Sermon
2-10-13 Jn 3:1-8 making sense of God – the 6th sense
Sermon
series making sense of God
Hearing
seeing, tasting,
Today-
the sixth sense
What
is a sixth sense?
Sometimes
we sense things that go beyond touch, taste, feel, hear…
Something
is going on here that we don’t understand
Bill
and Ted-Something strange is a foot at the circle K ---------- video clip
Star
wars, may the force be with you
Something
is going on here that is beyond us
Nicodemus
comes to Jesus at night.
He
knows how spirituality works.
Its
by the rules
But
somehow it isn’t clicking for him
He
knows that there is something else, something more
And
he sees it in Jesus
Do
you see this in Jesus?
There
is something about this jesus
He
is in touch with things that other people are not
He
doesn’t just talk about god, he seems to know God
Are
you attracted to people like this?
His
words are so filled with grace,
His
actions reach past the constructs of the Pharisees and touches people
in real life- down in their soul
Jesus
has the mojo Jesus has the sav-wa fair
Is
there a sixth sense?
There
is something about true spirituality that defies explanation.
It
does not fit into a box. It cannot be contained.
Jesus
explains that those who are born of the spirit are like the wind
You
can’t tell where they come from or where they are going
Jesus
walks thru the walls
Jesus
senses his father is with him
Thomas
is doubing..Jesus speaks to Thomas.
You
have seen & believe. Blessed are they who have not seen, yet believe
Our
experience
Christians
are supposed to be led by the spirit
What
we are really talking about is a leading of the holy spirit
The
wind blows from place to place, so are those who are led by the spirit
Many
report having such sensations from time to time
How
do we experience this?
In
the general sense of right and wrong
[the order of the world causes us to stop and
look, to think, there must be more]
A
feeling that you get when you sit by a fire, a fountain or the beach
A
feeling that you get when you look out over the mountains from the top of the
continental divide
When
you look into the room of your sleeping child at night
To
sense that you love someone else, or that you are loved.
Intuitions
– Nudges - Dreams
A
message in the night. You wake up and something is coming to you
Old
time preachers used to say, I Know that I know that I know
What
might these sensations be?
They
might be last night’s pizza
You
might be on drugs…..LSD..…blood pressure meds
It
could be your imagination
It
could be very Christian sounding imagination
And
it just might be the spirit
How
do you know if it is the holy spirit
1.
It draws you into the character of Jesus….makes you kind
22 But
the fruit(AI) of the Spirit is love,(AJ) joy, peace,(AK) patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, 23 gentleness and
self-control. Gal 5:22
2.
It points you in the direction of his purpose
People always expect an exact direction….go
to Africa. Become a nurse
But god’s direction if much more often about
the who-ness of who you are than the what-ness
God has to allow some room in this world for
our free will.
For us to make choices that he can celebrate
3.
It draws you away from self and out towards others
God’s will always points you out there…
The spirit should make you more
relevant…..more compassionate. More connected
4.
These experiences Give you a peace
Even when they challenge you deeply, they
give you a peace.
An it is well with my soul kind of feeling.
Where
do you go with this sermon?
This
is a series about making sense of god
About
experiencing god
Be
aware that there is a world of the spirit.
And
you can lean into it or you can lean away from it.
Much
good comes to those and through those who are atune to the spirit
Don’t
become crazy
Don’t
become irrelevant
Don’t
be afraid to do something Good
By
his spirit God always calls us to a purpose that is greater than yours
Perhaps our physical
senses only exist to help confirm what our spirit knows down deep?
And when the world we
experience overwhelms our physical senses,
or worse when what we
experience seems so wrong, evil even, what are we left with?
We can still experience God.
Holocaust…death camps.
All physical senses where
flooded with evil. -- Still many survived.
They recited bits of
scripture and prayers. They sang songs of the faith.
When their five senses were
bombarded with death and hate and pain, they would not be broken, they would
not be crushed, they would not succumb to despair.
Instead, the spark of life
that is the Spirit within us, fueled the will to love, to share, to hope, to
live.
There is a sixth sense,
and It is the work of the spirit
that makes us aware of our Father
It is our encounter with
grace.
It is the light in the
darkness,
the cool water for those that
thirst.
It is nourishment in the
wilderness, because it is a
recognition that God is with us. We are not alone. We are children of
God, claimed and loved.
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