|
|
|
Select an audio sermon from the drop down list below.
The following sermon was created and presented by Pastor Peg on August 19th, 2008 Stewardship 2
We are continuing w/our messages on stewardship this morning. We’ve learned that stewardship is not merely a dimension of the Christian life, but stewardship in fact “is the Christian life.” A steward is someone entrusted w/another’s wealth or property & charged w/the responsibility of managing it in the owner’s best interest. And then….the owner provides the resources & the authority to carry out the designated responsibilities. We are not just left alone to do what we need to do; we are given the means in which to be responsible! What a blessing!
God has entrusted to us….life, time, talents, money, possessions, family, & God’s grace. In each we are evaluated in how we regard these & what we do w/what has been entrusted to us.
Let’s see if any of you can tell what the message is around this morning w/the singing of this song….some of you will immediately recognize the song & others will hear it for the first time…but, it’s simple so you can catch on to it right away.
The B I B L E…yes that’s the Book for me; I stand upon the Word of God; the B I B L E. The B I B L E…I’ll take along w/me; I’ll read and pray and then obey; the B I B L E. By F A I T H…I’m S A V E D; I’ll stand upon the Word of God; the B I B L E. The B L O O D; that Jesus shed for Me; I’m cleansed from sin, I belong to Him; the B L O O D.
How can we become an effective servant of Christ?…..w/a willingness to study the BIBLE. Success or failure in the Christ-like life WILL depend on how much of the BIBLE you get into your mind on a regular basis & how obedient you are to IT. It’s true, you can go to heaven knowing little more than John 3:16 b/c God’s marvelous gift of salvation is free; received by faith. But if you are ever going to be a happy, successful Christ-like person it will be by regularly feeding on the Word of God, & that’s going to take work & discipline. The more you work at it the faster & better you will grow. The growth is well worth the price it requires. God’s Word is one of the resources, one of the means, that has been given to us to carry out our designated responsibilities as a steward.
Who brought their Bibles w/them this morning? Let’s look up John 13:17, it provides a formula for our success. (“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”) What are “these things?” (Principles) The problem w/so many of us today is that we don’t spend much time learning the principles of the Bible, so we don’t even know what is expected of us. Once you really grip to idea that you too can study the Bible for yourself, your Christian life will take on an entirely new dimension. Study is WORK – study is THINKING!
What will just 15 minutes a day spent readying the Bible & 15 minutes a day studying it do for you? Glad you asked! It will make you a strong believer. Second it will assure you of your salvation – a free gift from a loving God – AND the only source of assurance is the BIBLE. Third: it will give you confidence & power in prayer b/c as we study God’s Word we become acquainted w/God’s will & consequently learn how to pray. Fourth: it will cleanse you from sin. Guilt is a universal problem, & billions of people have no idea where to go for cleansing. As a Bible taught believer, guilt should never bother you. Turn to John 15:3; our Lord said, “You are already clean b/c of the word which I have spoken to you”. Now turn to John 17:17: the Word of God has a cleansing effect….“Sanctify them by Your truth; Your word is truth.” Fifth: it will give you joy - one of the blessings of a believers life…..but often that joy is stifled by the problems of life. It is the Word of God that puts joy in our heart regardless of the circumstance or situation. Sixth: it will produce peace in your life. Peace in one’s heart even when the circumstances of life call for worry & anxiety. As the Holy Spirit comes to live in your life, you will be different. That difference is primarily shown in your emotions, which will be characterized by peace in the face of difficulties. (Turn to John 16:33; Col. 3:15) Peace is not automatic….we let is flood our hearts thru filling our minds in God’s Word. Seven: it will guide you in making important decisions of life. When the principles of God are well-known this simplifies the process of decision-making. Jesus said, (Lk. 11:28) We can’t keep what we have not heard! But as our minds are filled daily w/the Word of God it will enlighten the dark paths of the future w/Divine guidance. Eighth: it will empower us to articulate our faith. We cannot communicate what we do not know! Ninth: we should read & study the Bible b/c of the false teaching that engulfs us all. The Bible gives us the measuring stick by which we can determine truth from error. It tells us what God is like. And lastly: it will guarantee our success. Everyone desires to be successful. Do any of you read books on how to fail? Our last Scripture for you to look up - Joshua 1:8. Note the words: and then you shall have good success.” Daily meditation or thinking upon the Word of God produces the success that everyone desire.
Unfortunately many believe they are too busy to refresh their minds each day on the Word of God. What they don’t realize is that a daily quiet time costs them nothing in the long run b/c the rest of their day will be more successful than if they had ignored their BIBLE.
God’s invitation is always laid out there for us to become more serious in the way we follow God. Remember, Jesus had followers at various levels: there were the “crowds” that followed Him, the “seventy-two” others Jesus sent “two by two ahead of Him to every town & place where He was about to go,” the twelve apostles, & His inner circle of Peter, James, & John. We determine how close to Jesus we want to be! The “level” we want to live at. How deeply we want to live in the Kingdom of God is not forced upon us! God’s Word will not only enrich our own spiritual life but it will empower us to serve Jesus Christ effectively – to be the GOOD steward of our life & our time.
The following sermon was created and presented by Pastor Peg on August 3rd, 2008 Stewardship 1
James 2: 14-18
Is there anyone here who doesn’t know how to swim? For those who can, pretend you can’t….all of you are wanting to learn. There’s a pool available…..just waiting for you to jump in. ....it’s perfect; BUT, it’s ten feet deep everywhere – no shallow end. Are you a little reluctant in using this pool? Would it make any difference if I told you the water would support you, and you’d float; you just needed to relax? I think you’d believe me but you’d probably still not be ready to act on it. You may even have absolute faith in knowing you would float & even know the scientific details in floating. You could even study books on swimming, but until you get wet, it wouldn’t mean a thing. Christianity is like a swimming pool. It’s not enough to sit on the side & think about it. You have to jump in feet first; let yourself be immersed in it; let God’s love flow around you, cover you, support you & hold you up.
Someone read James 2:14-26 (relationship between faith & works) remembering James is speaking to a body of believers who have already accepted Jesus as their Lord & Savior……………………………….
James begins this section by using the example of someone who says they have faith. He then immediately gives an example of what true & false faiths are. He begins w/the negative & demonstrates what an empty faith is (verses 15-17). Then he shows that that type of faith isn't much different from the faith of demons (verse 19). Finally, he gives examples of living faith by showing Abraham & Rahab as examples of people who demonstrated their faith by their deeds.
So, James is examining two kinds of faith: one that leads to godly works & one that does not. One is true, & the other is false. One is dead, the other alive; hence, "Faith w/o works is dead," (James 2:20). He’s simply saying that if you ‘say' you are a Christian, then there had better be some appropriate works manifested or your faith is false.
Now we know: stewardship is not merely a dimension of the Christian life, but stewardship in fact “is the Christian life.”
A steward is someone entrusted w/another’s wealth or property & charged w/the responsibility of managing it in the owner’s best interest. And then….the steward is entrusted by the owner w/sufficient resources & the authority to carry out the designated responsibilities. We are not just left alone to do what we need to do; we are given the means in which to be responsible! What a blessing!
God has entrusted to us life, time, talents, money, possessions, family, & God’s grace. In each we are evaluated in how we regard these & what we do w/what has been entrusted to us.
Scripture tells us that God delegated to us authority over all the creation (Gen. 1:28; Ps. 8:6-7). God expects us to use all the resources given to us to the best of our ability. Our primary goal is to be found faithful in accomplishing the tasks delegated to us. (1 Cor. 4:2)
Our use of money & possessions is only one aspect of stewardship; all its aspects are overlapping, as circles overlapped. In Exodus 36:2-7, for example, we see the tabernacle built by people giving their time, energy, skills, money, & possessions. It is imperative that we understand how we view & handle “money” will affect how we view & handle our time, energy, talents, family, church, occupation, & every facet of our lives.
It may surprise some of you to hear that Jesus showed a keen interest w/the subject of money. He spoke frequently in economic terms. When He began His ministry, He demonstrated an unusual awareness of all kinds of economic activity in Palestine. The main source for understanding Jesus’ knowledge of what kinds of business enterprises existed at that time are in His parables that He told to illustrate spiritual truth. More than a quarter of the parables (eleven out of thirty-one) deals w/finances & money directly…just a few: *(Matt. 13:44-45) He referred to investment in jewels & treasures to illustrate the importance of investing in the Kingdom of God *(Matt. 13:52) He referred to saving new treasures as well as old treasures to illustrate the importance of storing up both old & new truth *(Matt. 20:1-16) He referred to hiring procedures & wages to illustrate God’s Sovereignty & generosity in treating all w/equality, forgiving sins, & rewarding people w/eternal life
We will be looking at some of these parables in detail as the next few weeks come & go.
The conclusion of today’s message comes back w/James’ words: faith w/o works is dead. It’s not enough to learn about swimming….we have to get into the water.
As Christ’s believers, we are freed from the law & the petty rules & legalisms. As Paul says, "The law kills, but the Spirit gives life." ... New life. So if we are Christ-like people we will exhibit the fruits of the Holy spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control.
Contrary to popular belief - this doesn’t just happen b/c we say we believe in Jesus. Our faith is a free unmerited gift of God; but it’s not magic. We must accept God’s grace, & let it work in us. It’s not enough to say we believe in Jesus; we must accept Him as our Lord, Savior & Master. That means committing our lives to Him. It means committing to following His example, as best we can.
If you’ve never really committed yourself to Christ, I invite you to do so now. Pray w/me: Lord, we know that faith is more than believing in You; it’s committing to You. We’re ready to do that now. We’re tired of being poolside Christians. We want to jump in. We want to be cleansed by You, refreshed by You, held up by You, made new by You. Feet first, head first, heart first, jackknife, double somersault, we’re coming in, Lord. ... Thank you; thank you for immersing us in Your love. We will never be the same again!
And all God’s people said, "Amen!"
The following sermon was created and presented by Pastor Peg on July 27, 2008 Giving I had God’s message all prepared and then I read Gail’s sermon from last week. I thought I really needed that sermon and I thank you Gail for emailing to me. I also needed to be at Regional Conference. (testimony given). Publicly, I need to let this church body know that I have spent too much time trying to weed out this field, and it isn’t even my job! My job is to be wheat right along with you. It’s our job to stay rooted in God’s Word, and bear the fruit that makes for good bread and quoting Gail, “as we live among what Satan sows. God and His angels will take care of what Satan has sown, and we must turn it over to God to handle.” With this said, we are now going to begin the journey that God has so directed. Does God care about what we do, what we say; what we listen to; what we do for others; what we do with the possessions entrusted to us here on earth? Is there a link between our eternal soul and our earthly GIVING? Scripture makes it clear in Romans 14:10-13 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 that we will all give an account of our lives. (Read Romans & 2 Cor.) I hope most of you brought your Bibles this morning b/c you’re going to need them. I’ll give you a Scripture…look it up & as soon as someone has found it, please raise your hand so that you can read it aloud.... “Giving” Scriptures Emphasis added red font & Scriptures
inclusified Give, and it will be give to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it till be measured back to you.
2 Cor. 9:5-10 Therefore I thought it necessary to urge these brethren to go to you b/4 I do and make arrangements in advance for this bountiful, promised gift of yours, so that it may be ready, not as an extortion but as a generous and willing gift. Remember this: the person who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and the person who sows generously will also reap generously AND w/blessings. Let each one give as they have made up their own mind and purposed in their heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves – takes pleasure in, prizes above other things - a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient. As it is written, God has scattered abroad, given to the poor; God’s righteousness endures forever. Now may God Who provides seed for the sower and bread for eating also provide and multiply your sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity.]
Proverbs 19:17 The person who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and that which s/he has given God will repay to them. Proverbs 21:13 Whoever stops their ears at the cry of the poor will cry out themselves and not be heard. Proverbs 22:9 The person who has a bountiful eye shall be blessed, for this person gives of their bread to the poor. Proverbs 28:27 The person who gives to the poor will not want, but the person who hides their eyes will have many a curse. Philippians 4:15-19 Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia,, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abound to your account. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your needs according to God riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Matt. 25:31-46 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered b/4 Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Parent, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me. Then the righteous will answer Him saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? And the King will answer and say to them, Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of My brothers/sisters, you did it to Me. Then He will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me. Then they also will answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You? Then He will answer them, saying, Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me! And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Imagine a REVOLUTION…..a revolution of GENEROSITY! (Share asking the question: Has this church ever been a GIVING church?)
Jesus measures generosity by a radical standard………the condition of the giver’s heart. (Matt. 6:21)….”For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” So, giving is more than an obligation for followers of Christ; it is an exciting opportunity to lay up treasure that will last for all eternity. “The Lord Jesus Himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ ” (Acts 20:35b). B/4 we are through looking at “giving” & stewardship we will have a “LIFESTYLE” of generosity. People that is a promise from God! My job in this new venture of Church of the Holy Spirit will be as a teacher, motivator, encourager, and an example to the followers of Jesus Christ. To stir a new, Spirit-led commitment to generosity among this congregation and beyond. CHS is to become a G-I-V-I-N-G body of believers!
God loves to bless, and our blessings are meant to bless others. Hang on to your hats because God is going to take us on a wild ride. No longer is this church body to look at themselves. The I don’t, I’m not, she doesn’t, I’m tired of, ….I...I…I, me, me, me – will no longer be acceptable. We are to move forward and learn to generously give of our money, talents, skills, gifts and time. We are to focus on what can we do for the ministry of Jesus Christ instead of what can this Church do for ME!
The following sermons were created and presented by Rev Sharon, Church of the Holy Spirit MCC Des Moines
The Lord’s Prayer Most of us watch the TV program that is the greatest interest to us. Valerie and I watch the remodeling – landscaping shows because that what we are working on. Other people I know don’t miss Rachel Ray or Emeril if they can help it. And still others watch the golf pros or the tennis pros. Certainly, we watch because it is entertaining. But many of us watch because we want to learn more about our passion. Valerie and I want to know more about how to work on the house and what the possibilities for change are. People watch the world’s best chefs and then head to their own kitchen. I imagine that all of us would jump at the chance to have one on one instruction from one of those TV greats. Norm Abrams can do my carpentry any day. Any of you want Rachel Ray in your kitchen? The disciples that followed Jesus were no different than us. They watch Jesus with a sense of awe. And they watched Jesus to learn from him. Certainly they noticed that Jesus was a man of prayer. Whatever emotion or problem confronted Jesus, he prayed about it. When he was too tired from all the demands of the people needing healing, he withdrew to pray. When he heard that John the Baptist was dead, he withdrew to pray. When the disciples were facing issues and he was concerned about them, he prayed. And certainly when he faced his greatest challenge – the cross that lay before him – he went to the garden of Gethsemane and he prayed. Everything about Jesus showed that he was comfortable with prayer and that prayer was the answer to all of his concerns both large and small. Prayer seemed to come naturally to Jesus. It seemed to be the key to all his successes in life and in his ministry. But more than that prayer also filled Jesus with peace and grace. It gave him more power and more wisdom to do the Parent’s will on earth. I am more like the disciples and I imagine you are too. There is Peter who is a man of action. He is always ready to take on the challenges but I don’t recall reading any accounts of Peter retired to pray before he flew into doing what he thought needed to be done. And there were James and John – called the Sons of thunder. They too acted immediately and often with great emotion. So I am sure that they struggled with prayer just the way you and I do. After watching Jesus for a long time, they finally got up enough courage to ask him to teach them to pray. Now they were Hebrews – they knew how to pray in the Jewish way. But they wanted to be able to pray the way Jesus prayed. I imagine Jesus was just waiting for them to ask him to teach them. Jesus knows that prayer is our communication with God the Parent. In our own relationships, we know that when our communications are strained, the quality of the relationship is poor. If you don’t speak to your parents or your spouse is giving you the silent treatment, the quality of the relationship is lacking. God certainly doesn’t want us – the children of God – to struggle in our communication with God. God wants us to be able to talk to God as freely as we talk to our closest friend. God wants us to relish prayer not be frightened of it. God wants us to be experts in prayer – not struggling as beginners. Raise your hand if you know you are already an expert in prayer. Those of you who are experts can nap or use the next few minutes as a refresher. The rest of us want to become more expert in praying. We want to understand why our mind wanders when we try to pray and learn how to improve. Many of us experience three problems with prayer.Problem number one is the “who” problem. Problem number two is the “where” problem and Problem number 3 is the “what” problem. The prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, the prayer that Jesus left us to pray addresses all three of these problems. The first problem is WHO. We start out with “Our Parent” or Our Creator. We might also say Our Father. This who is so personal. We aren’t praying to the ancient God of the Hebrews. We aren’t praying to some unknown Deity. We are our praying to “Our God” – our very own creator. When someone is ours – we feel that special closeness. Jesus taught us to start our prayer “Our Parent”. When Jesus taught the disciples he used the word “Abba”. It is the equivalent of the English word “Daddy”. It is a very familiar greeting. And it is one that brings to mind loving and caring. We use Parent or Creator today because each of us needs to us the word that conveys that warmth, that love, that concern and caring to us.
There is another aspect of beginning our prayer by addressing God. When you have a conversation with someone, do you pay more attention to the conversation when you start it by addressing the person you are talking to. If I say Valerie, I want to tell you about my day. It is more meaningful than if I just start babbling about my day. I have indicated that I am talking specifically to her. I am not likely to wander from the conversation and forget who I am talking to. Our mind can wander when we pray. Starting by calling God by name helps us to stay focused on the conversation – centered in prayer. The first two words of the prayer are so important because they establish the “WHO”. Then Jesus goes on to tell us about the “where”. We pray our Parent who art in heaven. That sounds so very far away to us. In our lifetime, people have been to the heavens. Astronauts go into space and live there for months. Man has walked on the moon. “Heaven” seems even farther away than all that. For many of us God in Heaven seems very distant – very remote. That can leave us feeling very alone and wondering if our prayers are being heard at all. Sometimes, we can wonder if our prayers are just lost in space as my email seems to be in cyberspace sometimes. We are so familiar with the Lord’s Prayer that we don’t look critically at it.I was surprised when I discovered this week that the meaning of the word we recite as “heaven”. The Greek word used for heaven is “uranos”, where we get the name of the planet Uranus. In this prayer it is used in the plural not the singular, so we are praying to our loving, familiar Parent, the one in the heavens. When this word is used in the New Testament it is used in the sense of ‘atmosphere’ or ‘sky’ or ‘the air around us’, not in the sense of a galaxy far, far away. What we are actually praying is Our Loving, Caring, Familiar Parent, who is closer than the very air we breathe. You see we are not praying to a distant, formal unknowable and untouchable Deity. We are praying to one so dear and so near that even our whispers can be heard and that we cannot utter can be felt in the very heart of God as we earnestly pray. In that opening phrase, we have the “who” and the “where” of our prayers. The ‘what” often gives us concern. So often we think our problems are either too small to bother God with or so large – so unsolvable that even God will not be able to do a thing about them. Either way we are missing out on tremendous blessings by not sharing our small worries, our large worries, our small victories and large successes with the most loving, most powerful companion we have in our live. God is concerned with all our concerns. Several more sermons can be preached on the “what’ of prayer that Jesus has outlined for us in the Lord’s Prayer. But I know you don’t want to stay for several more hours. So I will leave those sermons for another time. This morning remember the words of Jesus: You have not because you ask not. Prayer is our communication with our beloved Parent. God is with us, waiting for us to communicate, waiting for us to tell God all our needs and all our praises. God is waiting to bless us in ways we never dreamed possible. Starting this moment, resolve to pray and you will find that prayer changes things. Amen.
According to the news reports, this past season of forest fires in northern California and the Northwestern states has been the worst in fifty years. Thousands and thousands of acres of trees have been destroyed as well anything else in the path of the intense heat and flames. It was nature then to think that when the Friday night news put up a back drop with the words “FIRE STORM”, that we were going to hear an updated report on the raging forest fires. But the news item was something entirely different. The news was about a speech that Pope Benedict XVI gave to academics in Germany. Pope Benedict quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor as saying the Prophet Muhammad brought "only evil and inhuman things," such as holy war. The result of his words has been a Fire Storm in the nations of Islam. An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman says the pope's comments were a "great mistake. “Muslim leaders elsewhere, including Pakistan, Iraq and Turkey, have also denounced the pope's comments. The Vatican says Pope Benedict respects Islam and did not intend to offend anyone. Pope Benedict’s words not his intentions have created unrest and animosity in many nations. Like all words, once loosed upon others they cannot be taken back. Pope Benedict’s mistake illustrates the point that James was making in today’s reading. It may be difficult this morning for us to think about power of the tongue – especially to think about the destruction that we can do with our words. Today, many of us have only words of condolence and words of comfort. We are grieved by the loss of Rev Joyce from our community. Yet we are also filled with words of hope and joy in knowing that the world that Joyce has entered is so much superior to the world in which we live. This time of grief and sadness will pass. Our lives will return to a normal state of living. With that return will come our usual use of the tongue – our everyday manner of speaking. It is important for us to take heed of the lesson that James was teaching the first century Christians. As we see from the words of even the Pope, no one of us will ever totally tame our tongue. James likened the tongue to a fire. Today, I want us to think about our words as the flame from a blowtorch. As many of you know, Valerie and I are renovating and remodeling our home in State Center. Part of that work entails replacing and adding new water service lines. That kind of plumbing involves joining copper pieces and then using solder to make the joints watertight. The solder has to be melted with very high heat. So one uses a handheld blowtorch. Anything in the path of the flame will be melted, scorched or set on fire. Recently, we were adding a water softener and had to break the water line in a place close to the floor joist, some wiring and the natural gas supply line for our water heater. It was necessary to turn the gas supply off and shield the flammable wood and wiring from the effects of the intense heat. I also keep a fire extinguisher on hand in case something does catch fire. Even with all our preparation, molten solder fell from the pipes being joined and burned things when it landed – specifically our skin. The intense heat when focused directly on the joint performs a very necessary and beneficial function. That very same flame is capable of destroying the whole house if it is not properly controlled. Our tongue is a blowtorch flame and our words are the heat it generates. When we focus our words on a specific person or a specific group, we can have an incredibly beneficial effect. We can use our words to build one another up thereby creating or strengthening our relationships. So often in these difficult times, people need to be uplifted both in small ways and sometimes in much larger ways. If we are feeling down or taken for granted, a simple thank you, an affirmation that what we did was just the right thing, can make us glow with joy for days. I work as a systems analyst and auditor. It is the nature of auditing to find faults or failures. Needless to say, one does not get many thank you's in that line of work. It really does brighten my who day when one of the areas that I have audited affirms the work – the words of my audit report. When we affirm and praise one another, we use our blowtorch – our tongue to do beneficial things. Sometimes, our words are meant to burn a little. Occasionally, we need to correct the path of some of our loved ones – burn away the destructive things around them. We use our words to convict people of the error of their ways. Sometimes, we use our words to warn of imminent danger. Screaming at someone is usually not appropriate. But if they are about to be hit by a car, or touch a live electric wire, those otherwise inappropriate words may be just what is needed. When we use wisdom to inform our words, a little charring may be just what Jesus wanted us to do. As James said, no one of us perfect. Often we focus our blowtorch on people that cannot take the heat without being burned. During the installation of the water softener, a large amount of the molten solder fell on my thumb. The burn was immediate and it has taken weeks to heal. There will be a scar there to remind me of that project for the rest of my life. When we let loose with words that burn others, too often we think that we can just apologize and the exchange will be forgotten. Unfortunately, that is not true. Just like the flame of the blow torch, once something has been charred or burned or melted, it cannot return to its original state. Our apologies and the giving and receiving of forgiveness can be the balm that helps to heal the wound and lessen pain of the burn. But if the injury was great, the scar remains forever. I can look at my hands and arms tell you the story of each of the burn scars forever marking my skin. If we could see one another’s psychic skin or soul, we would see there the scars of all the burning words that we have accumulated in our lifetime. I imagine that most of us would look like survivors of a small pox epidemic. That is how powerful our words can be – how destructive the fire of our tongue. Unlike Pope Benedict, none of us can cause a FIRE STORM for the international community – setting ablaze the citizens of many nations. But there is not one of us here this morning who does not have that power with their friends and family. Each of us has a circle of influence. Think for a moment about the people in your life and your relationship with them. We have the greatest influence or power with our children especially when they are young. And our words are most important to others dearest to us – our spouse, our parents, our best friends. It is these loved ones that are also in the most danger of being wounded by our words. Not one us here this morning would take a small blow torch, ignite it and point it at a loved one intending to burn that person’s flesh. And yet, we can do that with our words by simply speaking before we think. Knowing the power of our words and the true cost of an unbridled tongue, what can we do? The tongue is often said to have a mind of its own. The first thing that we must do is make our tongue always subservient to our mind. Whenever you are tempted to speak hurtful words to others, stop for a moment and form this image in your mind. Here I stand with a blow torch in my hand. And there in front of me stands, the image of Christ. For each and every person was created in the divine image of God. Whatever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters, we do also to Jesus. So here I stand with a blow torch in my hand and there in front of me stands the image of Jesus. Am I willing to ignite the flame and point the torch at Jesus? If we stop long enough to consider that image, we will retreat to the cliché that our Mother’s ingrained in us in our childhood. “If you can’t say something good about someone, don’t say anything at all.” Bridling our tongue is difficult. If we work first on our heart, then keeping our tongue in line will be much easier. Have any of you ever squeezed an orange? What did you get? You got orange juice. Has anyone ever squeezed an orange and got grapefruit juice from it? No – it is not possible. When we squeeze a fruit, we get the juice of only that fruit. If the fruit of our spirit is the spirit of Christ, then when we are squeezed, the juice of destruction will not flow from us. Let us then cultivate the fruits of the spirit. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Christians at Galatia, that the “The Fruit of God's Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Pastor Peg has reminded us week after week that we need to get back to Word of God. Paul’s words are given to us in Galatians 5:22-23. Begin each day reading the word of God. In your morning prayer time, pray that God will create within you this spirit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. The temptation to misuse the power of your tongue will be greatly lessened by having in your heart, the fruit of God’s spirit. When temptation arises, remember to stop and reflect on the tremendous power that is within you. The power to build-up those that you love or the power to bring damage to those that you love. Then pray for the wisdom to choose the right words – the words that the Holy Spirit gives you in that moment. This week read, meditate and pray letting the Holy Spirit have complete right of way in all your spoken words. By doing this, you will begin to bridle your tongue and in the words of the Psalmist, the words of your mouth and the meditation of your heart will be acceptable to our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Copyright © 2005-2008 CHS Cyber Church. All rights reserved. Revised: 08/20/08. |
