A Shepherd's Words: Christmas

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

What is this love?

December 24, 2017

Stetson Memorial UMC

4^th Sunday of Advent

Christmas Eve Morning

Sermon Series: “The Invitation”

“An Invitation To Love”

https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/290

https://www.gotquestions.org/agape-love.html

“What Is This Love…”

Lord may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart, mind, and soul be pleasing to you. May your words be head through me or in spite of me. For you are my Rock, my Redeemer, My Anchor and Friend, my First Love…

Good morning and welcome to “The Invitation…” The invitation of Advent. We are almost to the end of our “Advent”ure to the feeding tough the Bread of Life, our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ was laid in. It is the moment that God sent the invitation to all of humanity to come and see the babe in the manger and return forever changed. Without this invitation there is no Hope, no Peace, no Joy, and no Love…there is no invitation to Christ. Without “The Invitation”, there is no Resurrection Sunday morning.

We have emptied our bags, our life’s suitcase so to speak, at the door way of Advent and entered in with bags waiting to be filled. suitcases. We have filled it with the Hope that is found within the manger, an invitation of the Hope of a restored relationship with God. As we came closer the Angels tell us “do not be afraid for I bring you good news.” We gathered up and packed the clothing of Peace found in the manger, an invitation to the Peace that we are never alone, and we know that at life’s end we will be with the One who offers that peace. We have gathered the words of the song of Joy and packed them near the top so that we can sing them often, an invitation to sing for Joy because no matter what we face, the One in the manger is the One who gives real Joy, not our circumstances.

Today we light the candle of Love. What is this love? Love is more of an action than a feeling, true Love that is. True love, offers grace when someone has offended us, even though the offender may never ask for it. True love gives of one’s self, even when they don’t feel like it. True love doesn’t hold grudges or plans its revenge, but offers mercy in spite of the situation. True love looks for the good, even when there is no good in sight. True love always believes that good will triumph over evil. True love is patient and kind, even when others are acting unkindly. True love believes, even when all hope seems to be lost. True love conquers, even in the fiercest fight. True love always wins…

What is this love? What is “The Invitation” to “An Invitation” to?

© It is an invitation to what is called “Agape Love”. The essence of agape love is goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love. This love is far more than the romantic type of love we feel for our husband or wife. It is a love even far deeper than the love for a child. Agape love involves faithfulness, commitment, and an act of the will. It is the love God offers from the manger. God loves because that is His nature and the expression of His being. He loves the unlovable and the unlovely, not because we deserve to be loved or because of any excellence we possess, but because it is His nature to love and He must be true to His nature. “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved”

What is this love? It is the bring you to your knees in adoration because you are loved unconditionally. It is the make you weep every time you begin to realize that YOU ARE LOVED, and there is nothing you can do about it. It is what draws you near the stable. It is what brings you back to the manger… It is what God offered humanity over 2000 years ago. It what He still offers today.

“How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!”

“Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love to and for the World the Lord Has Come. Let Earth Receive Her King”

Amen…

A Christmas Letter

December 24, 2017

Christmas Eve

Sermon Series:

“The Invitation”

An Invitation to the Christ Child

A Christmas Letter…

Thank you for reading my letter. Many now a day would not even bother. They are too busy with their own little worlds…Instagram, Facebook, and the like. Writing letters is a lost art. Maybe we should go back in time.

I am writing you this letter because I want you to know what it feels like from the outside looking in. I have sent a invitation to many of you and it seems as if it is being ignore. It breaks my heart. I want you to have a happy healthy life and I see you settling for so much less. It has been this way for centuries and I still tear up when I see the hurt and suffering in your face.

The world seems hopeless and in despair. There is addition and abuse everywhere. It seems as if you can’t turn on the television or pick up the paper where there is not some mention of it. It is not the way it should be. The world wasn’t created for that. But somewhere, it all went wrong. I had hoped for so much more and so you were given a choice and not forced into something you didn’t want. That’s not any way to live.

And then it all went wrong. Bad choices were made and because of that you suffer. I couldn’t stand to see it so I tried many ways to alleviate your suffering, but nothing seemed to work. Oh, sure things got better then it went right back to the way it was before. I wanted so much more than that. So, I thought up a plan.

What if I found someone or something that could substitute for you. Someone or something that would suffer for you and you could once again have a good relationship with me. It sounded good to me, so I put the plan in action. Instead of just throwing someone into the position, I decided to start small, with an infant. Now this infant would listen to me and as it grew it would talk about all that I have told them. They would even show all of you how I would like things done…since you would listen I figured I would show you instead. Then when the time was right, my image among you would take on all your hurt…all your pain…all your suffering…even all your sin.

Now this was really hard for me because the only way for this to work was for me to have an ultimate sacrifice. Just like Abraham, I had to give up my son as an offering. But unlike Abraham, there was no substitute. But I felt you were worth it, so my plan went off without a hitch. Now we can have a real relationship again.

So why am I telling you this? I want you to know that when I set my plan in motion I wanted you to accept the gift I was offering within. I invited and still invite you to have a life of hope, peace, joy and love. I want you to know that it is never too late, you are never too far, you have never been to bad to be part of my plan. It is for those like you that I thought this plan up for anyway.

So, as I am having this letter read to you I want you to know, you are loved with an unfathomable love, there is nothing I want more than to have you be part of my plan, you are of sacred worth to me…remember, I created you and I don’t create anything that is worthless. What would be the sense in that? There is only one thing you have to do, and I will do the rest. That one thing is to accept the gift…accept my invitation… It’s that simple. I want you to know I will wait for you. But tally too long, I really think you are to die for and can’t wait for us to be together again.

I love you my beloved daughter and my beloved son,

Madly, deeply, truly, with an unending love.

God…

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Beloved

December 25, 2016

Stetson Memorial UMC

Christmas Day

“A Sacred Moment”

Sermon Series

Psalm 98

Luke 2:1-20

John 1:1-14

“Beloved...”

A prayer of illumination so that God will speak through me or in-spite of me…

I would ask that you would stand as you are able for the reading of the Gospel according to the apostle Luke Chapter 2, verses 1-20. Listen to the word of God for His people…you and I… (Read the gospel from the NIV Bible)

Merry Christmas. I don’t know about you but I have been waiting all year to say those words. Those two words shatter what the world around us and bring the sacred near. These two words change our lives. These two words are words of love and redemption. With these two words God shatters the strong holds of the enemy. Without these two words, there is no happy Easter…no day of atonement. Without these two words, there is no hope or light in the darkness… Merry Christmas to you all.

Over the past few of weeks, we have been talking about the sacred. We have talked about the sacredness of the season we are in…the season of Advent when we expectantly wait to celebrate Jesus’ birth and wait expectantly for His return. But at times we can get so busy that we lose that sense of wonder we had and everything becomes a chore…a box to be checked off…

We have talked about the fact that if we don’t find a way to slow down, we are going to miss the best part of this season of giving that we call Advent. We are going to miss the best gift that we could ever receive. The gift of God’s own Son in the form of a baby on a cold and silent night. When we slow down, we will see the sacredness all around us.

We know that the sacredness of something should be revered and respected but awe and wonder of this season seems to get lost in the lights and glamor. If we want to see…to feel…to touch the sacred, we need to slow down our pace and just be for the moment…lest we miss the awe and wonder of the manger.

This Advent season, we have slowed down…even if for but a moment…to see what might be missed in the hustle and bustle of the season. I pray that you and I have been able to see this season through the kaleidoscope, the display of beauty within the sacred space of Advent…

I would ask that we again would stop for a moment and just breath in the sacredness of the space we are in right now…this sanctuary where God shows up to meet us each Sunday… I have asked that each of us would continue to spend some time each day…even just five minutes and focus on…meditate upon the Sacredness we talk about each week… Let each build upon each other until we embrace genuine purpose within this sacred moment…

We rediscovered that Advent is a sacred time. The time of heaven intersecting the time of the then and now. We have even talked about sacred people within the Christmas Adventure…remember…sacred people…set apart by and for God. We heard Mary and Joseph’s stories and discovered they were just ordinary people who “showed up” and God did the extraordinary in and through them…and we too have the same chance of the extraordinary…but we need to show up…that is when the extraordinary things happen…we heard the story of Mary and Elizabeth and how when they showed up hope was birthed within that sacred place.

And so here we are today…the day of Christmas…the day that we have waited for…the day that we celebrated the that Sacred Moment that love came down and the Sacred lived among us. What joy there was in heaven. Listen again to the angels greeting to the shepherds…

“Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. 11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

And what happened next…

13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,

and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

They knew that had happened to and for humanity and they celebrated. Now I am going out on a limb here but it seems to me that they were more over joy not so much about the birth of Christ but what that birth would mean to you and to me…

I think my favorite piece of scripture about Christ’s birth is found in John 1, verses 1-14. Let me read this account for you…

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. 8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” This is Christmas…this is the meaning behind the sacred moments…this is the joy of season. Immanuel…God with us. This is the story we, as Christians, should be telling instead of Santa Clause and his 8-tiny reindeer. This is the hope beyond all hope. This is the reason for the season…This is the greatest gift of all that we sang about just a few minutes ago, love wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger. The sacred among us…

I continue to challenge you and I to take a road far different than the highway that leads to the Bethlehem Stable and continue to go back as we begin a New Year. I continue to dare us…you and I…to allow God to make something sacred out of our ordinary lives. The Sacred still walks among us, living in you and in me. We need to take that light into a world in need of light in the darkness. We have much to tell for we are the beloved of God for He loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son and whoever believes in Him shall not die but have eternal life… You Are Loved! We are not loved because of something we can do or earn, we are simply beloved, first born of God. The proof…God took on flesh and lived among us…that’s all the proof we need…

I continue to challenge you and I to slow ourselves down and sit within the Sacredness of the manger where we can see and feel the sacredness of space not only in our sanctuary but as we take our “tent of the Meeting” out into a world that is in need of a “sacred, safe place” to be…to see the sacredness of the ordinary…and bring what we find there to the world through the sacredness of our lives, within the sacred space…the witness of what we find there…in and through the manger to the cross of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Merry Christmas…may you have a God-inspired New Year!

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Birthing Room

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncwKFIva42U

December 11, 2016

Stetson Memorial UMC

3^rd Sunday of Advent

“A Sacred Moment”

Sermon Series

Psalm 146

Psalm 47:2a

Luke 1:39-56

“Birthing Room...”

A prayer of illumination so that God will speak through me or in-spite of me…

I would ask that you would stand as you are able for the reading of the Gospel according to Luke Chapter 1, verses 39-56. Listen to the word of God for His people…you and I… (Read the gospel from the Common English Bible)

Have you ever been somewhere and just standing in the place just feels so holy…almost as if you reached out…you could touch the hand of God…?

· Talk about Rolling Ridge and the sacredness of the it…

What makes a place sacred…and not so sacred? Is there some kind of formula that you can follow…like a bunch of boxes to be checked off…to know this is the genuine real deal…?

Over the past couple of weeks, we have been talking about the sacred. We have talked about the sacredness of the season we are in…the season of Advent when we expectantly wait to celebrate Jesus’ birth and wait expectantly for His return. But at times we can get so busy that we lose that sense of wonder we had and everything becomes a chore…a box to be checked off…

We, as people, as Christians need to find a way to slow down, otherwise we are going to miss the best part of this season of giving that we call Advent. We are going to miss the best gift that we could ever receive. The gift of God’s own Son in the form of a baby on a cold and silent night. As we slow down, we will see the sacredness all around us.

The word sacred itself means set apart and holy. The sacredness of something should be revered and respected but the time of reverence and awe of this season seems to get lost in the lights and glamor. In order for us to see…to feel…to touch the sacred, we need to slow down our pace and just be for the moment…lest we miss the awe and wonder of the manger.

Ok…so the places of Sacredness…the moments that can tend to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the season are:

I would ask that we again would stop for a moment and just breath in the sacredness of the space we are in right now…this sanctuary where God shows up to meet us each Sunday…And as I have said…in order to really enter into the Sacredness of Advent…we need to do it more than just on Sunday’s so I would ask that each of us would continue to spend some time each day…even just five minutes and focus on…meditate upon the Sacredness we talk about each week… Let each build upon each other until we embrace genuine purpose within this sacred moment…

We rediscovered that Advent is a sacred time. The time of heaven intersecting the time of the then and now. The time had come for a heart and life change. We have even talked about sacred people within the Christmas Adventure…remember…sacred people…set apart by and for God. We heard Mary and Joseph’s stories and discovered they were just ordinary people who “showed up” and God did the extraordinary in and through them…and we too have the same chance of the extraordinary…but we need to show up…that is when the extraordinary things happen…

In today scripture we hear about two women who “showed up” for God, Mary, and Elizabeth. Their bodies became the sacred places where hope was birthed. This hope was going to move and transform the world. Both Mary and Elizabeth were filled with the Holy Spirit…in fact, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit as Mary…who made the space for the hope of the world as she was set apart to be sacred within that sacred moment in time spent with Elizabeth. Within that sacred space…within our sacred space new hope is birthed. As we go out into the world we can affect the ordinary with our extraordinary lives for God and joy is birthed, peace is birthed, hope is birthed. We should be vessels, set apart for Gods purposes and sent out to be pour out over a world without hope, without peace, without joy, without love, without a Savior. The world is one big “birthing room” but we need to choose to be midwifes of the Master Physician who heals all that is broken.

There was a sacred knowing within that moment that was shared. Elizabeth shouted glory to God…she knew that the child Mary was carrying was the Holy One of Israel. As deep calls out to deep (Psalm 47:2a) sacred calls out to sacred… And Mary sang a song of praise that is probably the most beautiful awe inspiring, glory to God song I have ever heard…in fact I have kind of adopted it for my own as I sing that you to God within and with my whole being.

Sacred place…I said earlier…the place we are sitting right now is a sacred place. We have set apart this place as a holy place, a place that is sacred because this is where we come to meet with God each Sunday. This is a place that we have set aside for God…much like the tabernacle in the wilderness that the Israelite’s had…where they met God. But here is where there is a difference. Their place to me God…sometimes called the Tent of the Meeting…was portable. When they moved…God moved with them…God went before them and they stopped where God stopped.

I want you to think about this fact for a moment. God went before them as they traveled with their tabernacle. What if…and I am going out on a limb here…what if we too took our tabernacle with us...? What if we too followed where God wanted us to go and brought our sacred place with us. That would mean that where ever we went it would be a sacred place…where sacred and set apart people would invite others to enter into the journey…as we enter into a sacred time with and for God…remember God is Immanuel…God with us… If this is so…If we believe this mind blowing fact…Every place we go is sacred…we are always sacred people set apart…and our lives would be spent in the awe and reverence of God…within the veil of time.

As I have asked before…how are we going to spend this “holiday season”? Are you and I going for the superficial…or is there something more…is there a better way? I continue to challenge you and I to take a road far different than the highway that leads to the Bethlehem Stable. I dare us…you and I…to allow God to make something sacred out of our ordinary lives. We can live within the veil of a scared space knowing the time has come to seek what really matters.

Perhaps as we contemplate of the sacredness of space this week that we would walk in our own call to be sacred as we usher in the presence of peace. You were all given a safety pin this morning. The symbolism is this. While we were creating this beautiful vision, we have in the sanctuary this morning, Sara Hill was wearing a safety pin. When I asked her about it she said “it was on Facebook. There are so many people who don’t feel safe anymore in the country they live. The pin is a symbol we wear to let them know they are safe with us.” I challenge you to wear it and be that sacred place others can run to.

I challenge you and I to slow ourselves down and sit within the Sacredness of the manger where we can see and feel the sacredness of space not only in our sanctuary but as we take our “tent of the Meeting” out into a world that is in need of a “sacred, safe place” to be…to see the sacredness of the ordinary…and bring what we find there to the world through the sacredness of our lives, within the sacred space…the witness of what we find there…in and through the manger to the cross of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

In the Ordinary

https://youtu.be/XVyX6sMz5y8

December 4, 2016

Stetson Memorial UMC

2^nd Sunday of Advent

“A Sacred Moment”

Sermon Series

Psalm 72:1-7; 18-19

Matthew 1:1-25

Luke 1:26-38

A prayer of illumination so that God will speak through me or in-spite of me…

I would ask that you would stand as you are able for the reading of the Gospel according to Matthew and Luke. We will be reading chapter 1, verses 1-25 and from Luke Chapter 1, verses 26-38. Listen to the word of God for His people…you and I… (Read the gospel from the Message translation)

Good morning. Ok show of hands, how many of you think that you are ordinary? Why do you think that (give time for people to answer. Also, answer that question for myself)? We see and hear about these people who do these extraordinary things and we think that are so awesome and exceptional, we want to be just like them. Why can’t we just be special for even just a moment? You can be…I will tell you the secret later in my sermon and how to take your ordinary life and turn it into something that is extraordinary…it is going to blow your mind…

We started talking last week about how we, as people, as Christians need to find a way to slow down, otherwise we are going to miss the best part of this season of giving that we call Advent. We are going to miss the best gift that we could ever receive. The gift of God’s own Son in the form of a baby on a cold and silent night. As we slow down, we will see the sacredness all around us.

This Advent time, is the season we expectantly await the celebration of His birth and wait expectantly for his return. Unfortunately, this time of sacredness, gets drowned out by the secular business. The word sacred itself means set apart and holy. This sacredness of something is to be revered and respected but this time of reverence and awe seems to get lost in the lights and glamor.

You see for us to see…to feel…to touch the sacred, we need to slow down our pace and just be for the moment…lest we miss the awe and wonder of the manger. How did it go this week with my challenge to take even just 5 minutes a day to just sit and be…contemplating on the sacredness of the time we are in at this very moment?

This Advent season, we have begun slowing down…even if for but a moment…to see what might be missed in the hustle and bustle of the season. I would challenge us…you and I…to take a spiritual journey to see all things through the kaleidoscope…the display of beauty within the sacred space of Advent…I would even suggest that we might even journal through this journey. It would be something that we could turn back to when the hustle of life gets in the way of the rustle of angel wings around us.

Ok…so the places of Sacredness…the moments that can tend to get lost in the hustle and bustle of the season are:

Last week we rediscovered that Advent is a sacred time and how John the Baptist spoke about time. The time of heaven intersecting the time of the then and now. The time had come for a heart and life change. The time had come…and continue today…to prepare the way of the Lord. We are that thunder in the desert. We are that message of sacredness. We are the voice calling out in the desert “make way for the kingdom of God…it is right before us…do you not perceive it?”

This week it is all about sacred people…set apart by and for God. We heard two stories of the ordinary becoming extraordinary… Mary and Joseph.

Come on Pastor Ruth…these were Jesus’ parents, of course they were and are Holy. Ok…you are right they were God incarnates parents but what is the definition of sacred we talked about? Sacred itself means set apart and holy. We too can lead the life of sacred as we set ourselves apart for God…we become holy as the Holy One of Israel uses us for His glory. What did Mary answer when called by God? “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” What did Joseph do after the dream? When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife.

Those people we talked about earlier…live ordinary lives…just as you and I live ordinary lives…but something is and was different about them. What made Mary and Joseph so special…even though ordinary like you and me? Here we go…here is the answer I promised you…it came to me when Rebecca Gallis was with us…I am forever grateful for her giving me this one extremely important insight to my life…the ordinary turned into something so much more…because they showed up…they said yes...God used them and continues to use them…use us. We sometimes forget those in the background and not think much of them…we too have been in the background. But those in the background humbling themselves are the ones that God will use for His glory...we too become..."sacred", set apart for and by God… (do mind blown thing). Told yah it would blow your mind…

How are we going to spend this “holiday season”? Are you and I going for the superficial…or is there something more…is there a better way? I challenge you and I to take a road far different than the highway that leads to the Bethlehem Stable. I dare us…you and I…to allow God to make something sacred out of our ordinary lives.

Perhaps as we contemplate of the sacredness of people this week that we would walk in our own call to sacred as we usher in the presence of peace. You were all given a safety pin this morning. The symbolism is this. On Saturday, while we were creating this beautiful vision we have in the sanctuary this morning, Sara Hill was wearing a safety pin. When I asked her about it she said “it was on Facebook. There are so many people who don’t feel safe anymore in the country they live. The pin is a symbol we wear to let them know they are safe with us.” I challenge you to wear it and be that sacred place others can run to. I challenge you and I to slow ourselves down and sit within the Sacredness of the manger where we can see the sacredness of the time…the sacredness of the ordinary…and bring what we find there to the world through the sacredness of our lives…the witness of what we find there…in and through the manger to the cross of our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Monday, January 4, 2016

Brand Spanking New

January 3, 2016

Stetson Memorial UMC

First Sunday of 2016

New Year/New Things

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 MSG

Isaiah 43:18-19 MSG

Revelation 21:1-8NIV

“Brand Spanking New…!”

Prayer for the Spirit’s leading…

Epiphany→ noun, plural epiphanies.

1. (initial capital letter) a Christian festival, observed on January 6, commemorating the manifestation of Christ to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi; Twelfth-day.

2. an appearance or manifestation, especially of a deity.

3. a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.

4. a literary work or section of a work presenting, usually symbolically, such a moment of revelation and insight.

Good morning to all of you and Happy New Year. I can’t believe that we are at a new year already. Have you all made your New Year’s resolution yet? I have made a couple but we’ll see how that goes… I pray this New Year brings you blessings, hope and joy and that you have a renewed vision of Jesus and who He is in your lives.

In the Christian calendar the first Sunday of the year is known as “Epiphany Sunday”. “Epiphany” is a very interesting word to me…so much so that I decided to look up the definition which I just read. This definition kind of reminds me of those old V8 commercials… you know what I’m talking about, the ones that the person has just discovered that what they were drinking had no real nutritional value and they could have had a V8 instead that would have given them nutritional value. That sudden realization that there was something more out there than what you are living with or doing.

I think we all have epiphanies in some shape or form. We are looking for our car keys and then all of the sudden a thought comes to mind of where they are. We may be reading scripture and all of the sudden we have that “ah ha” moment and it all makes perfect sense. We may see or be in a situation and all of the sudden it is like “light dawning on the horizon” we understand why it is all happening…we see it through the eyes of God instead of our own eyes.

The bible is full of epiphanies…people who all of the sudden understood something about God and His promises. Many men and women turned their lives around because of their encounter with Yahweh. I think my favorite one is found in Revelations…although I think that the whole book of Revelation is one big epiphany in itself… It is found in chapter 21 verses 1-8. It reads:

Revelation 21:1-8New International Version (NIV)

A New Heaven and a New Earth

21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

God is creating…recreating something new…something that He intended from the beginning and He will dwell with His people. There is no more crying…or death…or anything that is against God…He will create everything brand spanking new. As we grasp this fact…this promise…what an epiphany we have as we realize who our God is and whom belongs to Him…you and I…we belong to Him who sits on the throne. Think about that for a moment. The Creator of all that we see…all that is good…is recreating…not only is He recreating the world in which we live but He is recreating us each day as we draw closer to Him.

So pastor Ruth…when can we expect this new world order? Good question. Well remember that reading from Ecclesiastes I read a little while ago? It will happen in God’s time. But we have that promise that it will happen. As children of God, I believe that nothing happens that isn’t Father filtered…nothing happens that God is not aware of…nothing happens for no reason. As we look around us the world doesn’t look all that appealing. There is so much evil around us that we can hardly look at it. We may be thinking “how can God let this happen? Where is God in this?” There a right time for everything on the earth… God is working out His plan. Each day He is creating and recreating. It’s His nature. As we look at the world with the eyes of God, we can see that promise beginning to take shape. But we must believe.

Maybe as we begin seeing through God’s eyes we can begin to see our part in the plan. Perhaps if we begin within ourselves we can begin a chain reaction that will affect the world around us and beyond. Isaiah 43:18-19 tells us:

“Forget about what’s happened;

don’t keep going over old history.

Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.

It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?

There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,

rivers in the badlands.

My prayer for us as individuals and as a church is that we all will have that epiphany that will bring us ever closer to our Lord Jesus Christ this year…That we will have a revelation of who Christ is to us and who we are to Him…That we will embark on new journeys that will lead us to a new and exciting place where we will encounter our Redeemer in new ways.

Happy New Year…happy new you…happy new world…Amen

How Is It With Your Soul

https://youtu.be/VYEq5SDyF9Q

December 27, 2015

Stetson Memorial UMC

Last Sunday of The Year 2015

A Soul In Retrospect

Joel 2:28-29

Matthew 3:11

Isaiah 44:3

http://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/selfexam.htm

(All Scripture is taken from the NIV Bible)

“How Is It With Your Soul…?”

Prayer for the Spirit’s leading…

Read the Scriptures…

Here we are at the end of another year. We have almost finished the race of 2015 and the next race is looking at us from just beyond the horizon. We tend to look back in retrospect at what has happened over the year.There has been both good and bad. There have been victories and struggles. But we have made it almost to the end.

As we end I would like to throw in a question that you might not hear too much in the world in which we live. How is it with your soul? Have you ever wondered about that? How is it with your soul? This question is one that John Wesley would ask all who were part of the movement that he was ushering in. He expected that everyone would be part of “classes” as he called it. They were accountability groups that prayed for each other and studied the scriptures together. How is it with your soul?

I think that we as Christians may have gotten away from caring for the soul…others and our own. We are so busy with everyday life that we don’t have time to tend the garden of the soul. We have forgotten that sin is waiting right around the corner just waiting for us to put our guard down. As soon as that happens, sin just slowly creeps in until it can take of all that we do and say. How is it with your soul?

We have just traveled to the manger another way and we thought about…we talked about…things that go on in the world around us and how through the eyes of God we can still see God working. But how can we see Him working if we are not taking time to be with him each day as He whispers His promises to our hearts? How is it with your soul?

This morning…I am going to ask us some of these Wesleyan questions…yup I am including myself with these questions. The questions have their origin in the spiritual accountability group started by Wesley when he was a student at Oxford — a group that detractors called "The Holy Club." The first list appeared about 1729 or 1730 in the preface to Wesley's second Oxford Diary. OK…here we go…now these are just some of them. I didn’t want to scare us off…

Ask Questions…

We are beginning to get ready for a new year. My prayer is that as we venture into the New Year, we will continue to ask these questions of ourselves. As we venture out in God’s name may we go out knowing the One who has sent us. We are His hands and feet. Go forth in the Strength of God, the Hope of Jesus Christ and the Wisdom of the Spirit.

Amen

Sheep in pasture

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Monday, January 4, 2016