand gardener. He will tend His garden and plants will grow where we may have even forgot that we even planted a seed.

And those plants will produce more seeds.

Never stop planting.

And never stop tending the seeds and sprouting plants that our great gardener puts in your life.

Father in heaven, We are thankful for the teachings of your son, Jesus, and for the fact that they were taught in a way that we can still understand them so many years later.

Lord, guide us as we scatter seeds for your kingdom. Give us the wisdom to nurture planted seeds as often as we have the opportunity.

We know that you are the great gardener and that Your kingdom will grow. And we are grateful. Amen

How to Spot a Christian

Sermon 7
May 5, 2013

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.  “All this I have spoken while still with you.  But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.  I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe. --John 14:23-29

We honor our high school seniors today. One of them is mine, so bear with me if my emotions creep into my voice.

At different milestones in your life, you become strangely aware of the passage of time. For the high school seniors, it seems like you’ve been in school forever. But for the parents, it seems that you packed up that backpack and sent them into the school by themselves for the first time just yesterday.

And this is true for other events in life also. The concept of time is difficult for us to wrap our little human minds around. 

For example, many doubt that God really created the heavens and the earth in only 6 days. They point to scientific data that has led to “proof” that our world is millions of years old and started with one big bang. Yet, they fail to recognize and understand that our God, an eternal being who is not bound by time, created time.

Listen to Genesis 1:1-2:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 

Hmmm…any mention of time. Any indication that “time” is passing yet? Let’s look at the next couple of verses:

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day. 

Aha…now I can see time. Was the universe there BEFORE time began? Can we even grasp such a concept? I don’t have the ability to know. Neither do you. Neither do scientists.

But I do know this, we are bound by time. Once we have lived a moment, we can never go back and live that moment again. Even if we just slept through it. Once we have lived a moment, it becomes part of our history…a history that is unchangeable. Because the time that we are bound to is linear. Once we have lived a moment, there are consequences.

Think of it this way…here is a moment.

And it’s effects.

But other people also live the same moment…and their choices during that moment have effects--

effects that may affect your future moments. Like this!

Although none of us know how much time will be given to us, we do know that each moment of time that we have is a gift. So…what are we going to do with this gift?

Let me tell you something that you should know. It’s a little secret that I didn’t learn as early in my life as I would’ve liked…so I want to share it with you.

What you DO comes from who you ARE. Doing comes out of being.

This is such an important concept to understand. If your actions (your “doing”) doesn’t come from who you truly are (your “being”), eventually your “being” will betray, and destroy, your “doing”. In other words…your actions will show who you truly are. Don’t waste time developing a reputation…invest time in developing your character.

Don’t get me wrong, you will mess up. You will do things that you regret. You will hurt people. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  But if your “being” is in Christ, you will recognize your mistakes, repent from them, and learn from them. However, If your being is NOT in Christ, when you do hurt others you will be angry that you got caught, blame as many other people as you can, and be sure to be much sneakier the next time.

Ground your life in the Word of God. This takes effort. Any relationship takes effort.

Each one of our graduates is planning to attend college next year. No two are going to the same place. They’ll be in all over Kansas, in Missouri, and in Georgia. In a few months, our seniors will enter into the most selfish time of their lives. It’s true.

For the first time ever, dad and mom won’t know where they are, what they are doing, and who they are with every moment of the day. For the first time ever they will be responsible to and for nobody but themselves. For the first time ever they will be free from past mistakes, past accomplishments, and past reputations in a sea of young people who are all experiencing the exact same freedom.

Who will you be? Notice—I didn’t ask “What will you be?” or “What will you do?” Who will you be? Let me warn you, there is some awfully rotten fruit that is going to look very fresh, sweet, and tasty in your new little garden.

You are going to hear and see many different world views. You are going to witness people belittle faith in God. You may even have instructors that ask you how you can base your beliefs and opinions on a book that was written thousands of years ago in a different time and place…a book of myths and fairytales...of legends and superstitions.

Did you know that one of the biggest obstacles to students maintaining their Christian faith is their inability to reconcile their faith with science? Students learn about science and hear that it is incompatible with Christianity. I brought up evolution for a reason—it’s one of the biggest factors that young people cite for abandoning their faith in God. They have more faith in the theories of man.

Science seeks to understand the world around us through exploration. Any provable “truths” that are discovered through science should not be feared. We believe in the truth. We believe that Christ IS the Truth. All truths will lead to Christ.

Did you know that there are theories that humans believed for centuries that were eventually proven false? Do you think that all of our scientific theories now are correct? That somehow we are much smarter than the humans of the past? That’s laughable!

Ever heart of Mozart? Leonardo DaVinci? Socrates? Galileo? Know anybody living now who can compare in their brilliance? C.S. Lewis calls this “chronological snobbery.”

Oh, I would never have eaten from the fruit of that tree in Eden.

I can’t believe people were stupid enough to think the world was flat?

I would not have fallen for the idea that the earth was the center of the universe.

Never, would I have EVER, worn my hair like THAT!

We think we are so much smarter than those who came before us. You just wait until your kids and grandkids laugh at your clothes, music, language, and yes…hairstyles, in a few short decades.

But God’s Word always remains true. That doesn’t mean we quit seeking answers, that we quit exploring, that we discontinue the development of theories.  It just means that we need to keep things in perspective. 

So how do you spot a Christian?

Well…our culture tells us that they look like this.

Those of you in my generation will remember this.

And there are others who believe that they look like this.

There are some big name popular preachers who will tell you they look like this.

But I will tell you that you cannot spot a Christian in a picture because in any given moment of time any person in the world could be doing something that we value as Christians. A Christian isn’t defined in a moment…but in a lifetime of ripples.

You cannot just do; you must be.

You cannot just do things that we view as Christ-like without knowing Christ…without being a Christian and expect to maintain it.

So every day, every single day, get to know Christ a little better. Read about him. Talk to him. Talk about him with others. Think about him. Worship him. BE in him. And if you do, He will also be in you.

Let’s go back to our gospel reading for today, I want to re-read for you a few of the verses. “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. “All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”

Did you hear that? You will never have to be alone. Through the Holy Spirit, our Father God and his Son Jesus will make their home with you. The Holy Spirit will teach you and will remind you…granted, sometimes when you least want to be taught or reminded.

It’s not always going to be fun. It’s not always going to be easy. You are not guaranteed health and wealth and happiness in this life. But you are guaranteed that God will use every experience you go through for His good…for His purposes.

So, although life is getting ready to change, although you are about to embark on a grand adventure, although your family and friends may not always be with you, your Father in heaven always will be.

Remain in Him and show the world what a Christian looks like.

Father, we realizing that doing is so much easier than being. We can hide who we ARE by what we DO from others, but we can’t hide it from you. Nor can we maintain that charade for long. Work in our lives, Lord, to guide us in our efforts to remain in you so that our actions will just flow naturally from our being…our being that is defined in You. We ask for your blessing on our graduates, Father. Guide their steps, guide their minds, and guide their hearts as they prepare for this new freedom that they will experience soon…a freedom they many never experience again in their lives once work, spouses, and/or children come along. It is a special, special time for them…and we pray that they will remain in You. Give them that longing, Lord. Give them that courage. Amen.

The Transfiguration of Christ: Listen to Him!

Sermon 5
February 10, 2013

Lisa was 15 years old, dark-haired, and 6 foot tall when I met her…and she was already a beauty (#32). It was my first teaching job and, of course, it came with a coaching position. Volleyball. I was so excited for this new challenge but also scared to death. 

I met the girls and their parents a few weeks before school started. And Lisa could smash the ball. She was a power house.

Those girls were sure special to me. In fact, all of those Healy kids were. We were there for three years…watching Lisa and her classmates grow up—going from gangly, goofy sophomores to graduated seniors ready to leave for college.

I saw Lisa several years later when she married Jason then got to see her briefly at a funeral when she was pregnant with her first child, Jaren.

And then tragedy struck.

Lisa and Jason were expecting their second child the next month. With four-year-old Jaren in his car seat in the back of the car, they were driving home from a delightfully baby shower in Lisa’s home town of Healy. 

As they approached an oncoming car, a deer jumped out in front of it. When the approaching car hit the deer, the impact shot the deer right into their windshield. Like a bullet, this large animal went through the driver’s side of the vehicle and shot out the back window.

Lisa realized Jason was unconscious and had to fight to get the vehicle stopped. She screamed Jaren’s name and he was so brave when he answered her, “Mommy, I am okay.” But Jason was not. Lisa used her cell phone to call 911 and then just tried to hold Jason steady while she kept her finger on the pulse she could feel in his neck.

But Jason died on the way to the hospital. And Lisa was left as a single mother to endure the labor and delivery of her second child without her husband by her side.

She was lost. And she needed a word from God.

 Have you been there? Maybe not to this extreme. But have you needed God’s direction? His comfort? His strength?

I want you to imagine that day long ago when Jesus took Peter, James, and John on top of that mountain. Jesus had been teaching, healing, and performing miracles. We just heard from the word of God that Jesus predicted his death and resurrection and then about a week later he took Peter, James, and John up there to pray.

So there they were, climbing up the mountain. And all of a sudden Peter, James, and John realized that they were no longer alone with Jesus. There were two other guys. On top of a “high mountain”.

Can you picture the astonishment? They would not have recognized these men.

Think about it. We know now that these two men were Moses and Elijah…great men of the faith who had lived hundreds of years before. Peter, James, and John would only know them by the stories that have been handed down from generation from generation. Their stories, of course, were read by these three in the Torah.

There weren’t pictures!

So here are these two extra men…talking to Jesus. And they’re all shining.

They are pretty confused at this point. And I would guess that they were pretty freaked out.

God talked to Jesus through Elijah and Moses! Who would believe that? Well, I suppose Peter, James and John would, wouldn’t they?

And actually, God spoke to them also. Once he had their attention, He said, “This is my son. Listen to him!” Who was God speaking to? He wasn’t speaking to Jesus, Elijah, or Moses. God himself spoke to Peter, James, and John in a voice from the sky. Who would believe that?

Can you imagine them telling that story once they got down? Ha! They didn’t! We are told that they kept it to themselves.

How in the world could they keep it to themselves? Well…it would sound a bit crazy, wouldn’t it?

Think about other times in the Bible when God spoke to people. Sometimes it was an audible voice, like this. But He also spoke to people through a large hand writing on a wall, dreams, visions, prophets, angels, Jesus, and finally, the Bible.

The Bible. This is the obvious way that God chooses to speak to us. He inspired the writers of this book and insured that those words would last forever. 168,000 Bibles are sold or given away every single day. How many Bibles are in your house right now? I did a quick count around our house last night and found 26.

But 26 Bibles don’t share with You the Word of God if you never pick one of them up and read it. Read it! And read it with the expectation that God has something to tell you through it. Because He does! And He will! This is the most basic, most obvious, way that God speaks to us. If you are seeking His guidance but not bothering to read His Word, you need to back up and work on your relationship with Him. And relationships hinge on our ability to “listen”. So read…and listen to Him.

But relationships are a two-way street, so it’s also important that we talk.

In our scripture reading today, we learned that Jesus took Peter, James, and John up the mountain to pray. Throughout the gospels, Jesus often took time to go off to pray. I had a friend tell me a while back, “I don’t really pray. God knows my thoughts so I don’t need to take the time to pray to Him.” I’ve heard other people make this same comment. Let me ask you…If Jesus needed time to pray, why in world should you feel like you don’t.

Sometimes I worry that we model prayer as a complicated thing. It’s not. It’s a conversation with God. Just speak to Him. He will answer. Are you waiting, watching, and listening for it?

My friend, Charity, shared a story about God answering her prayer. Charity and Mark were newlyweds. They were loving life! They were young and had the time to do the things THEY wanted to do. Living out in the country between two towns gave them a privacy and solitude that many of us don’t understand.

But during one winter storm in 1992, things changed. Charity and Mark each got snowed in a different town. On the third day, Charity felt that the roads were cleared enough that she could get home. So she headed that way (without telling anyone) with plans to surprise Mark. But about a mile and a half from home, she slammed into a drift and was stuck.

Although she knew it would be smartest to stay in the warm car, she also knew exactly where she was and convinced herself that she could make the walk home. But about 100 yards into her walk, she lost her bearings. She was lost. And after a while, it was dark. The cold was burning her hands. She pulled them up into her sleeves and pulled her arms to her chest then squatted down to provide as much body heat as possible.

She prayed and prayed, and God answered her. He LITERALLY answered her. "Have children," he clearly said to her. She heard it. You see, at the time, she and Mark did not intend to have children. She knew he didn't want them and she was willing to go along with what he wanted. But she heard God's voice, and she promised God that if He would save her, she would have children and raise them up to serve Him.

About twenty minutes later she saw some headlights. How Mark realized she was missing and found her is a whole other story in itself. But suffice it to say, Charity was saved. And she kept her promise.

Seven of them…although one is already with God. Six beautiful children love and walk with God every day because of message that God gave their mother one winter.

Prayer. God wants to have a relationship with you. Talk to Him…and listen to Him.

God also talks to us through other Christians—the church.

How many times have I sat in this room…in this very room…and been touched so deeply by the Holy Spirit that tears have flooded my eyes and run down my cheeks? More times than my kids will let me forget! Ugh…is mom crying again?? 

But it’s not just in the sanctuary…or necessarily in the church building at all. Part of the church meets here on Sunday morning, but “the church” is the collective body of Christians in the world.

God uses you and I (the church) to talk to his people. Wow! I believe that we often don’t even realize when God uses us to give a much needed word to another human being much less how. But that’s one reason that it is so important that we come together as the church. We need each other. The body of Christ needs all of its members. God uses our time together to talk to us through one another. Come together…and listen to Him.

And finally, God uses circumstances.

What about Moses and the burning bush? Think about it. Imagine that you are out mowing the lawn this summer and out of the corner of your eye you realize that one of your bushes is on fire…and then God starts talking to you through it. Sound a little crazy? Think you might think twice about sharing that with others? 

You know, the thing is…God gets our attention in whatever way He knows He can get our attention.

Some of you have heard the story of my call to ministry. It involves the story of the Transfiguration. In fact, after Pastor David gave me the dates I would be preaching this year, I was at my desk and I thought…I’ll bet one of them is Transfiguration Sunday. So I turned to the first one…and sure enough.

It’s a long story that I will share with you when you have a free couple of hours, but the abbreviated version is that God has reinforced every step of this journey into ministry with the story of the transfiguration. Including today. God is talking to me right now, through this time with you.

But God also talks to me in other ways…ways He knows will get my attention.

As Pastor Watson has been mentoring me into ministry, he allows me to come to his office for a weekly meeting to talk about things going on in my job and in my walk with God. One day, I asked him…have I ever told you the story of my call to ministry. And he said, “I don’t think so.” I said, “Well, it’s a long story, but I will tell you this. God talks to me through Bruce Springsteen.” 

Pastor David just sat back and smiled…then said, “I don’t think I’d tell that to the Board of Ordained Ministry.”

Ha!

But it’s true. It’s not ALWAYS true. And when I’m seeking the answer to a question, I don’t pull out my “Born in the USA” CD and listen to it to find the answer. After all, I don’t worship Bruce Springsteen.

But I’m grateful that I have a God that knows me so well and pursues me so diligently that he would be so creative in the way that he speaks to me.

Some people experience God through visions or dreams. Do these things sound crazy? Really, Gina. Bruce Springsteen? God’s voice in a snow storm? Visions? Dreams? Yes…and a burning bush, and a giant hand writing on a wall, and a talking donkey, and a pillar of cloud and fire, and Moses and Elijah on top of a mountain.

Sound crazy. Oh yes. That’s why Peter, James, and John kept it a secret. But it’s not crazy.

A couple days after Jason died, Lisa had a dream about him. In this dream Jason was sitting on a huge gold throne. Lisa was at his feet looking up at him. He reached his hand out and told her that everything was going to be OK. He then proceeded to give her instructions on how to take care of the finances, which made her laugh because she had no clue about any of their finances. He was an accountant, after all, and just took care of them. When she woke up the next day, although she was still so sad, she felt a calming peace and knew that this was God's message to her that Jason was in Heaven and that everything would be OK.

Lisa remarried a few years ago.

Scott had lost his wife to an extended illness in the days between the death of Jason and the birth of Lynsi. Each has a son and a daughter and are now raising them all together while daily celebrating the lives of the spouses they lost.

God will also talk to you through circumstances in your life. I don’t know what that will look like. But I believe more in “God-incidences” than coincidences. Are you paying attention? Look around…and listen to Him.

Father in heaven, We thank you that you are a God who is present with us. You are active and involved in our lives…not distant and uncaring. 

Lord, open our eyes…open our hearts and our minds to you. Speak to us in ways that you know we will understand and give us the strength to respond to You obediently. Amen

Yes, It's Small...But It's Powerful Video

 

Part I

 

 

 

Part II


 

Yes, it's small...but it's powerful!

My 2nd Sermon
September 16, 2012


Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. 

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider that a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. 

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.  --James 3:1-12

There are several “James” in the New Testament.  When you hear the name, you may think of the brothers, James and John, who were Disciples of Christ.  That’s a different James.    The James that wrote this epistle (this letter) was the half-brother of Jesus according to most theologians.  Can you imagine having Jesus as your brother?  He grew up with him!

They played together, learned together, probably stayed up late giggling together when they were little.  Then they got older, and they got busy with their lives…their careers... …and then one day Jesus started proclaiming that he was God.  I want you to imagine your own siblings (or cousins if you were an only child).  How would you react if your sibling one day told you they were God?  Well, James handled it about that well.  The book of Mark tells us:  When his family heard about this, they (and “they” were his brothers) went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”

Yet, at the beginning of the book of James, he refers to himself as “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ”.  He watched his brother’s ministry.  He watched his brother’s death.   And he witnessed his brother in his resurrected body.  He was convinced.  In fact, he served as the head of the church in Jerusalem.  We know this because Paul mentioned this in his letter to the people of Galatia. 

James was so certain that his brother was, in fact, Lord that the historian Josephus tells us that in AD62, the high priest sentenced him to death by stoning in Jerusalem.  Other historians of that time, including Eusebias gave further details.  They said that James was taken to the top of the temple and told to renounce his faith in Jesus publicly.  When he refused and instead publicly confessed Jesus as “the Son of God, Savior, and Lord” he was thrown from the temple.  However, he was not killed on impact…so they stoned him to death.

James’ lived with Jesus and he didn’t believe.  But then he saw the evidence and he gave his life in defense of Jesus’ claims.  He, an eye-witness, was THAT convinced.  Interestingly, he speaks in his letter not as someone who talks about Christ, but as someone who talks like Christ.  He offers us advice--“inspired” advice that we would be wise to heed.

We are warned by James that we don’t all want to be teachers.  Ha!  Teaching isn’t the respected and coveted vocation that it was in his day.  His warning is severe…one who teaches will be face a “stricter judgment”.  Obviously he’s talking about those who teach God’s Word.  He is so real and so relevant in his speech…telling us straight out that “We all stumble…”  Not—YOU stumble.  But, WE ALL stumble.
  
He makes an interesting statement next saying that those who are never at fault in their words, are able to keep their whole body in check.  Get this right, now.  He’s not talking about those who can always say the right thing in public, but those who always say the appropriate and Godly thing no matter what the circumstance.  No matter who’s watching…who’s listening…   Why does what we say have anything to do with our “whole body”?  Well, James gives us some examples:

The first is a horse.  To communicate with the horse, riders use a bit and bridle.  By pulling on the reins, they are able to send messages to the horse using leverage and pressure.  Without such a device, communication is lost.  That one small piece of equipment controls the whole horse.

What about a ship?  An entire ship’s course is determined by the movement of a relatively small rudder.

The tongue works the same way for us. Our boasts affect our actions.  And this is not always in a good way.

We have had a summer in which we have watched areas around us deal with grass and forest fires.  What is need to start those fires?   Just one spark.

Our tongues can set those sparks.  In fact, James says that our tongues can set the whole course of our lives on fire.  Really?  Words can change the course of our lives?  Words can change the course of history?  You bet they can.

How about Hitler’s famous speech at the Reichstag on September 1, 1939 in which he declared war on Poland?  People around the globe sat by their radios listening to the words of one man to see if the course of history would be forever changed.  And a whole, civilized, nation was convinced to engage in barbarism.

How about Jim Jones teaching to more than 900 who committed mass suicide by drinking cyanide-tainted kool-aid?  Their lives were so altered by the words of one man that even mothers and fathers were convinced to feed that kool-aid to more than 200 children.  Two people survived.  How about the relentless bullies at school whose words lead to the suicides of hundreds of American teens each year?  Or the bullies at work who seem to take such glee out of making others miserable?  These words don’t just change the course of their own lives, but the courses of others.

James' depiction of where the tongue gets this fire is particularly distressing.  He says that the tongue is set on fire by hell.  The actual word he uses here is “Gehenna”  Jesus was the only other person that used this term to define hell.  Gehenna refers to the Valley of Hinnom.  Originally this deep gorge just southwest of Jerusalem was a location used by the Canaanites to worship the false god Molech.  They actually sacrificed their own children to this demon.

Because this site had been used for such a vile practice, it became simply a dump.  It wasn’t seen as suitable for anything else.  Trash and filth were thrown in the gorge along with dead animals and the bodies of unburied criminals.  All of this was burned in the pit to dispose of it.  There were constant, unending fires there.  It’s no wonder that Jesus and James used such a disgusting image (of which the listeners would’ve been familiar) to describe hell. 

So James is saying that our tongue is as vile as Gehenna?  Yes, yes he is.  He says it is a “restless evil” and “full of deadly poison”.  But we do good things with our words, right?  Of course we do!

In fact, I’m going to give you a little reminder of the positive power that our tongue has!  Will the Usher’s please distribute the “tongue suppressors”.  That’s right…I said tongue suppressor, not tongue depressor.  Written on each one of these is a positive word…maybe through God’s providence you will choose the word you needed to be reminded of today…the word that needs to enter your mind when you next feel the urge to utter something poisonous.

Our tongues can do wonderful things.  For example, we are here today praising God and praying corporately.  Yet were some of us guilty this morning of cussing another driver on the way to worship God? (Don’t you be looking around!)  Will some of us be guilty of doing it on the way home?  When you watch your favorite football team play this afternoon, will you holler obscenities at the TV…possibly even using the Lord’s name in vain?  Are you using that tongue of yours to both praise God but curse other human beings.

I’ll use James’ words here…“My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”

Our tongues reveal who we are.  Whether we are watching football, talking in private confidence with a good friend, driving alone in our car, or out with our best friends on a Friday night.

You see, our words produce fruit.  As I share God’s message with you today, I am producing fruit.  My prayer is that this fruit is good and that it is plentiful.  And it will be as long as I rely on the Holy Spirit to guide this message.  But what kind of fruit am I producing if I go home and cuss at the Kansas City Chiefs this afternoon?  Especially if my kids are watching with me?  Fruit grows and ripens over time.  They are watching and listening and processing the things we do and the words we say.  When those things don’t always jive, the fruit is not going to be good. 

James says that fresh water and salt water can’t come from the same spring.  If both kinds of water are coming out, it’s all going to be salty, isn’t it?  That fresh water is tainted.  We need to be consistent…in private as well as in public.  We can’t do this without the power of Christ.

Michael is about my age.  When he was 15, he and some friends decided that they were going to “ditch” their 3^rd hour class.  As they sat out in his friend’s Jeep waiting for the right moment to make their escape, another student ran by on his way to class…and something fell out of his pocket.  His wallet.  They retrieved it…and were delighted to find an ATM card.  (Yes, we had them back then but they were very new!)  Knowing that they needed a “pin” number, they continued to search through the wallet until they found something scribbled down that they thought might qualify as a pin. 

In the Jeep they pulled up to a local ATM machine and were grinning like idiots when the number worked…and as the cameras caught the whole escapade—the  pin attempt, the success, and the cash distribution between the three boys. 

A few days letter, the police came and pulled him out of class.  His mother met him in the police station and he was prepared to tell her that it was all his friends’ idea.  He was just in the vehicle.  It wasn’t his fault!  But, of course, the video betrayed his lies.  Luckily, the boy they stole from was a Christian and a friend.  He didn’t press charges and the boys were only required to pay back the money.

But Michael’s personal sentence was much tougher.  He was also a Christian, and yet he had made such a bad decision.  He was ashamed and humiliated—a liar and a thief. 

Soon after, he was over at the house of one of the friends who had participated in the fiasco.  He could overhear this friend’s mother as she was talking about him with another friend on the phone.  Oh no…this couldn’t be good. 

You might expect that I am going to say that she was bad-mouthing Michael.  “That kid is no good.  He’s a trouble-maker.  I wish my son wouldn’t hang out with him.”  No…these aren’t the words that Michael heard.  What she said was, “He has a good heart.”

“He has a good heart.” 

Michael received encouragement that day from someone who didn’t even know he was listening.  Those few little words for him were HUGE.  Now, 25 years later, he can still vividly picture that moment…and the 5 words that changed his life.

I want to show you a short video on the power of words.  Take a look.