The Lord's Overflowing Abundance

Sermon from Thanksgiving Sunday, November 22, 2009

Yes, it has been a long time since Thanksgiving, but maybe we will read this sermon differently away from the holiday times.

Psalm 65; John 10: 7-16; 2 Corinthians 6:3-10

Our first reading for today is Psalm 65. In this psalm of community thanksgiving, David looks ahead to a service of thanksgiving at the Jerusalem temple that his son Solomon would build. Let’s read and comment on the psalm as if it were a three stanza hymn:

Stanza 1: 65:1 Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. 2 O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. 3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. 4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

Let me recap: the theme is Redeemer and Temple. There are four points: (1) Praise and paying of vows are due to God in Zion’s temple (65:1) (2) God hears prayer; all flesh will come to Him (65:2) (3) God atones for our transgressions (65:3) (4) Blessings come to the chosen in the temple (65:4).

Let me explain:Stanza 1 views the temple in terms of the purposes that will be enunciated in Solomon’s prayer for the temple: God’s hearing of prayer from the peoples of all the earth and God’s providing atonement. Much later, Jesus will extend these purposes for the temple to the portable fellowship of faith, the church. Our mission is to build a community of hope that carries the powerful presence and atoning work of Jesus Christ to the world around us, starting right here in Berryville and central Carroll County.

Stanza 2 5 By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas; 6 the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; 7 who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples, 8 so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs. You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

The 4-point recap. Theme: Creator and World (1) God’s awesome deeds are the hope of all the ends of the earth (65:5) (2) God established the mountains (65:6) (3) God stills the seas and the peoples (65:7) (4) Those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at God’s signs (65:8a)

The explanation: Stanza 2 places our gratitude in relation to the sovereign and awesome deeds of the Creator. Everything exists because of God creation, and God still actively exercises his dominion over his creation, bringing it toward his purposes.

Stanza 3 9 You visit the earth and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide their grain, for so you have prepared it. 10 You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. 11 You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with abundance. 12 The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, 13 the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy.

The recap: Theme: Provider and Land: (1) East (sunrise) and west (sunset) shout for joy (65:8b) (2) God waters the earth (65:9-10) (3) God crowns the year with overflowing bounty (65:11) (4) Pastures, hills, meadows, and valleys shout and sing together for joy (65:12-13)

The explanation: Stanza 3 lifts shouts of joy for the bountiful harvest. 65:11b is especially striking, addressing God, “your wagon tracks overflow with abundance.” Taken all together, the psalm presents a well-rounded picture of God’s goodness. All creation responds with joyful praise.

Our Gospel reading for today is John 10:7-16. 7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.

Jesus views the Sadducees who led the temple and the Pharisees who led the interpretation of the law as hired hands who looked out for themselves, but who cared nothing for the masses of people who were being crushed by the elite and exclusive practices of their leaders. Jesus in contrast was the Good Shepherd who cared about the sheep. He did not keep the sheep in the fold all day, but led them out each day to green pastures and fresh water, returning them at night to the safety of the fold. Jesus’ concern was not just for an in-group of sheep who were already gathered in the fold, but also and even more, for the desperately needy sheep who were not yet under his loving care. He would seek and bring them too so that there would be one flock with one loving shepherd. While the hired hands would flee from danger, abandoning the sheep to protect themselves, Jesus would lay down his life for his sheep. His goal was to give them abundant life.

We must not imagine that abundant life means life with big bank accounts, a large credit card allowance, and every consumer gadget and trinket we can imagine, but rather a life of satisfying and meaningful living and an eternal future. Our lives take on richness as we learn to live for Jesus who has died for us.

We must not imagine that the abundant life is a life with no problems. The abundance of our lives is determined by the attitude we take even when we are beset by problems. While the Apostle Paul had abundant life, he also had more than his share of problems. But he followed the example of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and willingly laid down his life for the gospel. Approximately a decade before his martyr’s death, here is what he wrote: 2 Corinthians 6:3 We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; 7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

For Paul, the life of a faithful Christian was marked by sacrificial suffering for the gospel, by steady increase of Christlike qualities, and by a series of seeming contradictions. It is the seeming contradictions that are interesting. Let’s look at them again: through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

A true servant of the gospel will face honor and dishonor, slander and praise. They will be accused unjustly of being fakes, but will prove themselves true. At the foundation of their lives will be the crucifixion/resurrection principle: as they give themselves in loving service, they will be continually renewed by the Spirit of God. Note this especially, that they will be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. Paul is not saying that they will live in the land of denial, pretending with plastic smiles that they have no problems. Paul is saying that they will not let their real problems prevent them from celebrating their real joys. They may not have much in the way of worldly goods and security, but they will make many rich in spiritual possessions, and though they have nothing of worldly account, they will in fact possess everything that is available for our enjoyment.

Every time that I take a walk in these beautiful hills of Northern Arkansas, I am astounded by the beauty that does not cost me a penny. If I take the time to enjoy it, it is in my heart mine as much as if my name were on the deed. The richness of our lives is determined more by the attitude of gratitude than by anything else. I once had a little plaque that said, “Peace is seeing a beautiful sunset and knowing whom to thank.” That’s true, but there are yet deeper joys than sunsets.

We have been singing a hymn this month about the deeper joys. “My Heart Is Filled with Thankfulness,”* is a wonderfully flexible, psalm-like hymn that is useful for invitation, for prayer and meditation, or for the Lord’s Supper.

1. My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace and gave me life again;
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness and clothed me in His light
And wrote His law of righteousness with pow’r upon my heart.

With powerful imagery, Verse 1 says that, through his death on the cross, Jesus Christ saves us from our sin and purifies us for right living.

2. My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who walks beside;
Who floods my weaknesses with strength and causes fears to fly;
Whose ev’ry promise is enough for ev’ry step I take,
Sustaining me with arms of love and crowning me with grace.

Verse 2 says that Jesus’ ongoing presence, promises, love, and grace, sustain us through daily life, shining through our weaknesses to strengthen the impact of our lives for good.

3. My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who reigns above,
Whose wisdom is my perfect peace, whose ev’ry thought is love.
For ev’ry day I have on earth is given by the King;
So I will give my life, my all, to love and follow him.

Verse 3 focuses on Christ’s eternal reign with the Father and the Spirit. All the true wisdom, peace, love, and enduring life we have come from our Sovereign King. We owe our lives to Him. The hymn is tied together by the theme of overwhelming thankfulness (eucharistia) for grace (charis), a theme that repeats in the opening line of each verse: “My heart is filled with thankfulness to Him who….”

When we celebrate Thanksgiving, we may sometimes forget that it is not all about material blessings. For us as Christians, it is above all about Jesus and his love. To Him we owe everything!

*Used by permission. CCLI License #2771568. Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend. Copyright © 2003 Thankyou Music.

Youth News Jan. 21

Last night we all just hung out together before dinner listening to a praise and worship CD that Elizabeth brought because we forgot ours. THANK YOU ELIZABETH!!!!!

We had 4 new kids. AJ, Braden, Rocio, and Jessica.....

We then proceeded to the prayer challenge with rock, paper, scissors. Brady and Summer battled mightily, although Brady was victorious. We had an amazing dinner with homemade mac-n-cheese and ham. WOW!!!! Kaleb's mom Deannette made us some homemade bread, suuuuper yummy!!!!

After dinner, we ventured into the sanctuary, where we continued with our lessons on Spiritual Warfare.We talked about the bibles view on angels and demons. We played a game called "angels and demons" where half of the youth were angels and good things to one another, while the other half was demons and said mean things, then we switched. We talked about which was easier, to be nice or mean, and why. We read many scriptures that dealt with angels and demons to allow the youth to recognize that we need to be careful where we get our information on these issues. That there are many television shows that glamorize the supernatural and our only source of truth is the Word of God.

We had a skit called "Lord Lord", performed by Eddie, who played Lord, Alicia, who played Laura an unforgiving servant, and Miranda who played the friend.

We collected $12.00 for our "sponsored" child, James, in Haiti.
James lives in the Northern part of Haiti, (and even though we have not heard from him), we are very sure he was not affected, directly, by the earthquake.

This Friday, the 22nd, the youth group will be taking a trip to Harrison to watch the movie "To Save A Life". We will be meeting another youth group from Golden, MO at the theater for some fellowship time. We will post a brief tid bit about the movie at the end..... The story line of the movie is at the end of this post.

We were also invited to attend "The Underground Church" in Green Forest, held at the First Baptist Church, Sat. Jan. 30th. This is an eye opening event/function for the youth to see and understand what believers have to go through in other countries to be able to go to church.....

We had an alter call where there was a great response from the youth.




STORY of To Save a Life Movie

Jake Taylor has it all: friends, fame, a basketball scholarship, and the hottest girl in school. What could be better?

Enter Roger Dawson. Roger has nothing. No friends. No hope. Nothing but put downs and getting pushed aside. Things couldn’t get any worse….. could they?

Jake and Roger were best friends when they were kids. But the politics of high school quickly pilled them apart. Now Roger doesn’t fit in to Jake’s—or anyone’s circle—and he’s had enough. He walks onto campus with a gun in his pocket and pain in his heart and makes a tragic move.


Jake’s last ditch effort can’t stop Roger, and the sudden tragedy rocks Jake’s world. Something breaks loose inside and sends him questioning everything. Most of all, he can’t shake the question, could I have Saved Roger?

His House Children learning, serving, having fun

Check out the bulletin board in the Fellowship Hall to see what's happening with His House Children's Ministry. The children are involved in a Journey with Jesus and sharing His love with others. They are collecting coats, hats, mittens. You can help keep people warm this winter!
You can also help with the needs of His House by taking a dove off the bulletin board and bringing the needed item.
His house is where children learn about God and serve, while having fun!

Wednesday Night, Jan. 13, 2010

Wed. night started off as usual, with our boy/girl prayer challenge. Scott stepped up to the plate and represented the girls, but the boys won, thanks to Garrett's master rock, paper, scissor skills. So, the boys lined up to eat first. There was 34 people served for dinner, with 20 of them being a part of the youth group. Barbara made Gerson's favorite.... homemade mac-n-cheese. After dinner and fellowship, we migrated to the sanctuary to spend some time worshipping God. We have been doing the same songs for 4 weeks now, so the kids can get used to the songs. We sang, "Saved by Grace", "Awesome God", "You are Mighty", and Scott did a solo called "Grace and Love" by Kutless. Garrett and Eddie ran sound, and we took up an offering of $12.25 for our sponsored child James in Haiti. Scott taught a lesson on spiritual warfare. We learned how Jesus has authority over health, weather, death, and demons, by reading scripture out of Matthew. We had an object lesson/game planned, but God had other plans. He wanted us to hear what the Spirit said. As we went into prayer, there were several kids who came forward to pray and receive prayer.

"Seeing Christ" Sermon

SEEING CHRIST

Luke 2:25-32

Sermon by Judy Turner

This is the Sunday in the church year called “Ephiphany”, meaning “appearance” or “manifestation” when we usually think of the Wise Men who made a long journey to see the young Christ child. But there were also other people who looked on the young Jesus and really saw who He was. It was made manifest to them that this was the promised Messiah, the Christ. I assume there were a lot of people who saw with their physical eyes the baby Mary held in her arms, maybe even said, “What a beautiful baby,” as they passed by. But only a few looked at the baby Jesus and saw God in human flesh. What was special about the ones who really saw? Let’s look at the story of one, an old man named Simeon that Luke tells us about in Luke 2:22-32:

When the time of their purification had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him (Jesus) to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

What was it about Simeon that prepared him to see the Christ?

Simeon was not exotic or learned, like the magi from the east who came to visit the young Jesus. He was more like us, an ordinary person. He didn’t make a long journey to see the Christ child, rather he stayed where he was, maybe where he’d lived all his life, in Jerusalem. But in God’s book old Simeon was special, chosen to be one of the few to really see the promised One, to hold the incarnate God in his arms, to experience the fulfillment of his deepest hope and dearest desire.

What was there about this ordinary person that prepared him for seeing the Christ? Luke tells us “He was righteous and devout.” Those two words say so much about what God does and what we do. Righteous means to be in right relationship with God. All of us sin, mess up, fall short, including Simeon. So right relationship is what God does for us when we come to Him in faith. He puts us in right relationship with Himself. But the word “devout” means in awe of God, vigilant, devoted, an unwavering commitment to God. I think of Eugene Peterson’s words, “a long obedience in the same direction.”

Let’s describe the “devout” person this way: he is the one who has a habit of prayer, getting up early, even if he has been up late the night before. He chooses to pray, whether he feels like it or not, because he knows that if he gets slack in prayer, soon that sense of God’s closeness goes. He has committed his life to following Christ, and he doesn’t want to miss one day of consciously, intentionally walking with Jesus.

The devout person: she comes to church to worship, even when it is not convenient, even when she has company, even when there is work to do at home. The devout person is there in church even when the sermons are boring or the music is not to her liking, because she is a Christ-follower, and that means she must meet regularly with other followers of Christ and worship Him together. That’s what He said to do. And she doesn’t want to miss the opportunity of “seeing” Jesus in the community of faith. Jesus promised that where 2 or 3 are gathered, He will be in their midst. I’m not putting myself forward as a model of devotion, because I’m paid to come and help lead worship. But I wouldn’t have missed the Christmas Eve service. Despite the fact that it was snowing and the roads were getting icy, I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, because Jesus was here with us in a special way that evening.

The devout person: he looks for opportunities to serve other people and make the love of Christ real to the people around him, even when the economy is lousy, even when his business is not prospering, even when he would prefer to just ignore people and maybe they would go away. But he has committed his life to the one who said, “Love one another as I have loved you”, and “Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of these, you’ve done it to me.” And in the eyes of the one he has the privilege to serve, he might get a glimpse of Jesus. He doesn’t want to miss seeing Jesus, so he chooses day after day after day to serve.

Luke also tells us that Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” “Waiting” for God to fulfill something promised is what people of faith have always done: waiting to see how God is going to fulfill the promise of “in all things working for the good of those who love him” in this illness or tragedy, waiting to see how God is going to fulfill the promise of “supplying our every need” in this circumstance, waiting to see when this prayer we know is in line with God’s will is going to be answered, because Jesus promised that those who ask in His name will receive.

Waiting is hard for us, because God’s timing is not like ours. What would Simeon tell us about waiting? He might say, "Never give up on God." At the time Simeon lived, the people of God had been waiting for the Messiah for thousands of years. The voice of a true prophet had not even been heard in Israel for hundreds of years. Probably many in Israel had given up on God. But not Simeon. Simeon waited in eager anticipation every day for signs of the fulfillment of God’s promise, not only to Israel, but also a special promise of the Holy Spirit to him personally, that he would not die before he saw the Christ. Probably everyone here is waiting for God to answer a prayer or fulfill a promise. Simeon would say, “Don’t give up on God.” When we are tempted to give up, we ask Jesus for the faith and hope to keep holding on to the promises of God.

But we may have to let go of our pre-conceived notions of what it’s going to look like when God fulfills the promise, answers the prayer. Many in Israel during Jesus’ life missed seeing Him as Messiah because they expected some other kind of Messiah than one who refused to seize earthly power, who taught that the greatest are those who serve, and who died on a cross. God often surprises us, and if we’re holding on to our ideas of how God is going to fulfill the promise, what it’s going to look like, we just might miss what God is actually doing.

The last thing we learn about Simeon is that “the Holy Spirit was upon him”. Moved by the Holy Spirit, he went into the temple courts, just at the time Mary and Joseph were there with Jesus. Simeon looked at the child and saw, he truly saw the fulfillment of God’s promise. And he took the child in his arms and praised God. Everything God promised to the people of Israel and to him personally had been fulfilled. Now he could die in peace, for his own eyes had seen God’s salvation. So it will be for us. When you and I come to God in faith and receive His righteousness, when we devote ourselves every day to following Jesus, when we look for the fulfillment of God’s promises and the Holy Spirit is upon us, then we too will see glimpses of the Christ. We will experience him in our every-day, ordinary, extraordinary lives. When we take our last breath we will leave this life without regret, and we will be ready to see the Lord fully revealed, face to face.

The way to be devout is to consistently put into practice The 9 Ways. Have you thought about your spiritual practices in the year ahead? How is Jesus inviting you to grow spiritually? There is a cost to becoming a devout person, sometimes we sacrifice our own wishes and inclinations in putting God first, sometimes we risk the ridicule or scorn of others who do not understand. There is a cost to discipleship. But think about the cost of non-discipleship. Dallas Willard writes, “Nondiscipleship costs abiding peace, a life penetrated throughout by love, faith that sees everything in the light of God’s overriding governance for good, hopefulness that stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances, power to do what is right and withstand the forces of evil. In short, it costs exactly that abundance of life Jesus said He came to bring.” Without devotion to spiritual practices and constantly deciding to put God first, we are not likely to be able to see Jesus in our daily lives.

Undecorating

During the Christmas season the church was so beautifully decorated thanks to the Worship Arts group, headed by Jennifer Hudspeth and Kamala Carr. It was sad to see the Christmas decorations come down, but we are grateful to Mary, Kari and Alicia Keever for getting the undecorating underway.

Free Garden Seeds!

Our good friends at Carroll County Fresh have arranged for the distribution of 60,000 packets of seeds for gardeners and residents of Carroll County. The seed packets contain dozens of different flower varieties--from pansies to giant sunflowers and everything in between, and all manner of vegetables. These seeds were obtained from the America the Beautiful Fund for the purpose of inspiring people to garden and to make our small and large spaces even more beautiful.

The seeds are being distributed at Sow's Ear, located at 202 Public Square in Berryville. Please come in and get a seed packet (or dozens of seed packets!) at no charge. For more information call Susan at 423 7311.