Prayer: Psalm 118, sung and spoken

Preaching Schedule 2012

Hello, everyone. It’s just about the beginning of a new year, and one of the things I try to do is to plan out a year’s worth of sermons in advance. That way, I know generally what Scriptures I’ll be reading and what topics I’ll be preaching about…

With that in mind, here’s the schedule for 2012. It’s not set in stone, of course: as life happens, various changes might need to be made. However, it should be, for the most part, helpful if you’d like to read ahead and prepare along with me. We’re going to take our first month of January, and look at our Church Covenant. Next, we’ll work through the book of John; and finally, we’ll look at the book of Daniel.

2012 Preaching Schedule:

01/01/12 Galatians 4:4-7 Christmas: Your Response To Your Gifts
01/08/12 Romans 10:9-13 Church Covenant – WHO we are in Christ
01/15/12 Hebrews 10:24-25 Church Covenant – HOW we live in Christ
01/22/12 Ephesians 3:7-13 Church Covenant – WHAT we do in Christ
01/29/12 Romans 8:5-9 Church Covenant – WHY we are in Christ
02/05/12 John 1:1-18 The Living Word: Became Flesh (1:1-18)
02/12/12 John 1:19-34 The Living Word: John the Baptist’s Testimony (1:19-34)
02/19/12 John 1:35-42 The Living Word: Following the Master (1:35-42)
02/26/12 John 1:43-51 The Living Word: Hearing and Responding
03/04/12 John 2:1-11 The Living Word: A Change of Nature
03/11/12 John 2:13-22 The Living Word: Cleansing the Temple
03/18/12 John 3:14-21 The Living Word: Teaching the Teacher
03/25/12 John 3:22-36 The Living Word: The Incredible Shrinking Man
04/01/12 John 4:1-42, 12:12-16 The Living Word: Different Understandings, Different Responses
04/08/12 John 20:1-18 The Living Word: Alive Forevermore!
04/15/12 John 5:1-47 The Living Word: Revealing the Mission
04/22/12 John 6:1-71 The Living Word: The Bread of Life
04/29/12 John 7:1-53 The Living Word: Festival Questions
05/06/12 John 8:1-59 The Living Word: Children of Abraham
05/13/12 John 9:1-41 The Living Word: Did You See That?
05/20/12 John 10:1-21 The Living Word: The Good Shepherd
05/27/12 John 10:22-42 The Living Word: The Unpopular Answer
06/03/12 John 11:1-57 The Living Word: Lazarus, Come Forth!
06/10/12 John 12:1-11 The Living Word: The Most Extravagant Pedicure Ever
06/17/12 John 12:17-36 The Living Word: Blinded by the Light
06/24/12 PULPIT SUPPLY
07/01/12 PULPIT SUPPLY
07/08/12 John 13:1-17 The Living Word: The Third Sacrament?
07/15/12 John 13:18-38 The Living Word: Preparing for the Worst
07/22/12 John 14:1-14 The Living Word: Comfort in the Midst of Sorrow
07/29/12 John 14:15-30 The Living Word: The Only Way
08/05/12 PULPIT SUPPLY
08/12/12 John 15:1-27 The Living Word: Abiding = Thriving
08/19/12 John 16:1-33 The Living Word: GPS – God’s Positioning Spirit
08/26/12 John 17:1-26 The Living Word: He Prays For Us
09/02/12 John 18:1-40 The Living Word: Betrayal and Arrest
09/09/12 John 19:1-27 The Living Word: Turning Shame to Sign
09/16/12 John 19:28-42 The Living Word: The Darkest Day
09/23/12 John 20:19-31 The Living Word: The Best News Ever
09/30/12 John 21:1-25 The Living Word: Our Turn
10/07/12 Daniel 1:1-21 Daniel: Friends in High Places
10/14/12 Daniel 2:1-3:30 Daniel: Kings, Dreams, and Decrees
10/21/12 Daniel 4:1-5:31 Daniel: Downfall Foretold
10/28/12 Daniel 6:1-7:28 Daniel: Deliverance and the Four Beasts
11/04/12 Daniel 8:1-9:27 Daniel: Do You See What I See?
11/11/12 Daniel 10:1-21 Daniel: Things To Come
11/18/12 Daniel 11:1-45 Daniel: Neighbors and the AntiChrist
11/25/12 Daniel 12:1-13 Daniel: When All Is Said And Done
12/02/12 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Advent 1C
12/09/12 Philippians 1:3-11 Advent 2C
12/16/12 Philippians 4:4-7 Advent 3C
12/23/12 Hebrews 10:5-10 Advent 4C
12/24/12 Titus 2:11-14 Christmas Eve
12/30/12 Colossians 3:12-17 Christmas 1

That should certainly help in worship planning, in personal Bible study, and generally, in being ready throughout the year to interact with the Word.

KFJ – Pastor Ed

Armor Prayer: based on Ephesians 6

I was thinking about conflict as I was preparing this week’s sermon; I thought a prayer based on the Armor of God described in Ephesians 6 might be worth sharing…

After all is said and done, Lord, we ask that you would make us strong in the Spirit; we ask for ability in Your strength and not our own. We need You as Protector and Shelter, God; we cannot stand against the plans that the Enemy has for us in our own ability.
As we move through life, we understand that we aren’t facing mere frustration with other people; the source of much of our conflict is from unseen spiritual forces of evil in our world, and even in Your Kingdom.
Therefore, we resolve to hold before us every defense You give us, so that we might stand against whatever opposes Your plan for Your Kingdom, and having done everything we can do, we trust in Your grace to be our foundation.
And so we stand, braced by Your truth, and guarded by Your righteousness (and not our own); we are enabled by the power of the gospel to actively bring Your peace to this sin-sick world – prompt us to step out in confidence.
No matter what happens to us, we are safeguarded by the faith which You give; the subtle schemes and the blatant attacks of the evil one just can’t pull us away from Your love for us. Your salvation keeps and holds us even in the midst of pain that we didn’t imagine was coming.
We have the sword of the Spirit – the word of God – which dwells in us. Spirit, continually prompt us to give You free reign our lives, reminding us to keep our ongoing conversation with the Father alive and vibrant; in all our prayer, keep us alert and consistent; put in our hearts the issues and situations for our loved ones and for the world that You want us to discuss with You. And when You prompt us to pray, protect us from distraction, so that we can partner with You in Your work for the world.
In this, we want to be like Jesus, who was constantly pointing back to the Father; reminding us that He wasn’t living by his own agenda, but only by what the Father was showing Him. Show us, Father, as well, how You want us to follow Jesus. Hear us as we follow Christ’s example in prayer, as we pray together, saying… OUR FATHER…

Psalm-Prompted Prayer

Here is a prayer based on C.A.S.T.L.E. – Confession, Adoration, Supplication, Thanksgiving, Listening, and Experience, prompted by various Psalms.

Lord of All, You are our hiding place. You protect us from trouble. You surround us with joyous songs of salvation. But there are times when our lives are discordant to You, when our hearts get so out of tune with You that we decide we’re going to play our own song instead of following your direction. When we make our sins known to you, and do not cover up our guilt, that is the sweetest music to Your hears, God. When we decide to confess them to you, O LORD, then you forgive all our sins. Let’s pause for just a moment and do that now: if there is anything on our heart that needs to be confessed, let’s give it to God.

Hear these promises from Scripture: Blessed is the person whose disobedience is forgiven and whose sin is pardoned. Blessed is the person whom the LORD no longer accuses of sin and who has no deceitful thoughts.

Thank you, God, for your mercy to us. We want to give to You the glory Your name deserves; to worship You in Your awe-inspiring presence. Even though You have given us eternity in which to praise You, we’ll never even get close to fully describing just how amazing You are. To praise God to our fullest ability is a task worthy of eternity, and we thank You for the honor of getting started on it even this morning.

O God, hear our prayer, and open your ears to the words from our hearts. You are Yahweh Ezer, God our helper! You are Jehovah Jireh, The Lord our Provider for our lives. We will give thanks to your good name, O LORD. Your name rescues us from every trouble; and so we lift up the names and situations that trouble us, and we trust that You, Yahweh Uzam, the Lord our Strength in Trouble, will be strong where we are weak, and be powerfully known in our times of trouble.

Who You are is shown in Your Name, Lord – you are the I AM, the One who is always with us, even right now. Because of who You are, You prompt us to become like Your Son, Jesus. Hear us as we pray as He taught us to pray, saying Our Father…

Prayer for Independence Day

I wrote this prayer in preparation for the Sunday before American Independence Day, celebrated on July 4, 2011.

God our Lord, as we approach Independence Day, we remember our country in prayer.

As a nation, we declared our intent to be ruled not by a foreign power, but only by looking to Your for guidance. We still pray that prayer today, Lord; but we acknowledge that all too often, we exchange Your eternal guidance for earthly distractions. For the times when we decide to live as citizens of our own personal domain instead of following Christ into the Kingdom of God, please forgive us.

As a nation, we often talk of Rights and Privileges of our citizenry. Remind us, Lord, that living and moving and having our being all comes from You; You give us so much more than we deserve – the very definition of Grace. We thank You that we can’t ever earn the freeing gift of salvation through Christ.

As a nation, we can focus on Rules and Responsibilities and our civic duty. This is good, because it causes us to relate to others in our community. Remind us, Lord, that our first rule of living is to Love You – and prompt that love for You to spill over and affect how we function in our greater community and our own families. Use us to be Your reconcilers among others, Lord.

As a nation, many place high value on Reason as a means of making good decisions. Lord, we ask not for greater intelligence or superior argument, but for ever-deepening wisdom and faith to come from You. Prompt our leaders to be followers of Your agenda more than their own; direct the choices we make as a people to be glorifying to You.

We ask for constant guidance of how we are to live as citizens of Heaven in this country of America: faith in You to provide for our needs even while we work hard to support our families; hope that Your Kingdom will be seen in our lives and will change the lives of those around us even as we seek to better our community; loving You first and above all even while we care for others as You would.

Make us like Jesus even as we pray together, saying: OUR FATHER…

Preoccupation with the Point

Here I am, wanting to write a blog entry, and I get sidetracked as to what I want to TITLE it before I’ve written one word of the actual blog. Perhaps that’s indicative of something else going on inside me: preoccupation with titles, words, namings…

You see, I read an article this morning that was written by a fairly well known Christian author, one whose name is connected with the post-modern/emergent movement in the US. He had some interesting things to say about worship, and the need for a different focus. He mentions his frustration with the “me and Jesus” theme which runs through so much of current worship (especially the “me” part), and calls for new worship music with the following themes:
1. Biblical pictures of God’s preferred future – HOPE
2. Kingdom of God priorities – MISSION
3. Historic Christian spirituality – DEPTH
4. God as primary focus – THEOCENTRIC
5. Songs expressing sorrow that we experience – LAMENT

That’s the recap of the article, and while I enjoyed reading it, it was a little surreal. You see, I’ve been saying these things to Jami for years, and working them out in the songs I sing for private worship. I enjoy writing music, but I’m not a big fan of my own lyrics. I appreciate much more going through old hymnals and looking for lyrics that strike me in some way and then writing new music for the older words. I even had a website for a term I thought I’d coined: Convergent Worship (I’ve since let it go).

The point of this: it was a bit weird to see my thoughts that I’d been working through for so long in print by this other author. I find it comforting to know that I’m not the only one that has been grappling with these issues. In a moment of transparency, I’ll also admit that it’s a bit frustrating that I wasn’t able to get those same thoughts “out there” for others to work with years ago. Jami has teased me on more than one occasion that the next time I see a “trend” that I think the Church will be dealing with in the next ten years, that I need to write a book about it first before anyone else…!

Last night, a group of musicians got together at my church to jam. Note that we didn’t get together to rehearse; there was no set music, no specific agenda other than to enjoy one another’s company and to perhaps stretch our musical muscles a bit. Since most of us who gathered are pretty “churched”, the songs we used to start things off were worship songs (hence the preoccupation with themes of worship today). I think we could take this little group and incorporate it into Sunday morning worship with a few more rehearsals. But the point of the group isn’t to specifically create something to ADD to Sunday morning services.

The POINT of worship, the REASON for worship is God.

That’s it.

God.

Creating additional worship elements for the congregation misses the point entirely. All of us – musicians, lay leaders, pastors, choir members, and people in the congregation – are to be working together to craft worship for GOD, not for our own benefit. Of course as we worship, as we lift up God and reaffirm the Lord’s place on the throne of the Universe (and our own lives), we *will* benefit from it… but receiving the benefit isn’t the point.

*God* is the point.

As Jami and I prepare for the annual meeting of the National Association of Congregationalist Christian Churches, the two of us will be leading one of the main sessions of worship on Monday morning. I want to be sure that we are not the focus of that worship service; that GOD alone receives the worship, praise, attention, focus, adoration.

In the words of the Reformers: Soli Deo Gloria!

Psalm 66 prayer; an inclusive attempt

I was writing a prayer for this Sunday, and I thought it might be interesting to work around the pronouns to craft a prayer that was a bit more inclusive. However, there is a reference to American Football in there, so I don’t know *how* inclusive it truly is…

Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of Deity’s praise be heard;
Let the whole world bless our God and loudly sing the praises of the Lord.
Our lives are in the hands of God, and the Lord keeps our feet from stumbling.
Providence has preserved us and kept us from falling.

You have tested us, O God; You have purified us like silver;
training us and passing us like precious metal through fire and water;
You brought us to a place of abundance.

Now we come together in this place to fulfill the promises we have made to You–
When we are in deep trouble, we make sacred bargains with You that we hope You’ll keep.
But we know that You are the Lord of Everything, and You certainly don’t need our help to run the show.
Nevertheless, as armchair quarterbacks, we call out the way we think the Universe ought to be run.
Please forgive us for our presumption and our attempts to get You to do things our way exclusively.

If we do not confess the sins we hide in our hearts, Lord, You don’t hear us —
But God DOES listen!
The Lord pays attention to our prayers, when we agree that God is God and we are not.
Praise Yahweh, who does not ignore our prayers or withdraw the Lord’s unfailing love from us.

Come and listen, all you who fear God, and I will tell you what Deity did for us all:
We cry out to the Lord for help, praising God as we speak.
Praise be to God, who has not rejected our prayer or withheld the Lord’s love from us!
God hears us as we pray together, saying: OUR FATHER…

Interesting Times

It’s certainly been an interesting month. As in “May you live in interesting times”… which is (supposedly) an old Chinese curse. I say “supposedly” because no one really knows the origin of the phrase, and we don’t really know if living in an interesting time is truly a curse or not.

We *do* know, however, that this month has had more than its share of events: our family was very involved in the musical at the high school, as well as volunteering to participate in other school activities. I even got to “host” the 2011 Miss Warden pageant, and get to know some really wonderful young people in the process. This is my one-year anniversary month: the church ordained me on May 15, 2010, and it’s been fun getting involved in the life of the community.

We also confirmed seven students in my first Confirmation class. I am so proud of the work these students did in exploring their own faith, and learning tools that will help them find their place of service in the Kingdom of God. The personal projects that each student put together to show their faith formation were very encouraging to me as well. I must confess, it’s pretty gratifying to see a new Confirmation Class photo up on the walls with current faces in it!

Easter, of course, is a highlight of the entire church calendar. It was good to be able to worship the Risen Lord with so many of you, and I was even more gratified that I recognized almost every face: I was a bit concerned that my first Easter with you would feel like my first Sunday here with a bunch of faces I didn’t know. Blessedly, that didn’t happen.

We also had a nice visit from the Ugandan Orphans Choir – their concert was inspiring, and I was really blessed by your generosity towards these kids and their organization. You really embodied what St. Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 9:12-13: “This service [of generosity] that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.”

We also had two funerals this month: Pam Larson, of Pamela’s Pantry, went to be with the Lord after a very short bout with cancer. I spoke at her potluck-service on the first of May… and less than a week later, I did the funeral service for Jim Rauter, Royal and Elsa’s son. These deaths were unexpected and a shock to the families involved; it was my honor to help them gather together and support one another in their time of grief. As a church family, we also experience times of grief when sudden trials make themselves known.

As Paul wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonian church, the experience of suffering can threaten to derail us, to take us off track in our spiritual journey. This is why he sent Timothy, his disciple in the faith, to help the church in their time of trial. He was to “strengthen and encourage” the believers, and that is our current privilege as well – to strengthen and encourage one another in our faith as we are being shaped to be like Christ.

As always, Keep Following Jesus – Ed

A Day in the Life – Mother’s Day

Our mothers are shaping us to pay attention today, so what I thought would be most appropriate for us to look at four moms in Scripture. We’re going to jump around a bit; we’re going to start in Genesis, and then we’ll hit Exodus, Ruth, and Luke.

These are lessons that moms teach us about life.

Let’s start off in Genesis; we’ll look at chapter 2, verses 18 to 24, and then chapter 4 verse 1.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

That word, helper – “ezer” in the Hebrew – means substantial significant help. This is not “honey, let me hold the flashlight while you fix that thing…”; No, this is important, substantial stuff.

Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

A quick story in reference to “Adam”: When I was learning Hebrew, I used a bunch of little Hebrew flashcards. I’m trying to learn Hebrew phonetically, but you read it from right to left, and none of the letters look anything like what you’ve seen, so it took a lot of concentration. I came across a word, and I’m trying to sound it out… “ahd-ahhmm”. I turned the card over and it says “dirt”. “ahdd-ahhm” ADAM! Oh! Adam’s name is dirt! So, husbands, don’t feel bad; in those times when you feel that your name is mud… you can say, “Hey, I’m just being like Adam. I’m just tying into my ancestry…” Adam, the man of dirt, has no suitable helper.

So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

That word, rib – “tsela” it means side or half. If we were to look at Exodus 25:12, we’d read this: “Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other.” So the woman in this story is not taken from a little rib; the picture is that God split Adam right down the middle, and then creates woman out of one half, and then re-creates man out of the other half. Men and women are truly complete opposites that are made of the same thing.

Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh…

Does that make more sense now that you get the picture of the man being split in half? So everything he sees now, this was just part of him…

…she shall be called ‘woman’, for she was taken out of man.”
That’s how we read it in English. I’ve also heard it translated like this: “WHOA! Man!” as a level to show appreciation…

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

They will be re-united as one flesh. And then we look at chapter 4, verse 1:

Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”

This woman who is created in response to a need, so the story is very clear – the man needs, he cannot go through life alone – and so God splits him right down the middle and creates “the better half”! Well, now you know WHY it’s called that. God creates the better half, creates man and woman to function together, as a couple. In chapter 4 verse 1, I love this response of Eve’s… We don’t see Adam say this, but Eve says it: “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.”

Our lesson from Eve: Rely on the help of the Lord.

We are not designed to walk through life alone. Now, let’s skip ahead; we’re going to Exodus chapter 2, and we’re going to look at Jochebed, a completely famous woman whose name no one knows. Jochebed is Moses’ mother’s name. I’ll be honest: I retain large amounts of mostly useless information, and I’m really good at trivia, but I did not know Moses’ mother’s name. Exodus chapter 2, we’ll look at the first nine verses:

Now a man of the house of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister (Moses’ sister) asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

Gosh, it’s just a complete random “accident” that she’s there! Love that!

“Yes, go,” she answered. And the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

There’s a few things to note here: this is a really well known story, thanks to Hollywood. The Ten Commandments movie has this referenced, as does the Prince of Egypt; so the idea of putting the baby in the basket and Moses being sent down the river (although that’s a terrible phrase)… but Moses goes on the river and he’s kept safe. Look at this: I want you to recognize what Jochebed is doing here: she defies the law. The law says that all of these Hebrew male children are to be killed; and she sees that Moses is healthy, and she loves him, and so she’s going to hide him for as long as she can. She defies that immoral law of Egypt on behalf of God, and she doesn’t just defy it as long as she can; she makes a plan to circumvent, to go around that immoral law.

Kids, I think this is one of the cool things about your moms. Moms have an ability to invent plans to get stuff done when they don’t have enough resources (supposedly) to get it done anyway. Moms, that is so cool about you!

Our lesson from Jochebed: Keep our head in stressful circumstances.

Just because the immediate way might be blocked doesn’t necessarily mean that whatever we’re trying to do won’t happen. Moms can find a way when nobody else can.

We are to rely on the help of the Lord; we are to keep our head in stressful situations. These have been two Moms that we’ve talked about: we want to talk about mothers-in-law, we wouldn’t want to leave them out, so we’re going to move forward and we’re going to look at the book of Ruth.

Ruth, chapter 2 verses 22 and 23, and then the first two verses of chapter 3. For those of you who might not be too familiar with the story of Ruth: her mother-in-law has two boys, and they marry two non-Jewish women; they leave Israel. After they leave Israel, they die. So now you’ve got a mother-in-law and two daughters-in-law, and they’ve got no visible means of support – they’re female. They’re in a world of hurt, so they need to find A MAN – a husband! But the mother-in-law can’t provide a husband because she has no more sons. She’s very concerned about how she’s going to provide for her daughters-in-law. Now, Naomi (the mother-in-law of the two young women) tries to send these daughters-in-law away, back to their families. “My boys aren’t here anymore; we can’t care for you; go back home.” One of them goes back, but Ruth says, “I will not leave you. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.” That’s a pretty big act of faith.

Here is what Naomi, the mother-in-law (otherwise known as Mara – she’s changed her name because Mara means “bitter” and she’s pretty upset about this whole situation) does:

Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with his girls…

They have landed at the farm of a shirttail relative, and that man has serving girls.

…go with his girls, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.” So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law. One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.

Now there’s a Jewish law that says if a man dies and does not give a child to his bride, then a brother, would marry that woman and provide children in that brother’s name. (Deut. 25:5-6) This can be expanded to kinsman when property is concerned as well, and that’s what Boaz is here: he’s a kinsman-redeemer.

Our lesson from Naomi: Watch out for each other.

I’m a parent; I have the same three daughters that Jami has; but when the kids ask, “Hey Dad, can I go do this?” I’ll say, “Sure! Whatever!” It doesn’t even occur to me to ask questions like “where are you going, when are you going to be there, do you have your bike helmet…” That’s Mom’s thing. She’s watching out for them. “What about this, or this, or this?” I’m sure that part of that is just her skill with detail, but I think a big chunk of that is just being a Mom.

I’m the Dad! I’m the protector! I deal with the problems after they happen. But Moms try to prevent the problems from happening in the first place! So, listen to your mother! Really! Moms – they teach us to watch out for each other.

And then finally, let’s look at Mary, Jesus’ mom. So we turn to Luke chapter 1. Now Scripture doesn’t specifically tell us how old she was when she gets this announcement; tradition says that she’s a teenager, that Mary was a very young mom. Let’s look at verses 28 to 38, and focus especially on those last two verses.

For nothing is impossible with God.”

And look at Mary’s response to the announcement by the angel:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

This is a message from the Archangel Gabriel who stands in the Presence of God all the time. He comes down and meets with a teenager; this is so far out of Mary’s experience… In every other example where an angel shows up, what do the people do? They panic! Often, the first words out of an angels mouth are often “Fear Not” – don’t be afraid! Look at verse 28 & 29:

The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Why? This is an angel showing up. This is a big deal. And notice that Mary, once she gets over this initial shock, (I love this about Mary) she questions the plan of God. Look at verse 34 – he tells her “you’re going to give birth to the savior of the world…​”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

She’s says – “Okay… how are You going to do that, God?” One of the things that Mary teaches us is that it’s okay to ask questions.

“Lord, you say you’re going to be sending me to do this place and do this thing… I don’t know how You’re going to work that out. How are You going to work that out, Lord?” That’s okay for us to ask. But Mary’s response, in verse 38, even after the questioning, is a gem:

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

Our lesson from Mary: Cooperate with God.

I look back in my own life, and I wasn’t really raised in a Christian home. I have found out from my older sisters that my parents did have some religious influence in their lives, but by the time I came around, we just never talked about it. And I remember being 5 years old and reading in the encyclopedia that everybody needed God, and so I said, “Mom, I want to be a Christian.” Her response was, “You’re too young; we don’t talk about that; come back and talk to me when you’re 12.”

Well, I remembered that, and I didn’t say anything about it (not word one) for 7 years. And on my 12th birthday, “Mom! I need to get baptized!” And she didn’t say “you don’t know what you’re talking about”; this woman said, “well, if that’s what we need to do, then we will find you a church and get you in.” They never really went; that wasn’t something they were interested in, but they made sure I found my way to confirmation classes. Cooperating with God. And I wouldn’t be here if this woman, who barely talked about God at all, didn’t cooperate with His plan.

We rely on the help of the Lord because of a mother; we keep our head in stressful circumstances because of a mother. We watch out for each other because of a mother; and we cooperate with God.

What do all of these moms have in common with each other? Sacrifice. These lessons benefit everyone who put them into practice, not just moms. Not just females – male or female, this isn’t about mothers, but about how God uses moms to shape us.

Moms, think about it: when you show us by example what sacrifice means? You are like Jesus. You have the opportunities to be Jesus in the lives of the people around you. Your kids watch you; your husbands watch you; your parents watch you!

Thank you for the example that you set.

Appearance and Ascension

On June 4, 1783 at the market square of a French village of Annonay, not far from Paris, a smoky bonfire on a raised platform was fed by wet straw and old wool rages. Tethered above, straining its lines, was a huge taffeta bag 33 feet in diameter. In the presence of “a respectable assembly and a great many other people,” and accompanied by great cheering, the balloon was cut from its moorings and set free to rise majestically into the noon sky. Six thousand feet into the air it went — the first public ascent of a balloon, the first step in the history of human flight. It came to earth several miles away in a field, where it was promptly attacked by pitchfork-waving peasants and torn to pieces as an instrument of evil!

It’s true that we don’t always react well to change, but take heart; we’re not alone. People have been frustrated by change for a long time, and they probably will be for many years to come. Dealing with change can be tricky.

God wants to change our hearts; but how?

In our final look at the book of Mark, we see reaction to change as well. Please turn in your Bibles to Mark, chapter 16, and we’ll be looking at verses 9 through 20. A short aside: in many Bibles, there’s a line drawn between verse 8 and the rest of the chapter. This is because the rest of the text is a post-script; its different sentence structure and detail lets us know that this section wasn’t written at the same time as the rest of Mark. That’s okay; just like an ongoing letter, sometimes we come back and add a post-script. That is what’s been done here, and we’ll take a closer look at some of those details later. For now, let’s look at verses 9-11, and we’ll see some details about Jesus’ first resurrection appearance.

When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

First, let’s note how Mary is described; “out of whom He had driven seven demons” – this is a textual clue that this final portion was written at a later date. Mary Magdalene had been well enough known in the early church when Mark was first written; however, when the people who had witnessed these events started getting old and dying off, these thoughts needed to be written down. The “seven demons” phrase is a clue given for future generations to make sure they knew which Mary was being talked about.

You could say that this ending section of Mark is like a written account of a well-known family story. Lots of families have them – stories that are told that help us remember what a certain person did, and we don’t tell them like we’re reading the newspaper.

In my family, we tell the story of my parent’s fishing trips while they were stationed in Alaska. Apparently, my Dad loved to go fishing, and he had all the gear: hip waders, fishing pole, lots of different lures and tackle. I’ve grown up hearing how he’d be standing out up to his thighs in the water, vigorously fishing away… and all the while, my Mom would be on the bank of the river with a romance novel in her hands and a fishing pole next to her. She’d bait the hook, cast the line, and pretty much ignore everything while she read her book. And while Dad was out whipping the fishing line in the river, Mom would every once in a while look up, notice her bobber was moving, and reel in the next fish. They’d come home with a stringer full of fish… Mom’s fish.

Now I wasn’t born yet; I’ve never witnessed those events. But I grew up hearing about them so often that I can see them happening in my minds’ eye, regardless of the fact that I wasn’t personally present. My family’s fish stories are a part of my make up, and they remind me of something that was important to my parents.

That’s what these verses are: they are more than just bare fact testimonies about Jesus’ resurrection; they describe Mary Magdalene’s changed life… and that is what is required for belief.

Our hearts aren’t changed by facts alone.

As we continue, we see in verses 12 to 14 Jesus’ appearances to disciples. Look at the details here:

Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either. Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

Look at the reference to “a different form”. For more details, we could look at Luke 24:13-27, and read about the disciples on their walk to Emmaus. What I find interesting is the disciples not recognizing Jesus. I know I’ve experienced this same thing: it can be a challenge to recognize people in unexpected circumstances. Ninety nine percent of the time, I wear my contact lenses, and most people, when they meet me for the first time, don’t realize that I need to correct my vision. So… on the rare occasions when people see me for the first time wearing my glasses, I often see a look of momentary confusion on their face – as if they can’t quite place me. I think it’s entirely possible that this is just what happened to Cleopas and the other disciple as they encountered Jesus.

But once they did notice Him, they did the same thing that Mary Magdalene did: they told the disciples. And in both cases, the disciples reacted the same way to this momentous news of change: they rejected it. They simply didn’t have the mental framework to think about Jesus as the Resurrected Lord. Their stubborn refusal to believe was tied to lack of faith – Jesus says it Himself in verse 14. They’d been exposed to the facts of Jesus’ resurrection, but they didn’t have the faith to accept those facts as valid.

Scripture teaches us that faith is a gift (Ephesians 2:8-9); we do not generate faith on our own, and so we can’t be too upset at people who refuse to believe based on historical evidence of Jesus alone. Mere exposure to the facts of the resurrection is not what leads us to faith. Instead of giving information about Jesus to people, we can show them how the gift of faith has changed us… and can change them as well. That is what the disciples didn’t see at first, and that is what they were rebuked for by Jesus Himself in verse 14 – their stubborn refusal. Please remember:

Our hearts aren’t changed when faith is absent.

In verses 15-18, we see Jesus’ instructions to the church. These are descriptions of various events, some of which are found in the book of Acts. Let’s read:

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

By the time this post-script was written, these events had already happened. There’s reference to Acts chapter 2, where the Holy Spirit is given at Pentecost and the disciples spoke in new tongues. Acts 5 tells us about healing those with unclean spirits; in Acts 28, we read about Paul being bitten by a snake and just shaking it off – causing those who witnessed the event to mistake him for a divine being. Not to prove some kind of special power, but there were times in Bible college when I ate things at the back of the fridge that probably were covered by the “poison will not hurt them” clause mentioned here!

These verses are a remembered summation of Jesus’ instructions; the Lord gave the disciples specific instructions about how they were to go about the work of the Kingdom. In verses 15 and 16 they were given instructions on what to do, and the theology to help them remember why they were doing it. But notice that the instructions and theology alone aren’t enough to produce life change. The disciples had been receiving Jesus’ teaching and training in ministry for three years, and they still didn’t believe the Resurrection.

Our hearts aren’t changed by remembering our duty.

It’s good to remember what our God-given task is, and our role in the Kingdom, but remembrance alone doesn’t change us. What does? Let’s look at the last two verses of Mark, 19 and 20. What is it that causes the disciples to respond?

After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

We see the Ascension mentioned here, the cross reference is Acts 1:1-11. But notice: what’s the result?
Look at this phrase: “the disciples went out and the Lord worked with them.” It’s only after the disciples stepped out and started obeying the directives that Jesus had given that they started to see the power of God. How does God change our hearts?

Obedience to God and the presence of Jesus changes hearts.

When we are obedient to what God tells us to do, regardless of how we feel about it, never mind if we have experience doing what we’re told or not – our hearts are shaped to become more pliable and soft toward God when we live by His agenda and not our own. Think about it: the disciples had no personal experience in working miracles; the most they’d known was being sent out two at a time by Jesus to proclaim the Kingdom and they saw some authority over evil spirits – and that, too, was a result of obedience to Jesus’ sending.

This leads me to ask: How is the Lord working with you? What are your directives that the Holy Spirit is prompting in you? What change is present in your life that’s showing you that God is confirming His word IN YOU?

If you’re being directed in Kingdom work, step out in obedience. If you’re a little hesitant, it’s always a good idea to check any promptings you might get against Scripture – the Spirit will never prompt a believe to do something that contradicts the Word of God. But if you’re being nudged (or sometimes pushed) to pray for someone without knowing why… well, by all means, pray! The Spirit intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; we can pray for others without knowing every detail. If you’re being told by God to care for someone, or to give someone a call that you’ve not spoken to in a long while… these could all be promptings from the Holy Spirit. In the words of the old hymn, “Trust and Obey”.

Finally, think about this: if you are NOT being prompted to obey the Lord, ask yourself why? Perhaps the only step of obedience facing you today is the step of faith to surrender to Christ. Make no mistake: it is a surrender, and you’ll not be prompted to do anything else in the Kingdom of God until you’re able to enter that Kingdom as one of its citizens. And that, my friend, is a gift from God that He extends to all who all on the name of Jesus. Is that what “Trust and Obey” means for you today?