New Life UMC

•Always Right – Over the years I have met many people who have told me I am going to hell. Here is a list of reasons I am hell hound: (1) I did not pray correctly, (2) I wore the wrong kind of cross, (3) I read the wrong kind of Bible, (4) I was not baptized in the right denomination, (5) I was baptized as a child, (6) I was not baptized by total immersion, (7) I am ordained in the wrong denomination, (8) I have friends who are sinners, (9) I have friends who are not Christian, (10) I have friends who are gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered, (11) I have friends who have had abortions, (12) I have drank, smoked, played cards, danced, and had sex for other reasons than procreation. God have mercy on my soul. Is that our story? If you do not believe or do or say a certain thing you are going to hell and going to suffer and be in pain forever. End of story. Is that Good News? Is that true and just? All those people who told me I am going to hell would have also told each other they are hell bound. Who is right? Let’s take a look at Hell.

•Questions – over the next four weeks we are going to be talking about some pretty big issues: heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who ever lived. Big stuff. I will be using the book “Love Wins” from Pastor Rob Bell as a primary resource for this series. This book created controversy in his congregation because it challenged some of what one modern church movement tends to focus on: where we go when we die and “who” gets to go. I do not claim everything Pastor Rob claims is Gospel Truth; nor is everything I say. BUT I believe that being a follower of Jesus Christ means asking questions, challenging ourselves daily, and not taking for granted what an individual or even an entire group says is the truth. As always, I hope this series makes you ask some questions, look at yourself and helps you share Christ and your faith with others. With all that being said, let’s take a closer look at Heaven.

Tonight Jaime shares her testimony and how sometimes the nessessity of the storms allows us to plug into the energy of it to shape and define our relationship with God.

The upper Midwest and Great Plains of the United States tends to be the region that experiences blizzards most often. With few trees or other obstructions to reduce wind and blowing snow, this part of the country is particular vulnerable to blizzards.The only thing worse is trying to drive in one. There is a condition called white out, where the snow is blowing so hard that it blocks out everything. You become snow blind and you can’t see. It can be frightening and if you have to drive, well it’s much better if you don’t. We are sometimes blinded by our situations and we feel God is not there or if God is there, that somehow our circumstance obscures his presence. Have you ever been in that kind of situation? Feel abandoned by God. Tonight we look at a story in the bible about Daniel. It comes from the 6th chapter and starts at verse 16. But we need to back up a little and give you some background that led up to this point.

Tonight we look at Hurricanes. When you know it’s coming. Those times in your life when you can get consumed in the moment and forget about the one thing that can help you weather the storm, all storms. When you try to Hold on. Hold onto the things, feelings, emotions, people, , anger, frustrations, stress, stuff and try to ride out that storm. Relying only on yourself. We will see tonight something that we must do in order to ride out those storms.

•T-Storms – thunderstorms bring uncertainty. Heavy rain, strong winds, lightning and thunder make for quite a show. As we head further into the Spring I imagine I will have to reassure and comfort my son (and other members of my family) during these storms. They can be pretty scary. And for good reason. Winds can knock down trees and power lines. Rains can cause damage and even flash floods. Lightning can strike and start fires and create other problems. Thunderstorms can also be the precursor to tornados, hurricanes, and other more severe storms. But often their bark is bigger than their bite. The problem is the uncertainty. Will it pass easily or will it cause serious damage? We often don’t know. The same is true with our lives. There is so much uncertainty and that often causes us to question ourselves, our faith and God. Today I want to look at some of that uncertainty and how to navigate through it.

This week we are taking about Twister's or the Tornado's. Where is God When life is spinning out of control. When it seems that life is throwing too much at you and the isolation makes it seem that you are all alone. These past two weeks, the Brace household has been moving. Now moving is not one of my favorite things to do. I am the type of person that I need to know where everything is. If I am looking for a book., I am pretty good knowing exactly where it is. Papers, my favorite coffee mug or my car key's. I can tell you where they are. Except when moving. They get stuck in a box, they are put in a drawer or even get left behind. It drive 's me crazy. This past week Karen and I took one of those personality test. You know the ones that you look at four different traits or statements and then you total them up and you find out if you are either Sanguine, Chorotic, Meloncoly or Phagmatic. Well it was no surprise to me that I found out that I scored very high as Meloncoly. Now some of the traits of someone that is meloncoly is that they what to do thing the right way, they are organized, In a nutshell Melancholic people are emotionally sensitive, perfectionistic introverts.When I start to a move, I get in this frame of mind that it is a time to organize. Three piles, Keep, Give away and pitch. The keep pile, I have all kinds of plans for that. Brand new cardboard boxes (with handles) that I am going to label with it's contents and destination in the new house. Living room, bathroom, bedroom , garage. After the about 3/4 of the first box is filled, that plan goes out the window and it is a mad dash to just get everything in boxes, into the car and over to the new place. Looks like a tornado has been through it. Growing up I remember my Mom coming in to me and my brothers room at times and saying Jeffrey and Thomas, your room looks like a tornado has been through it.

•Apples – this is a story some of you may have heard before. Several colleagues were out of town for business. After their work was done they were eager to get home. They found getting to the airport to be harder than expected and by the time they arrived they were running a bit late. They rushed through the terminals and in their hurry they knocked over a small apple stand. If they had stopped they would miss their flight, so they continued, ignoring the mess they had made. They checked in and made it to the plane in time. Once there one of the men stopped to think about what they had done, and felt some regret. He told the others to go on and he called his wife to tell her he would take the next flight. We travelled back through the terminal where the apple stand was. There he found the overturned table, apples everywhere, and a young blind girl desperately grasping for her falling produce. He could see the tears in her eyes as everyone in the airport passed her by. He went to her, told her it was he and his friend who caused this problem and helped her pick up her apples. Many of the apples were bruised so he put them to the side. Once everything was picked up; he paid for the bruised apples, apologized and started to leave. As he left the young girl called out to him, “Mister”, she said. He stopped, and said, “Yes?” Then she asked, “Are you Jesus?” The man was caught off guard by the question but answered, “No, I am not Jesus.” The young girl responded, “No, I think you are. As I was trying to pick up my apples I prayed that Jesus would come and help me, and you came. You are Jesus.” We are Christ to others when we do what Christ did. Today we are going to look at one reason Christ came to earth and one way we can continue his ministry.

•The Storyteller – over the last several weeks we have been looking at parables, or stories that Jesus told to teach his disciples (and us) about the nature of the Kingdom of God and our place in it. These were stories many of us knew including the Parable of the Prodigal Son/or Loving Father, the Parable of the Talents, and the Parable of the Good Samaritan. As well-known as those stories are, they are not the greatest in the bible. The great stories of the Bible include: the story of creation, the story of Noah and the Flood, the story of Abraham willing to sacrifice his only son, and the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors. The Bible tells us of Moses and the Exodus and the Ten Commandments, the story of David and Goliath, and the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den. These and others are great stories, but there is one story that stands over all others. That is the story of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is the story we come together and tell on Easter. This is the story we will celebrate tonight.

•Help! – Today’s song, “Help!” by The Beatles is our oldest circa 1965. John Lennon, who wrote the song, considered it one of his most honest songs. He said that Help! Described the feelings The Beatles had following their rise to success. They felt overwhelmed with the fame and attention they enjoyed. They needed help. They needed support and guidance. How many young people have we seen (actors, musicians, athletes, celebrities, or just regular kids) end up in terrible situations because they had no idea what they were doing or how to deal with the stress of the life they brought upon themselves. Today we finish our series, The Storyteller, looking at a well-known parable about someone who needed help.