Welcome to church this week Sunday 11 am for Worship Service and Tuesday 5-7 pm for Food Pantry. Have a blessed week!
17 Jan 21 Sunday Service: “He Walks Miles in Our Shoes”
Call to Worship: Psalm 8
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds,
and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky,
and the fish in the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Invitation, Offering, and Prayer Concerns; Father in Heaven hollowed is your rightfulness in the universe. Lord we gather here today to praise, glorify, and magnify your Holy and Precious Name above all others, and ask that you would continue to grow us and mature us into the Christians of the working day that we want to be in your service. We pray that you continue to show us grace as we learn to think of others before self.
Amen!
Message Reading; Hebrews 2:11-18
11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
13 And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again he says,
“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Message: “He Walks Miles in Our Shoes”
Originally, I had selected; “God Has Walked a Mile in Our Shoes”, but I wanted to personalize my thoughts and also, I wanted to reflect that this is an ongoing relationship between God and you! God continues to relate to us, and our interrelation with Him takes on added meaning for us when we realize this dynamic.
Today we are continuing our look into who the Lord is by identifying this week that our Lord God, creator of everything in the Universe has actually walked a mile in your shoes, and continues to walk in them through you. He knows what it’s like to be you. Now how many pagan idol gods can make a claim like that? And yet that’s only the beginning of our look into who God is.
Yes, today I am excited to get to talk about the very thing that draws you and me together as human beings. The force that connects us when any two of us are in a strange crowd of people that we do not know, and then when we spot each other all of a sudden everything changes because there is another person in our family there, we are not alone, and we are in communion. Unity, empathy, spiritual intimacy, and closeness characterizes us as unique in the world of existence, for we have faith in the same universal power that drives everything in its proper course. That’s why I’m excited!
You see I have the extreme honor to talk about the greatest force in the universe, and that majesty has decided to care for, and love His creation so much that He would honor us with His grace. Our very ability to think about this kind of stuff makes us unique. That’s awesome!
This is the splendorific force (sometimes you just have to invent words when one does not exist, but this one was found in the Urban Dictionary website), the majesty that knows how many atoms are located in the material that makes up red stripes in the American Flag at rest on the Moon next to Apollo 11 placed there in 1968 by Neil Armstrong. That same gravitas who was cheered by the stars and celestial bodies at the creation, or better yet, as God Himself asked Job in Job 38:4-7;
4“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone-
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
That God, Majesty, has decided to love you in spite of you, because you are you. And as David so eloquently states in Psalm 8
1 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
in the heavens… and
…4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
and crowned them with glory and honor… and
…9 Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
David instructs us as to how magnificent God is, and how much we human beings have been blessed by God’s graciousness. And if you were getting a little uppity last week when we talked about worshiping the Lord and not His Angels, remember David teaches us that while we have been crowned with glory and honor, we are lower than the Angels. Who just by being God’s messengers, deserve respect, love, and consideration like all of God’s creation!
Yes, my friends, the vast creation of the Lord’s is truly magnificent! When you leave here today and walk out those doors, take a moment to just contemplate that vastness of design, and then the honor God has already given you in scripture, nature, and reality! Because of all of His creation (that we can only begin to understand), you have the intellect, the brainpower to begin to understand the theme of my discussion today. That’s how much He loves you!
Today’s Message reading from Hebrews 2, talks about your inclusion into God’s family and how we get there in better detail than any eloquence at my command. Beginning with verse 11;
11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
13 And again,
“I will put my trust in him.”
And again he says,
“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
As we begin to get a grasp on the awesomeness of God’s majesty, we also get a glimpse of who we are. We are made Holy by Him who is Holy (the Lord), and we are a part of His family of God! This is the good news of the Gospel, and it isn’t based on you reciting bible passages perfectly, knowing just the right way of saying a prayer, or how much you do around the Church. That stuff comes from grace and it is based on a partnership you are developing with the Lord as your relationship grows in Him and in His family right in this room.
Next the author of Hebrews instructs us that our God became like you and me. Starting in verse 14;
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.
What is so revolutionary about this statement is that it reflects what shapes our boldness as Christians to have hope in God. As Paul states in Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Indeed, we boast in the hope of the glory of God for hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us which only tends to build our faith even more! And since we have flesh and blood our God took on flesh and blood, tasted death for us, broke deaths grip of power, and gives us even greater hope than before.
You see what makes us so unique in the world is not that we use the name of Christian. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of that name, but so many use the title without even understanding what it means, how salvation works, and what God has already done for us that we could not do for ourselves.
Yes, what is so audacious about our Faithwalk as a family in God is that we actually have hope in a real God. Our God has walked a mile and more in my own shoes. A God that knows what it is like to be rejected in love, real love, betrayed, have sore feet at the end of the day, and a aching back from walking on rocky soil all day.
He knows where I go, where you go when you dive deep into dark thoughts. That horrible abyss that some of us get stuck in where others of us can’t even fathom, because we are in our own labyrinths of self-despair and sadness. But He knows and He wants you back and healthy. He is the only Shepherd who can rescue and lead me back to green pastures and still waters and restore my sole!
All of those other gods in our society, require you to sacrifice and give and give and give all you have to feed the beast that never is satisfied. You know who those gods are. Many of us just spent a fortune chasing either receiving or getting the perfect gift(s) for festivus. Leading many back to that dark place already mentioned. Are any of us better off chasing what the world is interested in?
Maybe a more fundamental question to ask ourselves would be; Have any of those idol gods ever given you love, nurturing, compassion, just because you were you? Did they offer up a healthy family relationship, without a litmus test, topped by giving of their very selves matched with loyalty with no strings attached? Have they loved you enough to say no to your self-destructive requests?
Well, your Savoir has met and meets all the criteria of agape love. That’s pure love that is capable of covering a whole lot of bad stuff in this world, as reflected in 1 Peter 4:7-8
7 The end of all things is near Therefore be alert and of sober min so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
Truly, the end of all things is always near in our limited time in this life’s walk. More importantly, your God’s love is great enough to cover your sins and more if you choose to invite Him into your life, and trust Him! This becomes easier to understand when we remember the Power of the Lord as described in today’s reading in Hebrews 2:11
11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.
This my friends is the family we find ourselves a part of when we allow the Lord to make us Holy. Not that any one of us are Holy like Him at this time, but we have offered ourselves up for the display of God’s splendor to build us into the mosaic of His family.
That’s a fancy way of saying, we are all works in progress and God is the artist creating within us all of the potentials unrealized back when we were calling the shots and polluting our lives.
One last item I wanted to address today and that is verse 17:
17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
It is my thought, and again, this is my thought. (You have the heavy burden of thinking for yourselves) It is my contention, that any time it is stated anywhere that God has to do something, it really is identifying that God is really volunteering to do something due to the fact that we need something based on our free choice, and God is providing grace. We are the week link, and need God’s help in making it all make sense to our immature minds at the dawn of our eternity.
If God so chose to command it, everything could go in a regimented way, but the Lord’s plan is for humanity to make the free choice to invite Him into a relationship. And again all this gives us a better idea of who the Lord is, and how much you are loved, by the mileage God is racking up walking your Faithwalk; with you! And even more if you will let Him.
Wash your sneakers. Amen!
Benediction; Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.