Grace 4 All

This week we conclude our sermon series “A Double Blessing,” with the message “A Generosity of Hope."  It is only appropriate to discuss blessing others before we leave the series.

This week not only will be talking about being generous with others, but also talking about the fact that we can only GIVE what we HAVE.  This is why any flight attendant will tell you to put on your oxygen mask first BEFORE helping others.

We have been talking these past weeks about Compressed Grief - grief that piles up on top of itself, until there seems to be almost no room left.

Now we are going to discuss two more words:

Capability and Capacity.

Capability is our ability to do something. Capability comes from the tools that we have in our box.  As Christians, our tools include the Bible, the Words of our Savior.  These are constants - always present.  So we ALWAYS have the capability to do something - like loving one’s neighbor, and giving to others, 

Do we have the capacity?

One could argue that capacity is our ability to do something as well.  Granted.

But capacity is also how much something can hold (a cup has 8 oz capacity).  It can be how much we can hold.

If we have hatred...

If we gossip…

If we are sad…

When hold those on to these things (which are all arguably compressed grief in many forms), they take up space in our cup.  We can only give what we have.  It is a vicious cycle too -  being full of negatives makes us lack the capacity for positives. 

Thus, we always have the capability to do the right thing (we always have the tools), but we do not always have the capacity (the mental space) to do the right thing (we ARE human).

God’s word gives us the capability.  CHRIST GIVES US THE CAPACITY.

Explore with us this week as we seek both to be filled, and to give.

In His Love,

Pastor Tracy

We continue in our Sermon Series “A Double Blessing,” by talking about “God With Us, For Us, and In Our Hearts.”  This is the theme that runs throughout Mark Batterson’s book.

If you regularly listen to this Podcast, you know I end with:

“The Lord bless you
        and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine on you
        and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn his face toward you
        and give you peace.”

These words are a powerful blessing.  WORDS HAVE POWER.

God is With Us, For Us, and In Our Hearts.  Those are powerful words too.

Here is what Mark Batterson says in his book about this blessing:

“What is the blessing of God?  It’s God-God with us, God for us, God in us.  To reduce it to anything less dishonors God and devalues the blessing.  God with us is a joy unspeakable and the peace that surpasses understanding.  God for us is His favor, the X factor between the best we can do and the best God can do.  And God in us is power, resurrection power.”

That gives us a LOT to talk about....

This week we continue in our Sermon Series, “A Double Blessing.”  The book, should you choose to get it, is by Mark Batterson. 

Saturday and Sunday, will be “Prisoners of Hope.”  Sounds like a contradiction in terms, but it is not.  We did a sermon series some time ago called “Unexpected,” from a book of the same name by Christine Caine. Here is what she said about becoming a prisoner of hope: 

When we become prisoners of hope, we declare with defiance that there is…

·      No need that God cannot meet.

·      No mountain God cannot move.

·      No prayer God cannot answer.

·      No sickness God cannot heal.

·      No heart God cannot mend.

·      No door God cannot open.

When we become prisoners of hope, we aren’t dismayed when dreams…

·      Take longer than we think they should.

·      Cost more than we think they should.

·      Are harder to realize than we think they should be.

When we become prisoners of hope, we shift our perspective.  We…

·      Look at what we have left, not what we have lost

·      Believe the best, not assume the worst

·      Keep moving forward, not shrink backward

Let’s choose to be a prisoner of hope.  

Can you think of a more appropriate time for this than NOW?

We begin a new sermon series this weekend, “A Double Blessing.”  If you would like to study along with us during this series, you might pick up the book Double Blessing by Mark Batterson.  It is an outstanding book that explains what it means to be blessed, but moreover how your blessings are meant to bless others.

As we begin the series, we will be looking at the concept of “A Double Portion,” and what this means.  We will be talking about blessings on top of blessings.  Yet, even while writing this, I have to acknowledge that this last year has been hard, so very very hard.  I acutely feel it too, and know God never promised sunshine without rain.  Jesus says in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.”  But He also says, “But take heart!  I have overcome the world!”  The blessing is still there, no matter what.

So what do we DO WITH OUR BLESSING?  Batterson says in his book, “God doesn’t bless us to raise our standard of living.  God blesses us to raise our standard of giving.  In the words of Winston Churchill, ‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.’”  

Our talents are handed off to others, who eventually do more than we ever could.
Our compassion is handed off to others, who eventually do more than we ever could.
Our skill at listening is handed off to others, who eventually do more than we ever could.

This list could go on and on, we hand off to others, who eventually do more than we ever could. 

I think you get the idea.  What we hand off to others becomes our legacy, and not only does that bring God into the world, it MULTIPLIES GOD IN THE WORLD.

It is both a blessing and a responsibility.

What does it take for you to believe?

If you believe, what next?

One word.

Grief.

Fickle.  That is the word that I think of every Palm Sunday. 

We are a fickle people. 

On Palm Sunday, Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem.  People spread their cloaks on the road before Him.  Tree branches were cut down and placed in His path.  Blessings were shouted for the “Son of David.”  The whole city was stirred.  Make no mistake, this was an uproar.  “Who is this?” the people asked.  “This is Jesus, the Prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”  (Matthew 21: 8-11)

It is a glorious scene.  Jesus is recognized here on Earth.  When you read the words, you can almost feel the mass of humanity celebrating in the streets. You can hear the roar of the crowd.

A few days later, it would still be a mass of humanity, it would still be a roaring of the crowd.  It would be the same people, with the same electricity, but for a different reason.  Bowing to political pressure, the same crowd would turn Jesus over to die.

The magnitude of this never ceases to amaze me.

Fickle.

And all too human.  We can be superficial. We can turn the other way when things do not seem to be going as we predicted.  We do this in our relationships, we do this in our churches, we do this in our jobs, we do this in our life.

And the fact that Jesus still willingly died for us, fully understanding our humanity, and all that entails, is nothing short of miraculous to me.  THAT IS GRACE, a million-fold.

So we celebrate Palm Sunday this upcoming Sunday, remembering that those who celebrated Jesus would turn him over to die in just a few days time.  We remember that those “people” are us.  

And we pledge to do better for the Savior that fully accepts us as we are.

This week in our sermon series, “Jesus of Nazareth,” the message is “The Disciples are Called.” We will be in Mark and Matthew. 

Let’s look at who Jesus calls:

Four fishermen - Jesus does not call some nobility to go out and save the world, but four ordinary fishermen.  They probably looked a little rough (best guess), and smelled like fish (better guess).  Jesus walks by Simon and Andrew first, and James and John second, with a very non-descriptive request.  “Come follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people.”  What a clever way to “hook” these four.  (See what I did there?)  We do not get to see the entire dialogue, but it appears that there is not much convincing to do.  They leave their people and begin the journey with Jesus. 

What if that was YOU?

Sinners - Jesus does not call the righteous, but calls sinners.  He finds Matthew at the tax collectors booth.  With a simple, “Follow me,” he is instantly having dinner at Matthew’s house, surrounded by “many” tax collectors and sinners.  Again, we do not get to see the entire dialogue, but it appears that there is not much convincing to do.  Jesus tells the Pharisees that he is not here to call the righteous, but here to call the sinners.  They leave their people and begin the journey with Jesus.

What if that was YOU?

In reality…..Jesus called everyday, average people.  People that needed help, people that needed healing.  Everyday, average people that were going to do the extraordinary.

What if that was YOU?

GUESS WHAT?  IT IS YOU.

I love stories.  I REALLY LOVE STORIES. 

This week, as we continue our sermon series Jesus of Nazareth, our message is “The Parables of Jesus,” which means that I get to discuss two of my favorite things:

Faith AND stories.  How awesome is that?

Jesus told FANTASTIC stories: stories that invited His audience into His faith space, stories that encouraged people to reach outside of themselves, stories that dared His listeners to imagine the world in an entirely different way.  They were groundbreaking, awesomely simple, and at the same time incredibly complex.  They were stories that, in retrospect, walked Jesus up to the very cross on which He died, and ushered in a new world with His resurrection.

I don’t know about you, but I am ALWAYS up for stories like that.  And so this week, we focus on The Good Samaritan, The Prodigal Son, and The Rich Man and Lazarus.  Yes, you have heard them before - but what if this week they unlock something entirely new for you?  The stories are that as well - the key to life’s greater meaning.

And as I typically do - I am going to tie this week’s message to a current world story.  I can’t tell you what - that would spoil the surprise.  But I will give you a teaser.  It involves a very Big Fish.