Welcome to church this week Sunday 11 am for Worship Service and Tuesday 5 pm to open the food pantry. God bless!

24 Jan. 2021 Sunday Message: “Calling God Direct!”

https://youtu.be/Ut8Rdh-Gp4A

Call to Worship: Hebrews 4:14-16

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Welcome, Intercession, and Prayer Praises; Father even in adversity there is hope in you! Thank you Lord for our very being, as we ask for wisdom in our leaders, patience in our society, and love from our people. Into your hands we commit our whole being.

Amen!

Message Reading; Hebrews 5:1-7

5 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. ³ This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. ⁴ And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵ In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father.”

⁶ And he says in another place,

“You are a priest forever,
    in the order of Melchizedek.”

⁷ During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

Message; “Calling God Direct!”

       There was a time when making a phone call long distance you had to go through an Operator. I can recall my grandparents making “person to person” calls through the operator on the antiquated telephone lines of 1960s Iowa and Illinois. There were Party lines still in existence back then with multiple homes on the same circuit. When the phone rang you knew the call was yours by the ring sequence. Making a call was a big deal and you prepared yourself, because you didn’t want to screw anything up.

These days, we are on-line, telecommunicating, interacting, texting, so much, nonstop, that we actually don’t communicate. We project our intents, and desires. We communicate audibly by talking or manually by typing, almost automatically, and in many cases, without any forethought. In our quest to be connected, we have become isolated in a myriad of communication bursts, blitzkriegs of memorandum that have a way of removing the humane aspects of our existence.

Unfortunately, for many of us we have a tendency of treating prayer time with the creator of all in much the same way. It seems like we either talk nonstop, in a one-way train of thought that devolves into babble or not at all. All or nothing as it were. Nothing, often comes from our just giving up on having an intimate one of a kind relationship in the Lord. Either not trying, or relying on a third party, a middle man to pray for us and take all the responsibility off our shoulders. That way we don’t have to think about anything too deep, or even address the profound defects in our individual natures.

Today, I am excited to get a chance to remind you of something most of us I think really realize deep down when we are not trying to gloss over who the Lord is, and that is, just how available God is when we are available to listening to His Holy Spirit. Excited, because, I have the honor to talk with you about the greatest force for good, wholesomeness, and holiness in the universe, and that majesty wants to be in a real relationship with you!

Immediately, I can sense the qualifiers being formulated in people across the board.

• Everything has been predetermined
• God does not want a sinner like me
• I don’t know how to have a relationship, period
• God gives us middlemen to do that stuff
  • Holy rollers, good people, or leaders
  • Priests and Pastors

• Let me start with the first statement: Everything is foreknown and has been predetermined

God gives us free choice, and is able to separate His knowledge of all, with your freedom of the moment. Meaning, you are allowed to fail or thrive regardless of what God already knows because He is God and you are not. Which is why that concept is so hard for us to grasp, but should never be an excuse or a barrier to living and thriving in the Lord.

• This leads some to think:  God does not want a sinner like me

Let me repeat a saying, a truth used in this Sanctuary plenty of times because it can’t be said enough: God does not care where you are coming from, but where you are going to. Just look through scripture on who God picks to walk with in a public way. The impetuous Peter, who speaks before he thinks. Arrogant Paul, the smartest man in the room just ask him, but misguided in human relationships. Jonah, who judged his adversaries harshly (all of Nineveh), and found it hard to give grace even when directed by God. Moses, who stuttered, and David who had a rollercoaster life. All were loved and matured in time with the Lord.

• Leading some of us to; I’m no good at relationships

Thankfully, God is. The Lord also takes us where we are and walks with us as we grow in Him. The key is our willingness to walk with God and not trying to lead God. This involves stumbling, falling, and sometimes getting lost like sheep in the bogus meadow. A field of temptations arrayed with all of the things that pull us down. You name your poison, handicap, or vice that drives you into idolatry (replacing God with anything). Keep in mind that a real relationship is full of up and down times, but fully endowed, imbedded with His Grace to bridge the gaps.

• Last on the excuse list is our; trying to find middlemen for God;

This is old as time itself. People traditionally have looked to place go betweens as spokesmen, substitutes to pinch hit for us in our relationships with God. The people of God started doing this as a nation back in Exodus 20:18-19

¹⁸ When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹ and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.

** God’s people literally thought that God was going to lift up the mountain and slam it on them. Moses tried to console the people and in versus 20-21;

²⁰ Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

²¹ The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

And the middle-man was there to stay for many. God wanted a one on one relationship, but people wanted a buffer. A buffer that has served as a road block, restricting people from a deeper real relationship in Him.

Regardless of who the buffer is, or whether it’s a good person, leader, priest or me your pastor; if you are using any of us as a substitute for you, you will be disappointed. I am led back to today’s Call to Worship reading from Hebrews 4:14-16;

¹⁴ Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are-yet he did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

       Meaning, we have direct access through Jesus Crist to the Godhead Majesty that is heaven!

The Lord has seen the landscape of this life from your eyes and lived in our reality without sin. How many mortal substitutes, alternates, or yes pinch hitters, can make that boast? Not Me. Nor do you want someone like me to be a proxy for your life. Only Christ will do! The author of Hebrews testifies to this reality back in chapter 2 verses 2:18-3:1

¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.

       Twice just now, from different places Hebrews states that the Lord Himself was tempted, and even more importantly, that your God knows what temptation is, can help us in the throes of our own issues whatever they may be. What incredible news this is, when we can actually approach God with confidence. Knowing that we will find mercy and grace in our time in need.

 That we no longer need to feel prisoners of our sins, captives to our lusts and idolatries of selfishness. This is also why we should “fix our thoughts upon Jesus”, who unlike a mere person, can stay up on that pedestal of reverence all day long without being propped up like a fallible human being requires. That’s the problem with hero worshipping middle men, they always fall from the pedestals we put them on. Only Christ remains!

Before I go any further, I want to be clear that I am in no way trying to demean people who serve as clerics, teachers, leaders, pastors, bishops, or even priests. All the above are an awesome calling from God and we know they are God-callings, by the teachings, attitudes, and actions of the aforementioned are servant based and inspired, not dictations of ego. It’s all about the Lord and not the individual, which in the end enriches the individual, and glorifies God.

To keep everyone’s feet on the ground, and to place things in even better perspective, we have today’s Message reading from Hebrews 5:1-5;

5 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. ³ This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. ⁴ And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

⁵ In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,

“You are my Son;
    today I have become your Father.”

Working backwards from verse 5, being a servant of God, along with His people is an honor for anyone who gets to serve, and God does the electing, period! This glory spoken about is the Glory we seek in our relationship with the one “I Am” (Exodus 3:14) of all the creation, before the creation, and after the creation. We are all offered that honor of glory and given free choice in its acceptance.

In other words, your pastor or any cleric, engaged as a servant of the Lord, to God’s Church, and yes “You”, are established for working to equip you with the tools to enrich your life with the Lord, and other people in God’s creation (your neighbor!). They exist to help you realize your calling and your ministry.

This is done through Pastoral services that equip thru:

• Worship; Learning to praise glorify and magnifying God’s Holy name
• Teaching; Worship service, bible classes, sharing knowledge, or any other opportunity available.
• Encouragement and Understanding; Supporting and equipping other people’s ministries, and looking for new outreach opportunities.
• Sharing a Common Faithwalk; that is rich in a prayer life, Bible study, and fellowshipping.

This partnership (when healthy), pervades every aspect of the church and the church’s outreach to the community. Each Church and/or Congregation, Ward, Parish, and Synagogue, approaches serving the people of God in a manner unique to their group. This is why in our society it is appropriate to say that there is a church out there for everyone. (There will be no judging in today’s message. You have the Burdon of thinking for yourselves!)

I can only speak definitively and in the moment about our Church. For our Family in God, we use scripture as the basis to build from, and then the Holy Spirit (God’s promptings) through prayer and in sync with scripture to determine the appropriate recipe or ratio of the above mentioned services.

What Hebrews 5 makes specific is that, after all the services and caring, and praying, teaching and cheerleading are said and done. Nothing, absolutely nothing, takes the Lord’s place as the one worshiped and ultimately followed. In our church that means we are a partnership, without a patriarch, or matriarch, click, power-group, or authoritarian leader. Again each church must decide the degree of partner-shipping on a case by case basis.

       Again, what Hebrews makes clear for us is that we have a savoir that knows what it’s like to be you and has triumphed over adversity, heartache, and temptation. Who offers a direct line to Him any time you are in need. But that brings us back to where we began this one way discussion, called a message.

       Many of us just don’t have the practice to feel comfortable with our God Direct opportunities for prayer. We stammer around for a second and then we daydream, and then tell ourselves that we will try that again sometime soon. This need not be your future prayer life.

       To upgrade from the old rotary dial phone on the public party line, unable to communicate without everyone listening in, you need to order an upgraded communication system. It comes by asking God for guidance, listening, and working on it daily. The more you prayerfully work at your relationship with God, the quicker the upgrades are shipped to your vary soul of enlightenment.

       My suggestion, is to add prayerful scripture reading and study to your daily regimen. Prayer and scripture, alone and with others you trust, have a way of building upon each other and growing your faithwalk in ways never imagined. Again this improves with practice, and the letter to the Hebrews reinforces this statement of the power of scripture uniquely;

 Reading in Hebrews 4:12-13

¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. ¹³ Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Which is why both scripture study and prayer go hand in hand in understanding our direct connection to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

For the last three weeks, we have been exploring who the Lord is. Today, we have looked deeper into His role in our lives and also who we are in the larger plan. My hope for you this week, is that you will begin to look at your own prayerlife, determine if it needs work, and fortify that relationship with the Lord with the study of His word, and then Call God Direct!  

Amen!

Benediction; Numbers 6:24-26