August 4^th Sermon

 

 

SERMON ENTITILED WRESTLING WITH GOD; BASED ON THE STORY OF JACOB

Word of Life: Knowing what to cling to for strength in this journey of life is important and we can learn from Jacob, that God is the source of true strength.

 

INTO THE WORD:

Sometimes Life can be overwhelming, Take George for example, a young adult having just graduated from college. Now He must face all those transitional decisions, where to live, how much insurance to get, where to work, and more. It is like a sea of incoming responsibilities that crash upon him. Where can he find strength and wisdom for the challenges he must Face?

Or take John, a middle aged man, who has been working hard in his company and has been promoted several times. With each promotion, however, comes more responsibility, and yet he wants very much to be a good father to his children and a good husband for his wife. He like so many is being squeezed between work and home responsibilities, where can he find strength to meet these challenges?

Or take Sarah, recently widowed after 55 great years of marriage. Now she must shoulder alone what she and her husband were able to face together. So many choices, so much responsibility, where can she find strength to face these challenges.

Each of us is facing challenges on this journey we call life, perhaps we can identify with George, or John or Sarah. Then again maybe the challenges we face are different from theirs, none the less, we each need to find a source of strength for this journey. I want to suggest to you today that Jacob s story might direct us to that strength.

EXPLORING THE WORD:

TELL JACOB STORY FOUND IN GENESIS 25-37

Jacob received from his divine visitor a new name,[See chapter 32] which directed him to cling to God. As he did that he found strength to face his challenges.

INTO THE WORLD:

I hope we can now see that like Jacob if we need strength to face our challenges on this journey of life, we need to cling to God. Laying all our concerns before Him and trusting his guidance for what lay ahead. Amen.

 

August 11^th Sermon

 

HOW SHALL WE HANDLE LIFE'S STORMY WEATHER?

MATTHEW 14: 22-33

Word of Life: When the boats of our life are battered by the storms we need to look for the presence of Jesus, put our trust in his love and follow where he guides us to go.

 

Life can be going quite smoothly, then unexpectantly make an abrupt turn. For the storms of life can come upon quite quickly. We don t have to look very far to know that is true. The drama that has unfolded in our midst with the 18 miners is an example of how quickly life can turn and storms can come. Split second choices made the difference between coming out of the mine or getting trapped.

I read in the USA today of a mother, a daughter and a family friend who went out for a day of fishing and fun on the Biscayne bay in Miami. A storm came up very suddenly after they had been out for a couple hours and their small boat was capsized by the waves. 20 hours later the coast guard rescued them. A storm had tossed their lives around and caused them to do some reflecting.

In life we have stormy weather that is not just caused by the weather. Perhaps it is because of a health problem, or the death of a loved one. Or the changes in a job or even being layed off from work. It is then that we feel the waves of life battering our boats. That is why I think this Gospel story is so crucial for us to hear and take to heart.

In our culture we look to stories to entertain us, make us laugh or cry, however, our Gospel writers are telling us stories about Jesus not to just entertain us but to inform us about what it means for us to be a disciple of the Christ. So to get the full meaning of the story we need to look at the story from the disciples perspective.

Tell the story from the disciples perspective.

Now what I find interesting is Peter's reaction and in his reaction I have found a three-fold pattern for facing the storms of life. Notice what he does

First he tests to see if this is really Jesus, this is the practice we have called discernment. Seeking to know what is God s will, what is God s wisdom.

Tell story of man who thought God wanted him to become rich

We test by looking at what the Bible tells and by getting to know Jesus better

Next He steps out of the Boat, an act of faith/ trust

Tell story of Walt Wangerin and the storm he faced in the Cherry tree, how he had to trust his father's arms to catch him

Last but not least he focuses on Jesus

When he is focused on Jesus he is able to walk on the water, tell about Kathyrn Koob one of the Iran hostages, she kept her sanity by focusing on the scripture verses she had memorized.

Now to tell the whole story we must acknowledge that Peter does not always keep his focus on Jesus and when he begins to notice the strong winds, he begins to sink, however, even then Jesus does not abandon him. He rescues him and together they get in the Boat and immediately the seas became calm. What that says to me is that the world will always try to convince us that it's power is stronger and if we let it persuade us we will miss discerning God's love for our battered boats. So my friends, when we are faced with the storms of life we can be like Peter discerning what God wants us to do, then acting on that belief and keeping our focus on his word. For He alone can sustain us when the storms of life assail us, the 18 miners and us have seen a dramatic demonstration of that truth in the past few weeks. However, our God is always at work to providentially care for us in the midst of life s storms, so like Peter let us put ourselves in his hands for he loves us! Amen

August 18^th Sermon

Cultivating an attitude like Joseph

GEN. 45: 1-15

Word of Life: Joseph's story provides us with three important insights about forgiveness, namely, Revenge is God's Business ; if we focus on what God has done for us instead of our hurt, we are more willing to forgive; While we may think that not forgiving hurts the other person, we find that the real victim is ourselves.

 

Today's lessons focus on a very familiar topic for us who are followers of Christ. It is the topic of forgiveness. A topic that is often repeated in the Bible. My curiosity was aroused this week so I made a rough count of how many chapters have a reference to forgiveness. I found 65 chapters in the scriptures refer to forgiveness. That says to me that it is an important concept for the followers of Jesus to understand and to practice. That also says to me that the scriptures needed to repeat these teachings over and over, because we have a hard time hearing and trusting what they say.

For when we are trespassesd upon we are hurt and every bone in our body cries out to get justice and be revenged. Forgiveness, however, is surrendering the right to get revenge to God and responding in the love of God. That is not easy to do, but very necessary for our well being.

The Joseph story helps us see this even more clearly.

tell the Joseph story from Gen. 37-50

In this story I see three important insights about forgiveness. First, Joseph is able to forgive because he focuses on God and not on his hurt. "Do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, God sent me ahead to preserve life." Tell of Steve Chapman s song and how the one we really imprison when we don t forgive is us.

2. Joseph is able to forgive because he has surrendered the right to get revenge to God. He recognizes that revenge is not the business of humans but the province of God and is willing to let God rule. [tell story of mother whose son was shot and who encounters his killer in one of the prison's she visited]

and lastly I think that Joseph is able to forgive for he realizes that fellowship with his brothers is something he has missed and that is more important than nursing a grudge [ tell the story of the Brothers in South Dakota, estranged for 21 years by a feud are reconciled. ]

So my friends let us strive to cultivate the attitude we see in Joseph to forgive, and to live in the light of God's amazing love. AMEN

 

 

August 25 Sermon

 

SERMON BASED ON THE STORY OF MOSES IN EXODUS

ENTITLED THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD

Word of life: God watches over us and guides us as we journey through our lives.

 

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago, I had to attend a late night meeting at the Synod office in Altoona. On my way home I stopped for a red light. When the light turned green I hesitated for several moments, something I rarely do, but it was good I did. For at that moment came a car speeding through the red light and surely He /she would have broadsided me.

Was it coincidence that I hesitated? Or was that God s providence watching over me?

I believe it was providence, for I believe that God watches over each of us in very many ways. The story of Moses in my Mind illustrates how God often works.

EXPLORING THE WORD:

TELL THE STORY OF MOSES FOUND IN THE BOOK OF EXODUS

From Moses experience I have come to understand that God s providence has two important dynamics.

First it protects us, like it did preserving Moses from the Pharaohs harsh orders to kill all the male children; like it did in getting the air pipe to the trapped miners just in the nick of time.

Let me tell you one other story about Felix of Nola. A saint from the early days of Christianity. Once when persecution broke out he had to flee his enemies and so he crawled into a cave and hid. The spiders wove a web over the place where he was hiding. So that when his pursuers looked in the cave and saw the spiders web they didn t go in any further. God uses some amazing ways to watch over and protect us.

The second dynamic of God s providence is that he guides and calls us to be his agents in the world. He called Moses through a burning bush to lead the people back to Israel. Even though Moses did not feel qualified. But here we see the example that happens so often in scripture, God doesn t call the qualified, God qualifies the called.

INTO THE WORLD:

I believe we are like Moses, God has chosen us to be his through the waters of Baptism and is at work watching over us, just as he watched over Moses. He also is at work guiding and calling us to be his agents in the world. So consider this in this week: who has God brought into your life this week, What new awareness has God created for you in days gone by, and what might they say to you about what God is calling for you to do.

God needs each of us to be his agents in the world, for it is only through us that he makes his love known. There is no other plan that he has. So thank God for his care that protects us and rededicate yourself to follow wher he is leading you to go. Amen