Message: Faithwalk, A Journey Fueled by living H2O!
You know in the Gospel of John, it seems like the Lord is either making a journey to Jerusalem, or out to the hinterland to where the people living their everyday lives inhabit a land that is unforgiving, in a world that exacted a cost just for survival. The harsh reality of life underlies much of scripture.
And yet among these journeys, travels, and God’s outreach that our Lord continues to make throughout the Gospels, the Good News continues to be conveyed in countless ways to all kinds of different people. The Children of Israel are instructed, nurtured, and even cajoled to a better way by our Lord. And even outsiders, Gentiles and hybrid Faithwalkers like you and me.
Our Samaritan Woman is just one of countless children of God, our Lord extends God’s willing grace and love to. For her, I’m sure that the words Elaine read in today’s Call to Worship reading would hold special meaning personally. Reading again from, Romans 5:6-11;
Ya know? Sometimes, it seems like we feel like we need to do something just to prove to ourselves, to others, to God, that we are serious about this Faithwalk we are on. There are those who talk about going on a pilgrimage. Heading over to Europe, or to the Holy land of Israel, and walking the same ground that the Lord, Apostils, and the Church Fathers must have trekked.
For me this almost sounds like a first world problem or even a third world reality, walking to find your way. And please don’t get me wrong, if you can afford to travel and do Missionary work and pilgrimage, or you are limited to walking because of your financial limitations, God bless you!
It’s just that I see a whole mission field all around me. And I’m not talking about being in downtown Ogden Utah, nor am I talking about living in Utah. I’m talking about being a Christian in western modernity, and trying to live my faith. Sincerely live in and with our Lord, and you my beautiful family in God. In reality all of us are on a pilgrimage (called a faithwalk in life), and right now, many of us are on a special journey to a sacred observance of Easter.
Today I want to talk about both journeys: Our Faithwalk in this life, and the road towards Passover / Easter observance.
This last Wednesday evening, we had members of our Church meet here to usher in the beginning of Lent with an Ash Wednesday service. Invariably, a few questions come to mind:
What do they mean to you and me?
I want talk to all three questions briefly before I speak in more detail about this time of reflection (Lent), leading us to the most Holy day in the Christian year Easter.
Ash Wednesday, the placing of ashes on our foreheads has traditionally marked the beginning of another observance also not required by our Church, Lent. A time of reflection leading to Easter. This practice is traced back over a thousand years to the 900s AD. Marking the forehead with ashes in the sign of the cross falls under a later variation of repentance and observance.
In the Middle Ages, ashes were used to mark those who had been separated from the church because of serious sin. People who were hoping to be re-admitted into the church, and were redoing the process for church membership along with those joining for the first time. They were sprinkled with ashes and given rough garments to wear (Sackcloth and ash) as a sign of sorrow for sinning. This was to show the world their commitment to seek God’s forgiveness and renewal in Church life through this season of reflection.
As with anything man made, and Ash Wednesday is, because we are not commanded in scripture to perform this act of penance, at any specific time. Through history, and over time the act of forcing people through such trials, in many cases abused, and created downcast, and there were people being mistreated. This is when Christians who were not required to wear the marks of repentance and penitence, started to choose to. As a way of walking with those who were in the midst of their trials and efforts to rejoin the church on good standing.
Since the tenth century, the observance of Ash Wednesday has become a general observance in the Western Christian Church. With this idea in mind; We all fall short of the grace of God, and so all deserve to death.
Ash Wednesday, and Lent that follows (which is why our Cross is draped in purple, to remind us), helps us dedicate some time to addressing our own sin, and in our Church’s case, to walk with others in their affliction. When all is said and done, there is a time for everything in this life of ours. Just as today’s Call to Worship instructed us this morning. Reading this time from Ecclesiastes 3:1-9, plus 10-13;
1There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Please let me interrupt to say; There is a time for repentance and a time for reflection, and for some of us, that is what Ash Wednesday and Lent in so many words are for. Continuing now with some additional words from our Old Testament instructor at verse 9:
9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.
When we are in sync with our God, we are afforded a glimpse of what the good life in and with our Lord can feel and look like. Where we find satisfaction, and even outright joyfulness in our work serving our God by serving other people. In the scheme of things, I believe this is the never-ending gift from our Lord to those in the family of God!
The concept of sin and grace, how we struggle with one, and life from the other are a reoccurring drama in the human condition. Centered around God’s plan for all of us that are willing. A gift that Paul explained with even more clarity in his letter to the church in Rome. Reading from Romans 5:12-15;
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned-
13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law.14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
*Interrupting Paul to say; regardless of if someone were living under the Ten Commandments, or under some tribal, civil, or national custom, death was the reality of all who suffer from the fall of humanity since the Garden with Adam and Eve. Now Paul will explain where our gift, our hope comes from. Verse 15;
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!
In so many words, when Adam attempted to be like God, and went with Eve on their own way instead in of God’s direction, all of mankind fell with them from grace. Our God has shown us His love for us by taking our sin upon Himself and overcoming it at the Cross. What an incredible gift!
The gift of grace is available to all, when we come to our Lord, and apologize, and mean it, and work at not repeating the junk that has been separating us from our Lord. Simple, yes! Easy, sometimes, many times, no! But essential, because when we don’t admit our fault to God, and to ourselves, sin continues to reign in our lives like a runaway train. And it festers if not addressed.
Lent, an Old English word for the days are getting longer (spring), will last from now until Easter. As we enter into this time of reflection, this season of soul-searching, it is important to keep in mind, that reflection, soul-searching, and repentance in the Lord are as old as the family in God. Going all the way back to our Jewish ancestors, there has always been a need to come to the Lord for forgiveness. For clarity, here are the words of David, from Psalm 32; (Of David)
1 Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord does not count against them and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
*Please Hear what David is saying; when he remained silent, not repenting his sin to the Lord, perhaps convincing himself that he has done nothing wrong, God’s hand was heavy upon him, and his strength and his bones wasted away. How many of us carry the burdens of past stuff that is wreaking havoc in our lives? Well, David has the answer, on to verse 5;
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you while you may be found; surely the rising of the mighty waters will not reach them. 7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
**Now; David will change the tense of his instruction to speak directly to you and me. Verse 8;
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. 9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you. 10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the one who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!
So as in days of old when David wrote Psalm 32, we in the here and now, may take solace in the fact that when we take time to reflect and repent in the Lord, our lives take on the dimensions of eternity. When we are willing to divorce ourselves from our sin and walk into a life where we work on being more like our Lord, we are showing ourselves, other people, and God, that we want to live the good life in and with Him.
As we embark upon the journey into this time of reflection, taking time to look deeply at our relationship with God, God’s family, other people in our lives, as we look forward to Easter is it can begin to feel like we are going through the wilderness. The wilderness of our sin. Initially many of us initially went down the road of sin to fit in, to be a part of the crowd. A rebel without a cause, heck more like a rebel without a clue. And all of our shenanigans resulted in feeling all alone and vulnerable to all kinds of stuff. But the Good News of our God is this; you are not alone!
As a commercial recently attested to during this last Super Bowl: He Gets you! God knows you, understands you, and gets you in spite of us doing almost anything possible to keep our God from loving us.
He gets us because He in fact has walked a mile and more in our shoes, and knows what it’s like to be hungry, tired, and heartbroken by each of us. He knows what temptation is, and how to overcome it, even in the face of the adversary, the devil himself. Case in point, here again is today’s Message Reading from, Matthew 4:1-11;
1Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written:
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
Our God will not lead us where His Grace cannot sustain us. And when we are able to remember that, we are afforded new strength in Him who has overcome all challenge. As we begin to experience in the upcoming days the concept of; Lent as a Journey Thru Our Wilderness! Perhaps all of us instead of focusing on what we are going to give up as some do at this time of year, maybe we can focus on what we are going to do.
As the days get longer in this season of reflection, I personally am going to:
Live in the here and now. Not in the past or waiting for the future, but richly, deeply, and robustly in the present.
I am going to tell people in my life how important they are to me.
I am going to focus on what God wants done instead of what the world says is impossible.
I am going to look for the good in others.
May you all find time to be alone with your Lord to explore the richness that life with Him affords, and then take that goodness and share it with the people God places in your life.
“Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust”, is the old refrain of a person who is created out of ash and dust by our God, lives and then returns to the ash and dust bin of history and the earth. To often in the past, people of God relied only the beginning from Genesis 2:7-8;
7 Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.
Then man willfully sinned, and fell and to dust he returns. But there is so much more than simple life, fall, and death… Yes, we are fallen people in a fallen world and today Ash Wednesday reminds us of that very fact…
Today, a large portion of the Christian Church will observe Transfiguration Sunday. This observance recognizes the event depicted in; Matthew 17:1–8, Mark 9:2–8, Luke 9:28–36, and 2 Peter 1:16–18, where Peter describes his first hand account of what he witnessed.
Our Church has no requirement for our observing Transfiguration Sunday, so why are we talking about it? It is important for each of us to know why we are attending a Baptist Church, out of all the churches available to us. Our recognizing what our brothers and sisters believe across the wide scope of Christianity, helps us to know who we are and why we go to the church of our choice. Plus knowing and respecting the various Christian traditions, is a very Christian thing for any congregation to be a part of.
Case in point, our Cross in our Sanctuary is adorned with the purity of the color white for today’s service. This reminds us of the purity and sacredness of our Lord’s mission to save you and me. Watch for future changes to the color reflecting the season and times, in our Church.
Today, I would like to reflect with you about transformation, alteration that aim outright to a Transfiguration physically and spiritually. The examples are of course our Lord Jesus, Moses, Celestial Beings, then mere people like you and me when we come to the Lord in repentance for a new life in Him. Which is the traditional hope… time immemorial in God’s Church.
Invitation, Praises, and Prayer Concerns: Father of Heaven and Universe beyond, we praise, glorify, and magnify your Holy and precious name above all others. Lord today we come to you asking for forgiveness because we know not what we do much of the time. Lord, please teach us your ways and grow us to be more like you, as we learn to forgive others, ask for forgiveness, and treat others as you would have us. In your heavenly name, Amen.
https://youtu.be/0bLS5MWKMVs
Message: Hurricane Ridge, and Angels Landing
So, how is everyone doing? Do we have anyone in the room not guilty under our Lord’s Law? You know, what I just read from the “Sermon on the Mount”, I believe is our Lord’s way of instructing us in our attitudes. Murder, Adultery, Divorce, and taking Oaths are all symptoms or outliers of what’s going on inside of us, in our hearts. You see my very being can appear like a storm of onslaught sin and selfishness, or it can feel like the landing strip for Angels coming in on final approach to my soul. All depending on what’s going on in my noggin.
Half the time, it seems like I myself am earning the reason for the verse from John 11:35Jesus wept. And why wouldn’t He, based on the conflagration or outright war that goes on within us at times? Thankfully, we have another of the Lord’s sayings that give us hope from Luke 23:34; Jesus said, “Father, forgivethem, for they do not know what they are doing.”… (And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.) Thank you, Lord for forgiving and still loving us in our fallen nature… Please teach us to be more like you, by helping us win that battle royal that goes in with each of us daily.
For today’s message, I almost used the title; Rode Hard and Put; Away Wet! But I made the mistake of telling my wife what I was thinking of doing, and she didn’t think it was very dignified to use such a title. I was going to use it anyway, but then started thinking…
So, after some consulting with some entities to be unmentioned… We have today’s title; Used and Abused, or Tested and True? I still like the other one better than Rode Hard and Put; Away Wet! (and I’ll tell you why later), but “Used and Abused, or Tested and True?” probably reads better on our Church sign out front.
The idea is this, we are the ones that are given the free choice to work on our attitudes and determine for ourselves if we are going to serve God in a real way (all in and grateful for the opportunity to serve God), or we can have the attitude that our service is just doing God a favor. But that way of thinking, wears us out physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The other rejuvenates, restores, and builds our very being.
I have been thinking over the last couple of weeks about faithwalks and how each of our journeys unfold uniquely and individually within our own experiences with God. What set this thought track on course was the idea that so many of us only know about a deeper relationship in the Lord based on who they were born to in life. Many people are Baptist, Protestant, Buddhist, Jewish, agnostic, or flat-out atheists, are based on how they were raised, as opposed to who they were introduced to in life.
In other words, why were you, I, or any of the Apostles blessed to have a relationship in and with our Lord, in a world that so often doesn’t know our Lord? And for that matter, why do faithwalks in the Lord unfold the way they do? I know God has a plan, and somehow our God is able to weave His plans and our free will, into a complimentary existence that affords you and me a beautiful life in this reality. Before anyone gets to worried that I’m about to get too deep into the philosophic harmony of anything, let me reassure you… I aint!
It’s just that I was thinking how improbable life unfolds itself at times and I started to think how wonderful life has been in my own case when it easily could have been different. And I think I’m not alone.
Take today’s Message title for instance; Mark’s Bogus Journey, and Faithwalk Found! The Gospel writer John Mark, it is believed was raised on scripture from the Old Testament (that’s all there was). Mark has a story line that weaves itself throughout the New Testament, with a presence in the Gospel, then appearing in Acts of the Apostles, and the epistles of Peter and Paul.
Today’s title kind of just came upon me. Like so often, the idea just hits and its all I can think about for a while. So, what the heck is a Frenemy? I recall seeing a show on Cable TV called Frenemies, and somehow when I was reading Psalm 27 and David speaks of his enemies, I began to think about enemies. Enemies led me to the thought of what business did David, or you and I have in having enemies? We’ll talk about Frenemies in a minute.
To refresh our memories, here is today’s Call to Worship from David’s Psalm 27:1-6;
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?
Today, we have heard how Andrew and his brother Simon Peter found the Lord, left the service of John the Baptist, and followed Jesus Christ. And yet they didn’t change teams, they had been serving the Lord the whole time, its just that now after time maturing and growing under John, they are ready for an even deeper relationship in the Lord. Like them, our God grows us as we are able or willing, to more and more in and with Him!
You know it seems like some times in our lives, that we are just treading water, or we are even feeling that we are sinking in water due to being overwhelmed. Without knowing all of your challenges, and certainly none like you do, my Good News to you, is that you are not alone. The Lord is ready to walk with you through your adversity, and the other side is within your grasp. It may not look as you had pictured it during your journey through adversity, but your deliverance has been promised by a God that is faithful and true!
