Grateful: For Thank Yous, 11/29/15

Sermon 11-29-15 gratitude 4 thank yous -4 appreciation 1thess 5:12-18

¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else. ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Sermon series – grateful for creation, kindness, forgiveness, and time

Today is thankful for gratitude, for thankfulness for appreciation

This is the pinnacle of the series

Thank you for the gift of gratitude for Thank yous.  For appreciation

Next Sunday – advent- carols

Abraham Lincoln's  - Thanksgiving Proclamation  -of 1863

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God………..

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American People.

I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our [loving] Father who dwelleth in the Heavens……..A. Lincoln, October 3, 1863.

Gratitude is such good stuff

Someone onces said, Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. 

So, heres to the power of thank you! ………….Dale Carnegie once said, "You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world's happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime."

The power of appreciation

The power of saying thank you

It will change your life, and it will change the lives of others

Give thanks in all things………… all things………….. for this is the will o f god

What is gods will? Give thanks in all circumstances……………

To see and appreciate life – all of it…..

We have a perspective, a paradigm, a way that we see life and it is usually pretty self consumed

To live w gratitude changes our Perspective

When john Wesley was a student at Lincoln College in Oxford.,  A porter knocked on Wesley's door one evening and asked to speak with him. After some conversation Wesley noted the man's thin coat, for it was a cold winter night. Wesley suggested that he had better get another coat. The porter replied: "This coat ... is the only coat I have in the world and I thank God for it."
Wesley asked the man if he had eaten and the porter replied: "I have had nothing today but a draught of spring water ... and I thank God for that."
Wesley, growing uneasy in the man's presence, reminded him that he would have to get to his quarters soon or be locked out. "Then what shall you have to thank God for?" Wesley asked.
"I will thank Him," replied the porter, "that I have dry stones to lie upon."
Wesley was deeply moved by the man's sincerity and he said to him, "You thank God when you have nothing to wear; ... nothing to eat ... [and] no bed to lie on. I cannot see what you have to thank God for."
The man replied: "I thank God... that he has given me life and being, and a heart to love Him, and a desire to serve Him." (8-9)
After the man had left with a coat from Wesley's closet, some money for food and words of appreciation for the witness he had made, Wesley wrote in his Journal: "I shall never forget that porter. He convinced me there is something in religion to which I am a stranger."

Most of us just want enough religion to make us comfortable.

          Sometimes I think god would like us to be a bit uncomfortable

And Americans are comfortable.

We have so much, so much more than others in this world………….

I read somewhere that what we spend on one day, black Friday, 52 billion – would be enough to provide clean water and sanitation 22 billion to every person in the world who needed it.

Gratitude changes everything.

To see one thing to be thankful for, is to turn the corner and begin the process of becoming a thankful person…….. a person of Spontaneous appreciation

Brennan Manning author of [the Ragamuffin Gospel]said, "When somebody becomes aware of [God's] love, that person is just spontaneously grateful. Cries of thankfulness become the dominant characteristic of the interior life, and the by-product of gratitude is joy. We're not joyful and then become grateful; we're grateful and that makes us joyful."

This joy, an outgrowth of our gratitude, also inspires us to act and to utter, in word or in deed, two very powerful words — thank you.

We are often unappreciative because we do not see the good.

Our eyes are closed, or we soon forget what we were focusing on

Or circumstances grab us

How do we appreciate a difficult time?  Give thanks by trusting
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 - give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus

It is not always easy to give thanks, but this is the very thing we must do in order to see God's will accomplished in our lives. This is how we move into higher realms of faith for ourselves, for our city, and for our nation.  [we must trust]

God is bigger than my circumstances

Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.  Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.  One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in debt to those who are kind.  Malayan  Proverb

The most amazing moments of gratitude come from those whom we know have real complaints, but choose not to exercise them.  They are choosing something else…..

We are often unappreciative because we do not see the good.
we don’t appreciate it – we take so much for granted

Do you appreciate driving at night?  Late night pizza?  24 hour grocery store?  Reading, watching tv in bed?

. In 1882, , the Edison Illuminating Company established the Pearl Street Station, the first electrical power plant in the United States

 Initially, Pearl Street Station powered 400 lamps in 85 households.

It soon became apparent that gas lamps were the technology of the past.

The new electric lights burned more brightly than the sputtering, flickering gas lamps of generations past.

In the space of a generation or two, the human experience of light and darkness had been changed forever.

To us today, the setting of the sun provides little or no impediment to anything we want to do.

When it grows too dark to read, just reach over and turn on the lamp. It's that easy. Even activities like high-school sports are no longer restricted to daylight hours. Powerful banks of electric lights turn night into day in an instant.

Not so very long ago, it would have been unimaginable for a store to stay open past sunset -- the customers couldn't have seen the merchandise, nor could the clerks have counted out the change. Today, as we know, there are businesses that stay open 24 hours a day. No one thinks twice about it.

Darkness meant something very different to people of earlier generations. It meant a daily, enforced limitation on human activity. Those days are gone.

We have grown so accustomed to good things, we don’t appreciate them

Appreciation adds extra value

Tom Lattimore

Buster Keaton tie…….. admired, moving, given…….

its one of my favorite ties….means more than a tie, more than buster Keaton, it reminds me of a friend, a time, a connection…… appreciating a thing adds value to it

Stolen Chalice

A little more than 25 years ago, a youth walking by the old log Muskego Chapel on the Luther Seminary campus in St. Paul, Minnesota, peeped in its window and noticed a beautiful chalice sitting on the altar.

He broke into the chapel and stole it. Naturally, the young boy didn’t know that this chalice had been a gift to Luther Seminary in 1936 from Norway’s King Olaf. In October 2006, Pastor Glenn Berg-Moberg from St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church, a neighbor of the seminary, called Luther President Rick Bliese, asking for a meeting to discuss “an interesting matter.” The boy who had stolen the chalice, now a grown man, had visited his congregation. He was dying of cancer and had one request: He wanted to return the stolen chalice to the seminary. He had kept the pewter chalice in perfect condition. It had sat on his mantel for 25 years. Finally, its presence had become a source of discomfort and disease. Before the man died, he wanted it returned to its rightful owner and place, Luther Seminary and Old Muskego Chapel.

President Bliese received the gift of “the prodigal chalice” with surprise and delight. Letters were written to this dying man expressing appreciation, as well as forgiveness for his deed. The lost had been found; now the blind were gaining their sight. The man received the letters with gratitude and died soon afterward.

Now this chalice has become doubly special because it was returned after serving the purpose for which it was really intended: calling sinners to repentance and forgiveness. It has become a powerful sign of Luther Seminary’s mission.

Finding a reason to appreciate a thing adds value to it

Appreciation changes the world 

Hard-core IRA and Loyalist terrorists serving long prison sentences were often given brief furloughs during holiday periods

Once at home with their families, these men, as the authorities had correctly calculated, developed a keen appreciation of elderly parents whom they might never see again once they were returned to prison, and also of children growing up too fast and of still young and attractive wives wasting their lives waiting. When the men returned to prison, they were asked if they would be interested in an expedited release.

To qualify for this form of parole, the men were required to move out of segregated prison wings (where they lived with only fellow IRA or Loyalist prisoners) and into fully integrated cell blocks, where Protestants and Catholics mixed freely -- and nonviolently. This was a critical first step on the road to parole, followed by vocational training (not provided in segregated wings), counseling and more-frequent family visits and furloughs. No one who had taken advantage of this opportunity for early parole ever returned to violence or to prison.

Today, the war between the catholics and protestants in Ireland is virtually over…. it may be owed to the creativity of the Northern Ireland Prison Service and it may be due to the sense of appreciation that people have for their loved ones when they have been apart.

Appreciation changes the world

Appreciation changes everything

Awakenings  -  1990

Movie w robin Williams

We’ve got to tell them….how good it is.  What?  Life?  We have to tell them how good it is, how amazing it is.

Friends, what does it mean to be born, to open your eyes and discover to your astonishment that "you" are alive???  Gratitude and appreciation wake us up to what we have been given

Conclusion

When we  wake up and truly see God's gift of life, we cannot contain this joy. From this thankfulness comes an outpouring of gratitude that is contagious, infectious, and life-giving to those around us.

Closing prayer -

Dear Father, let me be aware of the treasure that you give us each day.  Let me learn from each day, love each day, and bless you for each day before they are gone.  Let us never pass a day in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow.  Father teach us to hold each moment for as long as we can, and may our hearts be filled with awe and joy.  In jesus name, amen

Grateful: For Forgiveness, 11/15/15

Sermon Grateful for forgiveness gen 33:1-4

The story of Jacob and Esau is a classic story of forgiveness.  tell the story.

Jacob loved by Rachel, his mom

Esau loved by isaac the dad

Esau sells his birth right for a bowl of soup

Rachel helps Jacob steal the patriarchal blessing [father is almost blind]

Esau wants to kill Jacob.  Jacob flees

Years later they meet up in this scripture

Jacob looked up and there was Esau, coming with his four hundred men; so he divided the children among Leah, Rachel and the two female servants. ² He put the female servants and their children in front, Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph in the rear. ³ He himself went on ahead and bowed down to the ground seven times as he approached his brother. ⁴ But Esau ran to meet Jacob and embraced him; he threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. And they wept.

I am thankful for forgiveness.  So was Jacob. 

[seemingly big sins make us appreciate forgiveness]

But Esau was glad for forgiveness too.

Thank God that God forgives us!
Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Oh, the relief of being forgiven when you knew that you deserved something else.

We are all thankful for forgiveness

The forgiveness that we receive

And thankful for the chance to forgive others-this is how we find a clean heart.

Forgiveness
We all understand this

People that we want to punch in the head…..

A Priest holding confessional asked---the Spanish fighter and patriot, Narvaez if he had anyone to forgive…..looked astonished he  said, "Father, I have no enemies, I have shot them all.

The business partner that stole from me
The rapist, the employer, the church member,
The cheater
The nazi’s, osama ben laden
At the core of every moment of forgiveness is the realization that Someone hurt me

But we know that we have hurt others as well

forgiveness is the main stuff of Christianity
Forgiveness of others
It's not easy
The concept of separation and reconciliation is central to the Christian faith…..
Methodists, Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians believe this
but, As if it were optional, many Christians push Forgiveness over in the corner, like maybe one of these days I will get around to it

if we withhold forgiveness, there is no joy, no grace> > What would it be like if God said, peace, joy, but there was no forgiveness.

Optional for humans, not optional for human Christ followers
To reject the call for forgiveness is to reject the one who teaches that we must do it
So in effect, if you refuse to forgive someone, you are rejecting Jesus
and you are not on board with what God is trying to do in this world

there are many Misconceptions about forgiveness [back by popular demand… a request for repeat]
1. Approval of what they did
2. Excusing what they did
3. Justifying what they did
4. Not pardoning what they did- Forgiveness is different than justice and consequences
It is ok to get a restraining order. It is ok to go to court if need be.
5. Reconciliation - Restoration of fellowship- you don’t have to go for pizza

Doesn’t always happen.  Things can't always go back to the way that they were
6. Not a denying of what they did
7. Forgetting

Setting up boundaries with a person. They are toxic. They are going to hurt and abuse over and over. Forgiving is not forgetting.

What forgiveness is………

1. Forgiveness is being honest about my role…… did he really hurt me or do I have unmet even unrealistic expectations?  Sometimes we can get past our anger to see that we have played a role….

2.Forgiving is personal. You forgive people, not institutions or organizations. No one has ever been hurt by the church. People get hurt by people in that church.
I will never forgive that business that fired me. I will never forgive the church. You cant forgive a faceless institution.
This is why some people get stuck in life.

3.Forgiveness is absorbing the pain

I must die to my self..to my importance..my ideas, my pride.. I make another important I make a mean person important..I give up my place for them. This is love.

True forgiveness is hard to extend because it demands that people let go of something they value--not a piece of jewelry, but pride, perhaps, as sense of justice, or desire for revenge.
Or the desire to hurt back

A Nobel prize winner tells the story of a marriage that disintegrates over a bar of soap.
It was the wife's job to keep the house in order, including the towels, toilet paper and soap in the bathroom. One day she forgot to replace the soap. her husband exaggerated the oversight: "I've been bathing for almost a week without any soap." She vigorously denied forgetting to replace the soap. Although she had indeed forgotten, her pride was at stake, and she wouldn't back down. For the next seven months, they slept in separate rooms and ate in silence. Their marriage had suffered a heart attack. "Even when they were old and placid," "they were very careful about bringing it up, for the barely healed wounds could begin to bleed again as if they'd been inflicted only yesterday." How can a bar of soap ruin a marriage? The answer is actually simple. because neither partner would say. "Forgive me."

Sometimes it doesn’t matter who was right.  You take the hit to keep the relationship.

if This concept sounds familiar. Isn't it what Jesus did?
if you don’t absorb the pain, you don’t forgive.  It is not simply a thing of mental assent, we must absorb the pain.

4. Forgiveness – point in time, a choice and a process

. Maybe step one is deciding that you really are not going to kill them. It’s a start. Considering the fact that these people may be forgivable may be a radical concept for you.

If I can wave my hand and forgive you, then what was between us wasn’t very much

When the pain goes deep the road to forgiveness is long
The greater the hurt, the greater the blessing that comes from forgiveness
Forgiveness is point in time...you can decide

But it is also a process , it takes time….
It is like pulling on the rope that rings the bell
Even after you let go, the bell rings for a while
It takes a while for the hurt to stop..but it will
it begins with a choice

5.  Forgiveness is needed by you as much if not more than the person you may need to forgive.

I hope you will choose to forgive
Unforgiveness is a gathering of chains that begin to weigh me down and
I choose them myself
The Christmas carol...I am the ghost of Jacob Marley....
"Ebenezer Scrooge! These chains that I wear in death, I forged in life!"
Scrooge admired his craftsmanship. "They're good chains," he said.

Chains look stylish – bling!
Chains are rusty and dirty
Chains are heavy

There is nothing pretty about the chains of unforgiveness

You drag them along in this life and they weigh you down……..

The consequences of unforgiveness…

Bitterness
Others are defiled
Broken fellowship with God
If you refuse to forgive, you are living your life in your own strength
Thoughts are consumed with anger and sadness

Consider the consequences of forgiving
Love can come back in
They get grace from me
I get grace from God
I can move on to live…. [the divorced person that spent the rest of their lives hating the person that they were married to….]

When we forgive we can move on to live

Litany of forgiveness
the bible is filled with stories of forgiveness

David, Jonah, Joseph’s brothers
Hosea’s wife – do you know the story???

Jesus teaches much on forgiveness……..
Jn 4 the woman at the well.
Jn 8, the woman caught in adultery
The prodigal son

The woman who washed his feet with her hair

The story of the Pharisee and the publican

The unmerciful servant
The disciples that deserted him
The thief on the cross

jesus on the cross – father forgive them

Peters denials
Saul, murderer of Christians – unbelievable…..

Forgiveness is unbelievable-what God can do in a person who is willing
When Allied troops liberated the Ravensbruck concentration camp in 1945, they stumbled onto the indescribable horror of the Nazi Moloch-machine in which 92,000 women and children had died. But they also came across signs of unquenchable faith. The following words were found written on a piece of wrapping paper near the body of a dead child:

O Lord, Remember not only the men and women of goodwill, but also those of ill will.
But do not only remember the suffering they have inflicted on us,
Remember the fruits we brought thanks to this suffering,
Our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, he generosity,
the greatness of heart which has grown our of all this
And when they come to judgment, Let all the fruits that we have borne
Be their forgiveness, Amen, Amen, Amen

Isis……. Stretches my understanding of Christianity.  Must protect our society.  Must put the evil out from among us.  A war worth sending my children

Gods story is bigger than the current chapter of how well the bad guys are doing

Yet we are invited to forgive…..

Matt 18:21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?  22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times seven.
7 times? 490 times?

Peter thought that he had done enough

Peter Rollins story of going the third mile…………..

Our humanness gives us an opportunity to be small
Forgiveness gives us and opportunity to be great
When you are a player on the platform of pain, and you step in and truly forgive,
you have chosen the right road, you have chosen the way of love, you have chosen to bring a healing balm to the wounded, you have chosen to bring greatness to the arena of life

Conclusion

Do you want to start the process of forgiveness?
1. Choose to forgive and say the words
2. Make a choice not to tell anyone what they did

surrender the right to revenge- We need to stop telling the stories. Then maybe someone will stop remembering the person in that way
3. Be pleasant to them when around them
4. If conversation comes up, say words that release them from bondage
This allows them to feel good about themselves
5. Protect them from their fear
6. Pray for them –
forgive them,
bless them

understand that something has to happen in our hearts between God and us. things change when we realize that what needs to happen is not something between me and the person, but between me and God
7. Finally forgiveness comes when we are able to wish them well. [I agree not to be the instrument of gods wrath, but I hope that someone else gets them.]
Love your enemies, pray for those who use you
We cannot pray for someone and hate them at the same time.

Understand that they are not yours. They belong to God. Entrust them to God

See jesus with them

Keep it up – next week, next month, next year

I am thankful for forgiveness. 

See also 2 cor 5

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here! ¹⁸ All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ 

I am thankful for forgiveness.  It frees us from our sin.  It frees us from resenting others.  It frees us to live.  Forgiveness gets the ugly out of the way and makes room for reconciliation, gratitude and joy

Forgiveness brings the promise that tomorrow does not have to be a repeat of today….

We Give Thanks: See What We Mean, 11/23/14

Sermon 11-23-14 we give thanks – witness and wanting things []

1 thess 5:18 ¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 tim 6:8 ⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷ For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. ⁸ But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.

Intro

Series- we give thanks

Sermon was about helping others be thankful – sharing the gift

Now it has some added stuff – gratitude and contentment

Life is a gift

Life is a privilege

are we using it as we should

To teach gratitude

You must teach it to yourself

Practice it

Model it

Speak it into others

It is a great witness –

Grow in it

Get better at it

Witness

An important part of our faith –

prayers presence gifts service and witness

we are not so good at this……we are better at it than we think

The scary way

The amazing way

Preach the gospel, when necessary, use words

Cards to be handed out to friends….

What to say……..we have been talking about being thankfulllll……. Its so joyful…….

Your words are powerful

The power of thank you

Gratitude

Nic trip.  pictures

What we can learn from them………….

We have so much to be thankful for

We should want less

We should give more

We should be grateful

Why gratitude is right

It honors god

Jesus is Lord

It helps us live lives in perspective

By keeping our focus on him off of things

Wanting more robs you of the chance to enjoy and celebrate today

It robs you of the attitude of gratitude

Luke 12:27-31

²⁷ “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ²⁸ If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! ²⁹ And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. ³⁰ For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. ³¹ But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

The pagans weren’t evil, they were the normal people, those not seeking real spirituality

Contentment

Results are

Peace.  Happiness

A new monk asked the abbot -How does one attain happiness?

By learning to be content with whatever one gets

Then you shouldn’t want anything?

Yes, one can want, said the abbot, provided that one has the attitude of a nervous father I once met in the delivery ward.  When the nurse said, I know you were hoping to get a boy, but it’s a baby girl, the man replied, oh it doesn’t matter really because I was hoping that if it wasn’t a boy, it would be a girl.

Phil 4:10-13

¹⁰ I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹ I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. ¹² I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. ¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

Its not about you accomplishing your life goals.  Although god may want that.  It is about you wanting god, not stuff

Life was never about us getting what we want.  Life was always about us being alive.

Loving god and others…….

Sheryl crow

Every time I turn around - I'm looking up, you're looking down
Maybe something's wrong with you - That makes you act the way you do

Life is not having what you want
It's wanting what you've got

I'm gonna soak up the sun - Gonna tell everyone  To lighten up
I've got no one to blame -For every time I feel lame -I'm gonna soak up the sun

Its not about more stuff

Remember the whos in whoville in the Grinch?

They lost all their presents but they were still singing

You want to be grateful, want god

Conclusion

The artists of life-

I was reading an author who spoke of the greatest artists in the world.  They do not work with paints or clay.  They do not carve stone.  Without brush, hammer, clay or guitar, they have learned to see the good, to see the joy and to embrace it.  Their lives are an art.  Whatever they touch absorbs some of the goodness from their outlook and their soul.  They are the artists of being alive.

The milk bottle – read it on pg 33

A story from "Attitudes of Gratitude" by M.J. Ryan

"Last night I watched my daughter Ana, whom we recently adopted from China, lie on the bed in an ecstatic trance of bottle-sucking. Her eyes closed, her rosebud mouth pulsed, her exquisitely long fingers curled around the plastic bottle, she gave herself over to the experience. She wasn't obsessing on past wounds, although perhaps she had a right to. Neglected for over a year, when we got her she had second-degree burns on her buttocks from lying in urine. Nor was she worrying about where future bottles might come from, although she had a right to do that also. Abandoned on Christmas evening on a cold street until someone heard her newborn cries, she had been fed only watered-down milk and seemed to be starving the first few weeks we fed her.

Rather, she was so focused on appreciating the warm milk as it went down her throat that everything else, past and future, simply disappeared. As I looked at her, I realized that being totally and completely absorbed in the present moment is an experience that is available to us all when we choose to let gratitude wash over us without inhibition.

Dear friends, I am thankful for you.

Let us be the artists of life

Thank you for being on this journey with me

We Give Thanks: It's Everywhere You Want to Be, 11/16/14

SERMON 11-16-14 we give thanks   Genesis 28:10-17

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. ¹¹ When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. ¹² He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it^[c] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.^{[d] 15} I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”

The series is “We Give Thanks”

I want to thank Karen schuler for covering for me…………….

The sermon title is visa- “Its everywhere you want to be”

Jacob is not a good guy

Jacob steals the birth right

Jacob steals the blessing

He and his brother aren’t doing so well

In a few chapters he is going to wrestle with an angel and have a come to jesus with his brother

The personal confrontation with his brother

Imagine a moment in which you will have to give account for everything that you have done

Bernie madoff.

Most of us don’t have to do that in this life, but we all do in the next

As one of my friends told me the other day, none of us leaves this place alive.

So imagine you are going to be called into court and held accountable

And the judge and jury is the person that you have violated repeatedly

For Jacob, it is his brother essau

But that is a few chapters away

Jacob is not a good guy.  Jacob the conniver

He is also a believer

God loves the broken

God answers people when they call

That night he has a dream – angels ascending and descending

When it is all over

God was here and I did not know it.

God was here and I was unaware.  God was here and I was asleep.

In a moment in he deserved only bad news

God was there

He had let his fears overtake him, but God was there

We think that the trouble of the moment is the news

But the news is that God is with us

Today I am not suggesting that you act like Jacob

I hope you don’t.

But I do want to invite you to understand this-

At the very times that we are completely self consumed

God is there, and god is waiting.

He was there.  we just didn’t know it.

We are asleep

A man knocks on his son's door. "Jaime", he says, "wake up"! Jaime answers, "I don't want to get up. Papa". The father shouts, "Get up, you have to go to school". Jaime says, "I don't want to go to school". "Why not"? asks the father. "Three reasons", says Jaime. "First, because it's so dull; second, the kids tease me; and third, I hate school". And the father says, "Well, I am going to give you three  reasons why you must go to school. First, because it is your duty; second, because you are forty-five years old, and third, because you are the teacher".

Completely oblivious

Russian Winters –

When they were drawing up the Russian-Finnish border, the farmer had to decide whether he wanted to be in Russia or Finland. After a long time he said he wanted to be in Finland, but he didn't want to offend the Russian officials. These came to him and wanted to know why he wanted to be in Finland. The farmer replied, "It has always been my desire to live in Mother Russia, but at my age I wouldn't be able to survive another Russian winter".

Spirituality is Subtraction –

"God is not attained by a process of addition to anything in the soul, but by a process of subtraction".

Henry & John – Page 28

We all have our positions, don't we? And we listen from those positions. "Henry, how you've changed! You were so tall and you've grown so short. You were so well built and you've grown so thin. You were so fair and you've become so dark. What happened to you, Henry"? Henry says, "I 'm not Henry. I 'm John". "Oh, you changed your name too!" How do you get people like that to listen?

Have you ever been so consumed by your own stuff that you miss it?

Do we look for things that reinforce what we already believe or are we ready to look at the world in a different way?

Thomas Aquinas lived in 1200’s in – Three Ways to Know God –

 (1) in the creation, (2) in God's actions through history, and (3) in the highest form of the knowledge of God - to know God as the unknown).

Creation theology

I have a friend Larry Jay - from redwood glen

Franciscan spirituality                                                 PICTURE

Tozer’s work on this.

Vs pantheism

Focused on achievement vs living.  Worry instead of God

Archer –

"When the archer shoots for no particular prize, he has all his skills; when he shoots to win a brass buckle, he is already nervous; when he shoots for a gold prize, he goes blind, sees two targets, and is out of his mind. His skill has not changed, but the prize divides him. He cares! He thinks more of winning than of shooting, and the need to win drains him of power". Isn't that an image of what most people are? When you're living for nothing, you've got all your skills, you've got all your energy, you're relaxed, you don't care, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose.

Enjoy –

In the 1970s, President Carter appealed to the American people to go in for austerity. I thought to myself He shouldn't tell them to be austere, he should really tell them to enjoy things. Most of them have lost their capacity for enjoyment.

Places where I have seen God recently, and I am thankful……

In things

Rocks

Trees

In memory - Embarrassing moments - lipstick

Humor

In thoughts

Special spiritual thoughts

Common thoughts that don’t seem spiritual but are

Thoughts that make me uneasy

Thoughts that make me normal

Thoughts that teach me

In relationships

Friends - Watching a friend comfort another

Watching a mentor care for his charge

Pain – drags us kicking and screaming into real life

Christopher and shae sipes Halloween gift                             PICTURE

The homeless man on the cnr of myer and james r Watkins

Conclusion

Are you looking for God? Are you looking for something to be thankful for

The fish is in the ocean looking for water

The Japanese have a nice way of putting it "The day you cease to travel, you will have arrived.”

We work too hard at living instead of living.

When you have found the simplicity of seeing God everywhere, you have what you need.

When you see God everywhere, gratitude pops to the top

He Found the Right Note –

One day a monk was strumming a guitar, playing just one note. After a while a crowd collected around him (this was in a marketplace) and one of the men sitting on the ground there said, "That's a nice note you're playing. friar, but why don't you vary it a bit the way other musicians do"? "Those fools", the monk said, "they're searching for the right note. I've found it.

prayer

Dear Father let me be aware of the treasure of every normal day.  Let me learn from this day, love this day, and bless this day before it departs.  Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so.  Thank you for the gift of you O Father.  Help our hearts to be truly grateful.

We Give Thanks - The Ten Lepers, 11/2/14

Sermon 11-2-14 we give thanks – the 10 lepers Lk 17:11-19

11 Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy[b] met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”
14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.  15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.  17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

New sermon series – its Nov – we are going to talk about gratitude.

We are using corporate slogans as a theme………

Today, NIKE - just do it

It’s a great thought on the subject of gratitude……just do it

Famous Scripture - 10 lepers

Lets talk about the nature of gratitude

There is a natural state

          Selfish, turned in, suspicious, angry, worried, it is the natural way

There is a holy state-

          Not self righteous

But Loving, Joyful, peaceful, kind, full of goodness and graciousness

Gratitude turns the corner

It may be the most important spiritual discipline

You want one thing to help you turn the corner in your life?

We are what we practice

Muscles - Working out vs the atrophy of muscle

Language - Learning a language – Greek and losing it

As we grow older we can become set in our ways

Bitter or better

If you follow the negative track, you become negative

If you follow the way of gratitude you become more grateful, you see it all the time

Its like rivers of living water welling up from deep within

Today we have several stories

First:  the story of the 9

We have all been ungrateful

Its all about me

God why wont you devote yourself to making me happy?

Although the lepers cried for mercy, I think the 9 were really like…

if you were god, you would NOT let this stand.

Then they are healed and they are smug.  Ahh, this is how life should go

The ungrateful 9 – we have all been there

But you don’t have to stay there

You can choose to change

When you find one thing to be thankful for in your life, your entire perspective changes

Posture at the wedding.  Facing the crowd or facing the altar –

You are not getting married before your friends, you get married before God – your friends get to witness this

Second:  the story of the one who goes back

My hunch is that he was a pretty gracious guy prior to the healing

Did I mention that he was a Samaritan????? Jesus keeps pounding

My hunch is that he was a pretty gracious guy prior to the healing

God, if this is my lot in life, I will bear it with joy.

Paul prayed for his infirmity to go away

2 cor 12:7-9

Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

I know people who are struck in this life with illness, debilitating and chronic illness. And yet they are people  of joy

Others with the same situation are bitter and angry

What is the difference?

The bitter are focused on what is wrong,

the joyful are focused on what is right –

they are focused on the gift of life itself and the god who gives it.

They have found the power of gratefulness 

Third story is the work of Jesus

He sees them and has compassion on them

He values them

He does not see them as lepers.  He sees them as children of God

Pretty simple right?

But how good are we at this?

Are there people that you know that you don’t like?

Lepers? Samaritans? Samaritan lepers?

Jesus saw lepers as Gods children - You can do this too.

Those who learn to look at people as Gods children look at the world in a new way

One scholar wrote that transformation is not joining a club

It is learning to see thru the eyes of the crucified

Let sit under this one for a moment

Joining a club.  Wearing the shirt.  Getting the Christian tattoo.  Hanging a cross on the wall.  Joining a church.  All good, but all club joining.

These are signs of the real thing but they are not the real thing.

We experience the real thing when we allow ourselves to join with Christ and see the world through his eyes

What is that like? How does that work?

The Christian faith is not what you do

It is what you are and what you become

An active thriving, living thing

Is Jesus outside of you?

I pray to him, I go on with life

Or, is the holy spirit of God at work in your life, calling you wooing you,

courting you to himself and the way that he sees the world

Is Christianity a belief or an experience. 

Sure it has beliefs, but if it ends there, with no experience,

          We end up missing the very best part

No question the spirit is in there, inside of you

You just have to wake him up.  Oh.  I said that wrong.  Is he sleeping? No, we are sleeping.  He is in there.  we have to wake up to him.

When was the last time that you really sought him?  really listened?

Jesus asks a question – where are the other 9?

In your life, Where are the other 5, 30, 1100?

Where are you in the story of the 10? 

Are you one of the 9 or are you the 1 who goes back?

You may not be ready to go into the mission field, but you can be grateful.

Christianity advertises a new life.

It offers us a new perspective on life.

·        That new perspective begins when we find a grateful heart.

·        And when our heart is grateful –

·        we begin to see the world thru the eyes of our father

·        You want a different life?

·        You will find it on the road of gratitude

·        Don’t wait.  just do it.