What only God can do...

I hadn't posted on here in a while because I had switched over to preaching from notes for a while instead of writing the sermon out; but this week I switched back for my first sermon at Bethesda United Methodist Church, so here's the text
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Jeremiah 1:4-19

        My preaching style changes from time to time. As I mentioned when I first met with some of you, I’ve tried out a few different approaches over the past several months that I’ve been ministering to the kids out at Gibault. When I first started out there, I had an idea or two about things I’d like to talk to the kids about; I wanted to talk about God’s presence in the midst of their suffering, I wanted to talk about how God still loved them, even if it didn’t always feel like it; I wanted to communicate hope to them. And, I wanted to address their spiritual needs as best I understood them.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan 7-11-10

A teacher of the Law came up and tried to trap Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to receive eternal life?" Jesus answered him, "What do the Scriptures say? How do you interpret them?" The man answered, " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind'; and 'Love your neighbor as you love yourself.' " "You are right," Jesus replied; "do this and you will live." But the teacher of the Law wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus answered, "There was once a man who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers attacked him, stripped him, and beat him up, leaving him half dead. It so happened that a priest was going down that road; but when he saw the man, he walked on by on the other side. In the same way a Levite also came there, went over and looked at the man, and then walked on by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was traveling that way came upon the man, and when he saw him, his heart was filled with pity. He went over to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them; then he put the man on his own animal and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Take care of him,' he told the innkeeper, 'and when I come back this way, I will pay you whatever else you spend on him.' " And Jesus concluded, "In your opinion, which one of these three acted like a neighbor toward the man attacked by the robbers?" The teacher of the Law answered, "The one who was kind to him." Jesus replied, "You go, then, and do the same."

(Luk 10:25-37)

            Tonight we’re looking at one of the most well-known parables of the Gospels, called the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  The parable has had a large impact on our language and culture. When someone helps out a total stranger, they’re often called a “good Samaritan.” There are hundreds of hospitals around the world called “Good Samaritan Hospital.” There are even groups with names like the “Good Samaritan Club.”

            The story strikes a chord with a lot of people. It’s a good story. Let’s look at the background a little bit. First, there’s the teacher of the Law, a Levite, who was trying to “trap Jesus.” Now, what does that mean? This was a frequent occurrence for Jesus. At this point in his ministry, Jesus has pretty much shown where He’s at, what He’s about. Not only that, but, just prior to this story, Jesus had sent out seventy of His disciples as representatives to spread his message in the countryside.  With all of this hoopla going on, the Priests and the Levites, like this guy, had pretty much decided where they were in regards to Jesus as well, and they were against it.

When it looks like God's abandoned you (Psalm 22 6-20-10)

            Tonight we again return to the Psalms, the Prayer Book of the Bible. As I said last week, there seems to be a Psalm for just about every emotion and almost every situation. Whether you’re happy, angry, sad, tired, whatever, it is in there somewhere. Our passage tonight looks at a common feeling, the feeling of abandonment, particularly abandonment by God, but in a very peculiar way. It’s not peculiar to the Bible I suppose; in fact the Psalmist’s way of looking at the situation seems very consistent with later parts of the Old Testament, particularly the story of Job. Rather, it is peculiar because it is so alien to our way of looking at things.

Being Honest with God (Psalm 32) 6-13-10

            We’re going back to the Old Testament for our passage. Sometimes pulling things from the Old Testament to study can be tricky. The ancient Israelites lived in a very different setting and culture from our own; the type of person it produced might be labeled as “extreme” in all things. They were a highly passionate people, and that passion could lead them to the greatest heights of godly devotion and down into the deepest depths of uncivilized barbarism. 

            With the same mouth they could praise God in some of the most beautiful phrases ever written, and then wish deaths on their enemies that would make even a serial killer blush. That is particularly true in the Psalms, where our passage comes from tonight. The result, though, is that though they can often make us squeamish, these ancient people are easy to relate to, if we’re honest with ourselves.

           
And that’s what tonight’s message is about, being honest. Without further ado, let us begin…

The Lord's Prayer [pt. 2] 6-6-10

Give us today the food we need. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.' "If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.

(Mat 6:11-15)

Last week, for those of you who weren’t here, we started discussing the Lord’s Prayer. We covered a lot, but let me highlight the main points:

-First, in this passage Jesus is giving us guidance on how to pray by giving us a prayer which can both serve as a model for our own prayers, but which also is intended to be repeated as given, with the understanding that different sections of it remind us to pray for things we would otherwise forget or not realize.

-Second, we touched on the fact that prayer is something which can be done both publicly and privately, but we ought to be aware of our intentions in public- prayer is not meant to be something which we do for others to see. It’s not meant to be a public display of how holy we are. In discussing this, we discussed repentance, which we will cover in more detail tonight. We noted that having a saving relationship with Jesus, like the marriage analogy I’ve used over the past few weeks, does not amount to making a few oaths, then you’re set and never have to worry about Jesus again. You can’t just go back to living your life. Jesus wants all of you, not just your sins, and He wants to give everything of Himself, not just His forgiveness.

-Third, we noted that we don’t have to “sway God over to our side,” in our prayers. He knows what we need before we ask for it, but He does still want us to ask. This is, in part, because prayer doesn’t just produce an action on God’s part, but affects us. The ways in which prayer changes us is a large part of its benefit.

-Fourth, we wrapped things up by discussing how our acknowledging the holiness of God (i.e. “hallowed be your name”) and our submission to His will (i.e. your kingdom come, your will be done) are acts which ought to be done especially when we don’t want to do them. By doing so, in a sense, our hearts follow our actions, rather than vice-versa. You see, we often act on the basis of wear our heart is leading, but by acknowledging these truths about God when we don’t want to, eventually our hearts will change.

This week we’re moving into discussing the rest of the prayer. Last week focused on the truths we acknowledge about God in the prayer, this week we are focusing on the things we ask for in this prayer, and what we really mean when we ask for them. So, starting at verse 11…

The Lord's Prayer [pt. 1] 5-30-10

As this is my first post, perhaps a bit of explanation is due. I currently serve as the Chaplain for Gibault Children's Services, a residential youth treatment facility in Terre Haute, Indiana. In my sermons so far, we have worked our way through the Gospel of Luke. We finished that up two weeks ago, and so now I am going over some of the essentials of the Christian faith with the kids until I start filling in as a supply pastor at a United Methodist Church, at which time I'll begin preaching from the lectionary. The first topic I wanted to introduce the kids to was the Lord's prayer, so I've broken it up into two sermons, the first of which is here, and the second of which I'll post tonight after I have preached it.

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"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites! They love to stand up and pray in the houses of worship and on the street corners, so that everyone will see them. I assure you, they have already been paid in full. But when you pray, go to your room, close the door, and pray to your Father, who is unseen. And your Father, who sees what you do in private, will reward you. "When you pray, do not use a lot of meaningless words, as the pagans do, who think that their gods will hear them because their prayers are long. Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored; may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today the food we need. Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.' "If you forgive others the wrongs they have done to you, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive the wrongs you have done.

(Mat 6:5-15)

            Of all the religious activities there are, prayer is probably the one that comes most naturally to human beings. It seems as if, almost as soon as they could speak, humans began to pray, began to speak to God, or gods. It is ingrained in us. You all have heard the saying, regardless of whether it’s true or not, that “there are no atheists in foxholes.” A foxhole, of course, is a term which comes to us from the military, I remember hearing about it in history class when they’d talk about Vietnam, but they were also used in the World Wars; I don’t know how far back their history goes though. Anyway, a foxhole was, of course, a hole in the ground that a soldier would crawl down into for various reasons. Maybe they were setting up for an ambush, or hiding if they were running from the enemy. And sometimes they’d go down in there looking to see if enemy soldiers were inside. From what I understand, a foxhole was a bad place to be whether you were hiding in one, or if you were looking for someone. If you’re sitting in one, all a person has to do is toss in a grenade and you’re done for.