Top 5: Life is Good, 5/29/16

Sermon 5-29-16 favorites - Ecclesiastes 3:1-14 – it is good

There 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.

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^[a] 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. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will honor him

Why I love this passage.

There is a time for everything.

God is in the middle of it all.

It is good.

God made it and said it is good

Favorite Music

Fernando Ortega

Anything ELO CCR REO SPEEDWAGON

Music is such a blessing

Eccl 3.  It is good!

The raft on the ocean in the river delta [awareness]

Life is a banquet. And the tragedy is that most people are starving to  death.

There's a nice story about some people who were on a raft off the coast of Brazil perishing from  thirst. They had no idea that the water they were floating on was

fresh water.

the river was coming out into the sea with such force that it went out for a couple of miles, so they had fresh water right  there where they were. But they had no idea.

In the same way, we're surrounded with joy, with happiness, with love.

Too many people have no idea of this whatsoever.

Spirituality is about waking up to what God is doing in this world

Repent and accept the good news.

Repent! Wake up!

Random times

A time to die

Paul mcclain

Richard rohr

A time to plant.  Mom and her trees and plants

How I morphed toward this

How I was not interested in the environment

Now I am a tree hugger

Because god speaks to us thru creation

A time to heal

I celebratet the miracles of woods chapel

Sherri swanson

Jerry Hedrick

Bob Spence

Pam Dittmer

A time to laugh

Jokes

Jokes after softball

A time to mourn

Memorial day

Love hurts –a Russian soldier died, we felt nothing.  A father in congo died….

Weeping lasts for the night but joy comes in the morning- psalm 30

You can be in pain and suffer or you can be in pain and not suffer

The dancing gene

I got it

I saw the good thing at the dance

Now I look and see it.. usually

Bryan ferry sings the song- we need to dance with life

search praying for direction…. Should we buy that

CONCLUSION

Finally – Life is Good!

Romans 8:28, "And we know that God makes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

All you can see is the middle of God's work, not its end.

He knows the beginning and the end,

Just trust every day that you are in the palm of his hand

He loves you so much.

 ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

It is good.  It is very good.

He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] 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.

It’s a gift!! It is good!! 

It is good!!

Fruit of the Spirit: Patience, 6/14/15

² We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check.³ When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. ⁴ Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. ⁵ Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, ⁸ but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? ¹² My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Gal 5:22-23  ²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Phil 4:7   ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Last week.  Jennifer and patty.  Candidates for ministry

Need opportunities

All ministers are gone.  Great time

Annual conf a time of appointments. 

Please don’t begrudge the appointments of others - take joy!!

They are the hands and feet of jesus and an extension of woods chapel

Today the series continues – fruit of the spirit

Patience and peace.  Peace and patience. Now I will wax poetic…..

·         Patience is a virtue,

·         Possess it if you can.

·         Found seldom in a woman,

·         Never in a man.

Patience - I'm in a hurry but god is not

Lord I want patience and I want it now.

WAR

We think about peace and war – our brain defaults to armed conflict when we think of peace……

We don’t like war

Examples: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

Peace medals in Smithsonian                                                                  PICTURES

Last of the Mohicans

Peace is more than

The absence of war. It is a gift of daily peace that we can offer to others

Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the children of God.

Daily Peace

Peace as a gift that we give to people every day

Peace to the other drivers, to the person at the dmv

To the attendant at the hotel.

Abraham was sitting outside his tent one evening when he saw an old man, weary from age and journey, coming toward him. Abraham rushed out, greeted him, and then invited him into his tent. There he washed the old man's feet and gave him food and drink. The old man immediately began eating without saying any prayer or blessing. So Abraham asked him, "Don't you worship God?"  The old traveler replied, "I worship fire only and reverence no other god."  When he heard this, Abraham became incensed, grabbed the old man by the shoulders, and threw him out his his tent into the cold night air. When the old man had departed, God called to his friend Abraham and asked where the stranger was. Abraham replied, "I forced him out because he did not worship you." God answered, "I have suffered him these eighty years although he dishonors me. Could you not endure him one night?"

Mouths

It is measured or controlled by what comes out of our mouths

How the use of our mouths affect peace

The hurtful things that we say

Peace in my heart

More than an absence of guilt

It is a managing of our responses to stimulus

Sun day before annual conf.  a melt down

Conflicted, broken over an old wound

How do we identify them and heal them

Desire

Patience implies that I am waiting for what I want, for what I prefer.

That implies that I am not getting what I want.

Ref - David Gilmore’s sermon at conference about all things work together for good.

Good by whose definition?

·        Illness?

·        Loneliness?

·        Trouble with a child?

I think I know what is good, but maybe god is working on a greater good

We aren’t in charge, we don’t get to define good.

Delayed gratification. – the concept

Peace comes when we stop wanting everything….

Duke University did a study on “peace of mind.” Factors found to contribute greatly to emotional and mental stability are:

1) the absence of suspicion and resentment. Nursing a grudge was a major factor in unhappiness.  1 cor 13 – love keeps no record of wrongs

2) Not living in the past. An unwholesome preoccupation with old mistakes and failures leads to depression.

3) Not wasting time and energy fighting conditions you cannot change. Cooperate with life, instead of trying to run away from it.

4) Force yourself to stay involved with the living world. Resist the temptation to withdraw and become reclusive during periods of emotional stress.

5) Refuse to indulge in self-pity when life hands you a raw deal. Accept the fact that nobody gets through life without some sorrow and misfortune.

6) Cultivate the old-fashioned virtues—love, humor, compassion and loyalty.

7) Do not expect too much of yourself. When there is too wide a gap between self-expectation and your ability to meet the goals you have set, feelings of inadequacy are inevitable.

8) Find something bigger than yourself to believe in. Self-centered egotistical people score lowest in any test for measuring happiness.

Default - patience and peace

where is our default……… something is right or something is wrong……

barak obama – George w bush……

Hc parking……. They shouldn’t be in there.  Its ok, jeff

And we spend the next 20 minutes being angry……..

These are not the droids that you are looking for            PICTURE

Watch-observe  how you respond to things…..

Ask yourself, What is your default.

Let it go - pillow

When we take to ourselves we are selfish.

When we demand that things go our way, it is the flesh.

Fighting with a pillow….. illustrate letting God have it.

When we let it go and give it to god, we release it

After we release it, then god has the opportunity to give it back to us if he so chooses.

And we receive a thing as a gift from god instead of taking it unto ourselves.

We don’t have to be afraid of the suffering of not getting our own way.

Things are not going to go your way

Richard rohr-  said of st francis, that he had an inner authority – he let go of all fear of suffering; all need for power, prestige and possessions; any need for the small self to be important; and came to know something essential--who he really was in God and thus who he really was. his house was then built on "bedrock," as Jesus says (Matthew 7]

To st francis,  some form of suffering was absolutely necessary to teach us how to live beyond the illusion of control and to give that control back to God. Then and ony then do we become usable instruments in his hands,

Such a counterintuitive insight

Conclusion

"Patience serves as a protection against wrongs and hurts just as clothes do against the cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind."   Leonardo da Vinci.

Picture of peace….Long ago a man sought the perfect picture of peace. Not finding one that satisfied, he announced a contest to produce this masterpiece. The challenge stirred the imagination of artists everywhere, and paintings arrived from far and wide. Finally the great day of revelation arrived. The judges uncovered one peaceful scene after another, while the viewers clapped and cheered.  The tensions grew. Only two pictures remained veiled.

As a judge pulled the cover from one, a hush fell over the crowd.

A mirror-smooth lake reflected lacy, green birches under the soft blush of the evening sky. Along the grassy shore, a flock of sheep grazed undisturbed. Surely this was the winner. The man who ordered the contest uncovered the second painting himself, and the crowd gasped in surprise. Could this be peace?  A tumultuous waterfall cascaded down a rocky cliff face; the crowd could almost feel its cold, penetrating spray. Stormy-gray clouds threatened to explode with lightning, wind and rain. In the midst of the thundering noises and bitter chill, a spindly tree clung to the rocks at the edge of the falls. One of its branches reached out in front of the torrential waters as if foolishly seeking to defy its power.                                                                      PICTURE

A little bird had built a nest in the elbow of that branch. Content and undisturbed in her stormy surroundings, she rested on her eggs. With her eyes closed and her wings ready to cover her little ones, she manifested peace that transcends all earthly turmoil. 

Peace that Jesus gives is not the absence of trouble, but is rather the confidence that He is there with you always.

New Beginnings: Dealing with Doubt, John 20:24-31, 04/27/14

Sermon 4-27-14 new beginnings resurrection appearances doubting Thomas - Jn 20:24-31 ooo

 Thank you again for a great Easter

Is it a sin to be glad that Easter is over?

Easter is over, so now, back to the real world

Today Jesus appears to Doubting Thomas

We all have doubts

 

²⁴ Now Thomas (also known as Didymus^[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” ²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” ²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” ³⁰ Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. ³¹ But these are written that you may believe^[b] that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

 

New series – resurrection appearances – doubting Thomas

Great place to begin because the presence of Jesus brought peace, comfort

 

The story of Doubting Thomas – let us go die with him, jn 21, acts 2

 

Doubt is - Uncertainty – hesitancy to believe. To doubt is to question

 

Doubts …. We all have them

Its normal

Anyone that acts like they have never had a question or a doubt is fake

 

Do you blame Thomas?  What would you think if someone came up to you and said they saw someone alive from the dead

 

I think it is important that the church allows questioning- Ken Barnes

 

            Church I grew up in made it feel sinful to have any doubts of                                               Christianity and Faith. If you questioned passages or scriptures or                             any part of the teachings of the church you were made to feel as                                   though God was disapproving.  A feeling of guilt for having any                               reservations or questions or “doubt”.

 

There has to be a better way

Jesus did not condemn Thomas

What if we just accept the fact that it is ok.  That we are going to have questions and doubts

 

Everyone has them.  I have them.

We get them from friends, from observations, from reading, from not reading,

From being tired, worn down, exhausted

I have them

What are mine

 

What if we don’t believe it right?

History of the Christian theology

Atonement

Early theory was the ransom theory

Anselm 1033-1109 substitution theory

2 cor 5:21

²¹ God made him who had no sin to be sin^[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

 

We need to focus on the main themes and not be so sure about the periphery things

 

Another place that I find doubt is this

Romans 8:28

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[i] have been called according to his purpose.

 

Examples- reat underwood and his grandfather.  Their families?

Sometimes I wish god would pop in for a question and answer period

No holds barred.  Ask whatever you want

 

So where do I find comfort in times of doubt?

Several places

 

The watch on the beach- a divine organizer

Complex design organization

William pauley – late 1700’s

 

Antikythera mechanism

 

The witness of creation

I see the handi work of the creator

pictures

In the flowers

 

In the gift of the human body

Ps 139:14

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well

 

Blessed are those who believe without seeing

But we see every day-

its like creation is saying, come put your hand in his side

If creation is external, there’s also internal witness-In the gift of a soul

I also move past doubt when I sense the witness of the soul

–Romans 8:16

¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

How does one describe the amazingness of a soul

You are not your finger, hand, leg or any body part

You are a living soul

When we come to know people in soulish ways, we no longer think of them as old or young, male or female, they are just a good soul

Blaise Pascal said “We come to know truth not only thru reason, but still more so through our hearts.  The heart has its reasons that reason does not know.” 

Finally I move past doubt when I think of you

You have to pay taxes but you don’t have to live a life of love

 

The kindness the love that we feel

The amazing way that people give themselves away

Watching people live outside of themselves tells me that there is something bigger going on in this world that just human stuff

 

Creation, the soul and You dispel my doubts and fill me with faith.