Monday, September 6, 2010

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Who Are You Listening To?

Postedon September - 5 - 2010

Sunday, September 05, 2010

UMC of Swartz Creek, J.D. Landis

Mark 9: 1-8

Who Are You Listening To?

How many of you have gone on a trip this summer, on a vacation, or just a day or two traveling and you come back with a new perspective?  Sometimes we have to get out of our normal routine, to do something with our friends or family that just sort of breaks us loose from the humdrum of life. I have a friend who took his family white water rafting last summer.   It would not be for everyone and it was pretty scary for mother.  They stayed in a cabin in the mountains and it really did something wonderful for their family.  They had all sorts of pictures of being together on the raft, and that was all they could talk about for months. They will never forget that time.  Jesus was going to take the disciples away for awhile, and He was going to give them an adventurous experience.  They were going to know Him better and to see things much differently.

I.  We Need to Come Aside From the Hectic Pace of Life.

Things had been pretty intense for Jesus and the disciples.  They had been doing ministry fast and furiously.  Feeding thousands on the mountainside, crossing a lake in a storm,  traveling to cities they had never been to, ministering and praying for others. Through it all Jesus was trying to teach something to them, but they were not always getting it.  We don’t often get it either.  We often miss what God is trying to say to us.  We are held prisoner by what someone once called the Tyranny of the Urgent.  We must do this, we must do that.  We have to pick up that item for our work, we need to call some people, a car needs a repair, and the house needs cleaning and we have lists to check off.

Jesus decided that His disciples needed a break from what seemed so urgent.  They were going to do something out of the ordinary and He was also going to draw closer to them and show them who He was. Jesus was going to take the disciples up into a very high mountain.  The mountain itself was beautiful, but up there they were going to have the biggest spiritual high you could imagine.  John Denver wrote, almost heaven West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountain, Shenandoah Valley, and those mountains are beautiful.  But on this mountain heaven was going to come down, and they were going to see some people that no-one else had ever seen at least not for 2,000 years.

Now we are not sure which mountain this was, but some think it was Jebel Jermak in upper Galilee, which rises 4,000 feet overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.  If it was Jebel Jermak it would have been a wonderful walk and a really great view of the Mediterranean. There is a mountain in Maine that overlooks Camden Harbor and it is the most breathtaking mountain view I have ever seen.  You look out at the Atlantic, down the mountain ridge and then over to Camden Harbor with amazing sailboats.  This may have been a little like the view on this mountain.

As they walked up the mountain they got to talk.  I am sure they talked about the scenery.  Jesus loved His father’s world. He said consider the lilies of the field, there is nothing as beautiful as they are.  Perhaps part way up they sat on a rock and rested.  Jesus may have said, lead me to the rock that is higher then I.  They may have looked up and seen an eagle.  As the eagle soared so effortlessly in the air, He may have said, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles.

As they walked up the mountain, they must have wondered what is in store for us today?  By now they knew Jesus was pretty amazing.  People had said He was like Elijah, like Moses or Abraham and David.  Anything could happen.  There could be a storm, a miracle, or a voice from heaven.  We might ask the same thing, what does the Son of God have in store for us today?  What wonderful amazing thing does He want to do?  When they get to the top of the mountain, there was probably a meal together.  As they looked out over the sea, he probably also taught them.  Then as usual it was time for prayer.  They may have sung a song.  Jesus was always singing songs with them in the garden prayer places.  This was going to be an overnight. They probably had a bed roll.  It would be cooler there on top of the mountain.  How would you like to do an overnight retreat with Jesus?

Somewhere in the evening the disciples begin to fall asleep.  They were always falling asleep.  When you think about it the disciples were pretty ordinary.  It is hard to believe that Peter the mouthy one, that James and John who were filled with pride were going to change the whole world.  But Peter became the rock of the church, James became a pillar in the Jerusalem church and John became the senior statesmen living to be 100 or so.  But how does this happen?

God is going to pour something into them that will give them the strength and the faith.  God wants to pour something into you and I that will allow us to be used mightily for the kingdom too. We need to believe that if God is going to do something in us, that He will give us what we need to accomplish that purpose, and it will not be just our own ability.  God loves to take ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  So don’t be discouraged if a lot of people look at you as ordinary, you let them know that you serve an extraordinary God.  The only obstacle is when we try and do it ourselves without God.  Tonight they are going to see how very incredible Jesus is.  Like them we also need to see how great our Savior is if we are going to experience great things through our faith.

II. We Need To See Who Jesus Is

So the disciples are sleeping. Peter may have been snoring. They just about miss what God has for them.  That is so much like us.  God has great things to show us and to give us, but we just can’t seem to take it all in.  We don’t have the heart for it, the time for it, or the energy, but I am telling you God has so much more for you than you have received.  There have been times when I left off prayer and meditation and I know I missed what God wanted.  God wants to transform your faith more then you ever dreamed.

You think that God is not giving you what you need, but God is saying you can’t get what you need, because you don’t let me give you what I have for you.  You don’t give enough of your heart to me, only just so much.  When you give more and more to me, I am going to give more and more to you.  You are still holding on to habits, on to fears, on to doubts, on to pride on to lust on to greed, and when you let go and let me come to you and fill you will be amazed at how incredible it can be.

Merrill Womack was flying his small piper cub airplane, but the engine shut down, and he crashed in the woods in Minnesota.  He was so glad to have survived, but then the plane caught fire, and he was trapped inside unable to get out. When they finally got there to drive him to the hospital his body was severely burned, and his head was like a giant marshmallow.  He was in great pain, but as he rode He called with all his heart out to God, and Merrill said GOD’s presence was so strong that His supernatural peace and strength overshadowed the pain.  It was months before he was able to leave the hospital and countless surgeries till he looked somewhat human.  But God met Merrill in the fire, and now he sings songs that are used in churches, hospitals, and funeral homes because they bring such comfort. Everyone of you here have heard him at funeral homes and found comfort, because of what he found in Jesus Christ.

Now the amazing thing in this story is that not only are the disciples going to receive something from God but Jesus is also.  There is a mystery here, but it appears that Jesus Christ also needed the encouragement that God wanted to give Him.  Jesus was having a hard time holding the popular opinion off.  He may have been wrestling with the Father, saying God I cannot hold them back much longer, they want to take me by force and make me a king.  Elijah and Moses may have been sent to give Him encouragement that the time was soon when He would complete the work on the cross.  This was the message, because when Jesus was walking down they talked about the kingdom coming.

This encouragement was desperately needed.  We know that is true, because Jesus told the disciples in the garden that He needed them to stay awake with him to support Him. We know He got so weak in the dessert that angels had to come and heal him.  Jesus is getting closer to the cross, and He needs some heavenly messengers to give Him some support.  It may be that he needed to cling to this moment, this mountain top experience while he went through the valley of hell.  Just as Jesus needed Moses and Elijah to come to encourage Him, you and I need to have partners with us in our prayers to encourage us.  Sometimes we just cannot do it alone.  We feel like our faith just can’t get off the ground, but the support of someone else will break it loose.  Find a partner in prayer this week, and let them support you and encourage you.

So it is not wrong to feel weak.  Anyone of us can burn out.  If Jesus needed help how much more do you and I?  I was reading the book by Tyrone Gordon who spoke to our men this spring in Fenton.  He was a powerful speaker, but he told in his book that ministry things wore him out so much that he had a nervous breakdown.  He just started crying in his office and they got some friends who took him away for a few weeks.  But God poured strength into him to lead a church to grow to 8,000.  God has strength to pour into you and I, if we will allow Him.

Now look with me at what happens.  As Jesus prays he begins to change.  He begins to shine brightly, His clothes start to get white and His face is just beaming.  You know we talk about prayer changes things, but prayer also changes you.  When we really enter into deep communion God changes our attitude, and our perspective.  When this happens others will see us more full of joy, peace and love. Jesus has entered into the mighty presence of God, no even more then that, heaven has come down and glory has filled the place.  Now the light is not just like a light bulb, not just like a million candle power spotlight but like the sun.  Because Jesus is God…He shines like God.

As the light shone all the darkness is now gone.  For the disciples it must have been like the night had ended and the sun began to rise.  Most of us wake when the sun rises, and it has that affect on the disciples.  Peter, James and John see those rays and think why it must be morning but it is not the sun, but it is their Lord, and he is talking with two people.  “Who in the world got up here on the mountain in the middle of the night”?  So they start to listen in.  “My goodness these brothers are pretty advanced in the faith”.  They really know about God.  As they listen more, they think why they have to be prophets, but what are they talking about?  “Man alive Peter, he talks like he is Moses”.  “And this other one He is just as mighty and they are shining too, my word we are seeing Moses and Elijah”.  They pinch one another…they rub their faces.

As they listen they hear a discussion about Christ’s journey to the cross.  Moses and Elijah had a message from heaven for Christ.  They were ministering to Him like the angels did before.  Heaven has come down to Christ and to the disciples on the mountain and heaven can come to us as we enter God’s presence.  Picture an invisible zipper being pulled down revealing Christ walking in our midst, and angels around us.  I have talked to people who said they saw the figure of an angel at the altar during worship.  Like those on the mountain we can be transformed too.  We can see things that we have never seen before.  We can have a breakthrough in our lives, finding peace, joy and love.  Peter was so happy he wanted to build little wilderness booths, like lean-to’s.  But it even gets better.  Next a cloud surrounds them and they actually hear God speak from heaven.  God says…this is my beloved son, hear Him.  Above all else we are to…

III. Hear This Greatest Messenger

The disciples were totally amazed by the presence of Moses and Elijah, but the message of the Holy Spirit was Jesus my Son is even more powerful in Word and deed then they are.  So you must listen to Him above all.  Seeing the great lawgiver, Moses, the one everyone talked about was almost like seeing God to them.  And then to see Elijah the great prophet, it was what everyone dreamed of, but God said this carpenter from Nazareth is even more powerful then they are.

I have seen people wowed by a dramatic speaker, but the speaker did not have the depth of truth of some other less glamorous speakers.  The world is often caught up in the drama and excitement of many showy stars, nationally known preachers and political speakers, but it does not necessarily mean they are speaking the truth, especially the truth of God.   We were at a wedding, and the speaker was not as engaging as some, but my wife and I said, man that guy gave some of the best instruction on marriage we have ever heard.  But as we listened to others, because he was not so interactive they did not receive it as we did.

The religious experts were saying Jesus was a quack.  They were saying we have Moses and the prophets, you are not as great as them.  But God spoke from heaven and said, this is my son, hear him.  God will confirm what we hear from Him, in what happens.  God was going to confirm the Word in His Son no matter what anyone said.  Jesus words lasted, others faded.  Are you hearing from Jesus or just your favorite pet ideas?  Are you doing what He told you or just what is the latest new idea?

The only way they could see the plan more clearly was to get closer to Jesus. When we do our pathway and surroundings grow lighter.   What happened on that mountain was much bigger then any worry or fear the disciples had.  When we get closer to Christ, and see His light shining like the sun, the anxieties of life will fade away.  As the song says, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full into His glorious face, and the things of life will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.  What is eating you up right now?  Say Lord I want to see you, I want to know you, I want your light for my path.  Change me transform me, and take what I cannot accomplish and give me peace for what I fear.

Folks being with God transforms and hearing from God transforms you.  There are so many voices in this world.  The voice of secular wisdom, the ideas of friends and family, even the voice of other well intentioned Christians which can be wrong.  These little voices bounce around in our head.  But we need to listen to Christ above all else. Get into his Word, get into prayer and get with others to share.  Talk a walk this afternoon and enjoy nature and talk to God about what you need.  You can have a mountaintop experience.  Listen to Him.  Let the other things fall away.  He will surround you with His cloud of peace and joy.

Finding Our Way

Postedon August - 26 - 2010
Finding our Way Through t.he Storm
Scripture:  John 6:15-21
Sunday, August 22, 2010, UMC of Swartz Creek
All of Us Like to Have Routine Days Where Things Go Smoothly.  We Get Up in the morning, the coffee maker works like usual, the car starts without any problem, the highway is clear, and when we get to work we have our basic job to do, and there are no meltdowns. Most of us would like to have lots and lots of days like that.  But life is not always like that.  Life has mornings when the coffee filter bends, the car needs a repair, the highway is being worked on, and you get to work and find out that some company sent the work back and it has to be done over and now you are so far behind, you can no longer see the light of day.
That is kind of what happened to the disciples.  It looked like it was going to be a routine day.  Jesus had taught, and He had multiplied the bread and fish from one young boy.  Everybody heard good things, they saw a miracle and people had lots to eat with some left over. So what’s next?  Jesus gave them orders.  He said I want you to go back across the lake to Capernaum and I will meet you there.  They had traveled this lake before and they knew every inch of the shore.  If you own a boat or have done some boating, you know that after awhile your lake or waterway becomes pretty familiar.  You know where the rocks are, what the different depths are, and what every mark on the shore tells you about your location.  The disciples knew this.  They could easily look across the lake and Peter could say “James, we have 4 and a half knots to go.  You got it said James.”
But on this night Jesus was going to teach them something important through tougher circumstances.
One of the things He was seeking to teach them was that if we have faith, on a Sunday, then that faith should keep working on a Tuesday or a Wednesday.  What kind of faith is it that only works one day, and then is gone?  Jesus wants to build a faith in us that is lasting.  The disciples had seen the miracle of the loaves and fishes.  They saw that Jesus Christ can provide anything for anyone’s life in any situation.  But now at the end of the day they were tired and their faith was not so lively.  When the storm hit they watched it sink in the water.  Jesus Christ wants to teach you and I to have peace, to have calm and to have confidence even in the storm.
As they head out onto that lake it feels so familiar and comfortable, but the winds begin to pick up they perhaps are wondering.  Why did the Lord send us out here when He surely must have known that the winds would build up.  We have days like that.  Lord why did you send me to this job if you knew so many things would go wrong.  Lord why did you allow me to be part of this ministry if I was going to face such opposition. We need to learn to trust God when our journey in life gets stormy.  I hear Christians saying all the time, “I don’t think it is God’s will for me to be in this place because I am facing so much opposition.” We need to look at our bibles.
When the disciples followed Jesus there were many places where great and wonderful things happened, but there were also many places when there was a storm.  We all fall into the trap of thinking that if you follow the Lord closely that the path will always be smooth, but not so.  So if you see one thing today, know that a storm does not mean that God is not blessing you, or that God is with you, necessarily.  Some storms we cause, but some God is using to bring us to a better place.  I want to look at three things with you that the disciples went through in this storm and that Jesus met their need and showed them who He was.  We need to see this for our lives too.
I. God is with Us When We Cannot See Where We Are Going. The first thing that happened to these disciples is that they began to lose visibility and eventually could not see where they were going.   How many of you here have been in a storm on a great lake, inland lake or sea when you could not see where you were going?  It gets a bit scary after awhile.  We were on Lake St. Clair with friends.  A fog came up that you could cut with a knife.  You could hardly see the end of the boat less any distance.  It really gets scary.  You don’t know if you are going to hit a rock, hit another boat or end up going in circles.  The man we were with was quite a seaman.  He had GPS when most people had not heard of it, over 20 years ago.  He knew where He was to within 30 feet.  Some other guys came up on a boat, without compass, cart, or electronic equipment.  They were frantic.
The disciples were frantic too.  It was nighttime.  On a normal night like many other mariners, they probably had learned to look for lights on the other side of shore.  Some of the homes probably even had lamps that were kept burning just for sailors, like many of our sea ports did. They may have even had their own form of lighthouses.
Now the wind and waves and darkness is blocking any light they can see.  Ancient Mariners used he stars and moon, too, now nothing works.  They may have been thinking they were going south, but now it is north.
They needed Jesus Christ to show them where they were going.  Jesus had said go across the Lake, but they needed Him in the boat to find the way.  As the song says, Jesus Savior Pilot me over Life’s tempestuous sea”  Life happens in such a way that we are not sure where we are going.  I just learned a few days ago of a young lady who waited till she was 40 to be married.  She found the man of her dreams, they were looking for the home of their dreams, and she was pregnant.  Then she lost the baby.  She went into a deep sorrow, hardly able to talk to anyone.  Where am I going, she wonders?  The darkness of sorrow has surrounded her heart.  Jesus Christ can be there for her, I have seen Him do it for others and He can do it for her.
All of us can come to a place where we have lost our way.  The things we thought were so secure are now up in the air.  The wisdom that guided us so completely does not seem to be working. Sometimes an issue comes up and it splits your family into two sides. The more people talk about it the more emotional they get.  Has that ever happened to you?
I had a family in one church I served where there were 8 children.  Mother had just died.  They were getting into a big discussion about what was right and wrong in living as a Christian.  They were really wonderful leaders, but the family was being divided.  People were having hurt feelings.  Sometimes Christians, sometimes families can be harder on one another then anyone else. They did not know where to go with this.  They were blinded from the path they needed to take.  The father called me in desperation.  He said I want you to come and talk to the children and help iron all this out.  Now these were grown family members and I felt nervous about settling this for them.  As I traveled to the house, I said Lord if you don’t help me there is nothing I can do.
When I was arrived, I could see that the whole family had been through an awful lot of storm and they were ready for the winds to settle down.  I told them how honored I was that they would trust a mediator to help settle this, but that I was going to put my trust in God to help settle things.  We talked it out, we prayed, and heard every side.  Everyone agreed to lay down the sword and let there be peace.  That family went on to live united.  The sons and daughters became leaders in each of their churches and communities.  God helped them see through the storm.  Write this down.  God knows Where You Are When You Don’t  The second thing the disciples were having a problem with is that the bible says
II. God is With Us, when everything we try is not Working.
The bibles says in Mark 6:48 that they were straining at the oars.  They were trying with all their might and getting nowhere. I will never forget the time when a friend and I were out on the Chesapeake Bay in a row boat fishing.  We had entered at the mouth of a small river, but it opened up out into the bay.  We were on the edge of the mouth of the river when a storm came up almost instantly.  Not only could we not see, but as we rowed putting all our effort into it, the oars kept coming out of their holders.  It looked like we were getting washed out into the deep, and that we were going down.  I said to my friend Morgan Frost, whom I was serving in ministry with, we better stop an pray or otherwise we are not going to make it.  I told the Lord that we belonged to Him, and that we needed Him so much or we would not make it.  I asked Him to calm the storm.  To my shock and amazement, the storm stopped within a minute.
I will never ever forget that day.  I remember how the Lord blessed us that summer in our ministry bringing other people to know Jesus Christ.  I am telling you something there is nothing God will not do, if we are motivated to bring our family, friends, neighbors and acquaintances to know Jesus Christ.  Jesus purpose with His disciples was to get them to the other side to continue ministering to the countless thousands who needed to know Him.  We need to ask ourselves?  Is my life dedicated in everything I do to help others know Him?  What is our motivation for us wanting things to go smoothly?  Is it to only to bring happiness to our own private lives.  Jesus wants to bless us, but he has called us to something bigger.
If we are working, working and working to get through something and all our efforts are getting us nowhere.  We need to rededicate our lives to honor Jesus Christ.  Lord things are not going well for me at work.  The company was bought by someone else, and now they are asking us to do things that are impossible.  I just can’t do it Lord.  We need to stop and say God, this is not just about me and my income, this is about me being a witness and a light to others, that they might know Him.
Interestingly the bible says that when the storm stopped and when Jesus got into the boat that immediately they ended up at their destination.   What was their destination?  It was to reach others in Capernaum with the good news.  When Jesus Christ is in the boat with us, the storm will stop and we will be taken to a place where we will reach others with His love.  He stops the storm so that you and I can touch other people. Sometimes it is the people that we are closest to in our family.  I said to someone this past week, has does it feel to have two sons, and now two lovely daughters in law through marriage.  They said to me they felt blessed, but they longed for the day when their sons and daughter in laws, could have a closer relationship with God, so that they could have that unity in the family.
Don’t all of us long for our sons and daughter, grandsons and grand-daughters to have that relationship with Jesus Christ.  If we don’t we should.  Our greatest desire should be that Christ is their pilot.  Without Him they will crash on the rocks and shoals from the winds and storms of life.
Well the disciples were out there in the storm and they were missing their leader.  He was up on the mountain praying for them but they were not yet realizing the fruit of His prayers.  They were living in despair, but in heaven it had already been done.  Now Jesus was going to come to them in a miraculous way and help them grow stronger in their faith.  They were going to see God’s power in new ways.   You see they thought that they were going down in the storm.  Sometimes we feel the same.  It seems like everything we have worked for has come to no avail.  It is like we have failed in life.
III. Storms Seems to Say It is All Over.
When we were on a ship in the Aegean sea with other pastors, leaders and our bishop, a storm came up in the night.  It had 30 foot waves.  I had just eaten an enormous quantity of food in a special smorgasboard.  Not only that but some German cooks had convinced me to eat their stuffed pigs stomach dish.  By midnight I knew that the pig stomach was coming out of my stomach and so was everything else.  I was sicker then a dog.  Some people flew out of their beds.  Glasses broke, lamps fell down.  People called home to say farewell, but God had a destination for us.  The next day we celebrated communion on Ash Wednesday in Ephesus.
The disciples were in a similar situation.  It looked like they were going down.  Now something happens in a panic situation like that.  Everyone is frantic, and sometimes people get upset with one another.  Peter told James pull harder on the lee side.  John told Andrew, stretch that sail better, I am doing the best I can he may have said.  They may have been arguing.  They are a failure and they are going down.  It may have been they even said the Lord told us we had little faith, now He is judging us.
Then they looked and in the middle of the wind, they see a figure.  Now sailors are always looking for signs.  It is a ghost someone says.  It is the angel of death coming for us.  Where are you Lord?  Then what appeared like a spector says, fear not it is I.  Now they still don’t believe. They are still absolutely terrified. It has gone from bad to worse, to horrible. And just at the moment of their greatest fear, they hear a voice that they all know.  Do not be afraid, it is I.  Now this Scripture does not tell us, but other gospels do that Peter walks on water.
Not so much that he wants to walk on water, but that the Lord will convince Him of His presence Peter says, if that is you Lord, tell me to come out and be with you on the water.  Before we are too hard on them, remember in the storm sometimes it is hard to know exactly what Jesus is saying to us.  There are so many other voices out there.  There are are times when we think God is starting to move in a situation, that Jesus is coming to us, but we are not sure.  We like Peter want to say, Lord if this is you working this out, if this is the step you want me to take, show me that it is your command and not just me thinking that. That has happened to me at times.
Since the start of my ministry I have had a burden that God would raise up more young men and women for the ministry in our United Methodist Church.  Women and men of faith, of passion, of dedication, who want to touch our world with the saving love of Jesus Christ.  From time to time I have seen the fruit of that dream, but I wanted to see more and more.  But this year, the Lord has said to me come out on the water.  I wrestled with going to Estonia again and being away from this church, but the word from the Bishop was go.  And when I and was elected, for me it was like Jesus holding me up on the water.  While I was there a lay leader who was 38 said he feels a call into the ministry.  Then about the same time, this church received word that it was getting a National Award for sending people out to the ministry.  And just two weeks ago we had a young man here, who shared with me that he also feels a call into the ministry.  And just a week ago I got a letter that a seminary is going to have a day of classes here.
God is saying to you and me, let us be open to great things he continues to want to do here.  Each of us is being called to step out on the water and trust Jesus.  He wants to pilot us to a place where we as individuals and as a church touch many lives. Just because you are in a storm, it does not mean that all is undone.  Jesus can calm that storm in just 2 minutes.  We must believe that the trouble that has come to us can be over come by just His very presence.  Believe that He is already interceeding for you on the mountain, and He is just now on the way.  He will not allow you to be alone, but He will get in the boat with you.  Jesus wants to be your pilot.  Will you let Him?

Good Earth Produces Much Fruit

Postedon August - 8 - 2010

Good Earth Produces Much Fruit-8/8/10

UMC of Swartz Creek, J. D. Landis

Don’t you just love to see the fruit of the earth, vegetables, corn, and fruit. I had an opportunity to see Root’s Market in Lancaster.  My family had been there, but I had not yet seen it.  I had not seen such bounty in vegetables and fruit.  There were 5 large ripe tomatoes in a basket for 1.50.  Great mounds of sweet corn peeled back to show how healthy the kernels were.  There were luscious peaches, onions, beans and everything in abundance.  It was so well priced you could have walked home with a trunk load for 25 bucks.

The story today has to deal with planting seed in good soil that should produce an abundant amount of yield.  Jesus said as much as 100 fold fruitfulness. We love to see an abundant harvest coming from the earth, but Jesus hearers loved it even more.  If they could go to the market with a great yield of crops it meant a good year for them. If the soil did not produce well it could mean poverty.  We don’t understand that.  If we can’t get something out of our own garden we go to the supermarket.  And if American farmers can’t grow it we ship it in.  But for the Hebrew farmer if the field did not produce it meant barely surviving and even starvation.  So Jesus had their full attention.

Today I want to help you see how you can be the good soil that really receives a blessing, grows and bears fruit, and touches others around you.  I hope to give you some new insights that you have not seen before that will help you be all you are to be in Christ.  First, let’s talk about..

I. Rocky Soil- It Fell on the Rocks and withered Lk.8.6
It is pretty obvious that you can’t plant crops on a stony side of the mountain or a field full of rocks.  I was talking to Carolyn’s Uncle Bill who is a lifelong farmer and he had tons of rocks in the soil as he was plowing.  He did not want to get off the tractor every few seconds and pull them out because he is 70 something.  He hired a young Amish teen.  He told a neighbor what he did paying the young man 10 dollars an hour.  The neighbor said you pay this fellow 10 an hour to pick up stones?  Her uncle replied, yes because who am I going to get to do it.  He asked the neighbor would you do it for 10 dollars an hour?  He just gave a blank look.  Picking up rocks all day is hard work and in the same way it takes some effort to get rocks out of our lives to receive the planted seed of God.
Rocky soil either blocks the seed or only provides a little soil which does not let plants grow well. We have to be willing to take the time to clear the stuff out of our lives that blocks God from speaking to us.  If you have ever cleared stones out of a field, they are often hidden.  Often the things blocking the Word of God from coming to our hearts are hidden.  Not only that, but stones in a field keep coming up year after year.  You remove one layer and the next year their can be more.  What are the stones in the soil of your heart that need to be removed?
Sometimes people allow their many commitments to life’s duties to keep them from receiving the seeds of God’s truth they desperately need.  Now I am not advocating being a slouch.  We need to take care of stuff.  But if something does not get done because we are taking time for worship, to read our bible, or to attend a study fellowship then maybe it is better not to get it done and have time for nurturing our lives.  That is what Jesus told Mary and Martha.  Martha was busy, busy, busy doing so many important things, but Jesus said Mary had chosen the good part to take time to listen to Him.  Jesus was saying so the napkins are not folded perfectly, so the kitchen is a little bit in disarray chose the good part. Some of you are so driven by having everything perfect that you do not have enough time for God.  Get rid of those stones.
Other folks allow leisure to be the stones that block their way.  Leisure and relaxation are good for us.  We need to golf, to fish, to boat, to travel, to garden, and enjoy God’s good gifts.  But should we not pause in the middle of all our recreating to give thanks to the one who gave it.  God believes in recreation.  He is recreating life and wholeness in us all the time.  God was the one who planned the 7th day to be a day of rest.  He was the one who invented holidays.  He called them Holy Days.  It was His command to make a trip to attend the festival.  It was his idea to eat lots of food, to sleep in and take it easy.  But within that context God wanted His people to hear the Word, to worship and give God thanks for it all.
God knows that with all the physical blessings we also need the spiritual blessing of the truth planted in our hearts.  When you are away for the summer that is great, but don’t neglect worship.  Get out and visit another congregation.  Find a place where you can be blessed.  There are many people who have a fellowship at home and at their vacation spot.  If you don’t want to rush, dress up and hurry off, then have family worship.  Read the bible…sing a couple of songs…have someone share what God has done in their life.  Remove the obstacles to the seed going into your heart. Like the stones that block the seed, Jesus said there is also the hard packed soil by the roadside.
II. Hard Packed Soil.
When the sower scattered his seed, some landed on the path, was trampled on and the birds of the air ate it up. Lk.8.5 It could not take root and the birds came and ate it up.  Now the hard packed soil really needs some effort to be broken up.  It is going to take some deep plowing.  It is going to take some extra time and effort to break it up.  When we first planted a garden in our back yard, it took a number of times for it to be plowed before it was ready for the seed. There are times in our lives when we need to come aside for an extended period and really let the Lord plow our hearts to be soft.  I read an article in the United Methodist reporter this past week that told of how countless thousands of people still gather for an extended stay at places that have been called Chataqua’s.  It was to be a place of extended learning and growing in faith, while relaxing.
The United Methodist Church has been a leader in these things. It is part of what we do.   It is a time when God can break up our hard ground and plant the seed of the Word.  Every year I receive a blessing at Camp Meeting.   I think God speaks because people are purposely taking extended time to come and listen to Jesus.  That is what they were doing in this passage.  When was the last time you had extended teaching of the Word of God?  On one particular night a week and a half ago, I was moved very deeply.
The preacher, Jack French, a friend of mine was talking about bringing others to Christ.  He talked about the frustrations we face at times to bring others to know and follow Christ.  He told a story of a fellow trying to reach his neighbors.  Their hearts seemed so hardened to any truth.  He watched them as they partied quite heavily every weekend.  Finally, He told the Lord, God I am just about to give up.  I can’t make a difference in their lives.  They are not interested in what I have to say, what should I do?  Jack said the Holy Spirit spoke to his heart.  Pray against the darkness.  They are blinded by the darkness of Sin and Satan.  So he started to pray against the darkness. One day, after  a week or so of prayer, the neighbor came over and said, you know those things you have been sharing with me about God, tell me more.  And that day he became a believer.  Our hearts were moved because we all face that frustration with family and friends.
At the end of the service we were to think of one person who really needed to come closer to God, and we were to make a commitment to pray for them and that the darkness would be removed. Then he asked those who had someone in their heart to stand.  I think 150-200 people stood.  God had laid someone on my heart, and I was really feeling the presence of the Holy Spirit and getting emotional.  Then out of the blue, he says and I want J. D. Landis to come up and pray for everyone here.  I am thinking this is a big job and I feel so moved I don’t know if I can pray.  But I came up and prayed pretty emotionally.
But God was doing something that night plowing deep into our hearts. I could feel the Spirit moving so strongly on me as I prayed against the darkness that I felt limp.  Afterwards I did not want to eat ice cream, which is a biggy, I did not want to talk, I did not want to read in my room.  I just wanted to pray.  So I went to my room and plugged my ipod in and listened to the songs that my daughter had downloaded from Revival Generation and Jesus Culture.  I prayed for everyone and everything that came to mind for another hour and fell asleep.
The word of God had gone in the soil of my heart and the soil of almost everyone’s heart, because we let the hard ground of our hearts be plowed up. Let God soften your heart this morning, and He will touch you mightily.  Ask Him, Lord soften my heart to receive your Word.  He will do that.  Well Jesus said there is another problem that occurs in the soil of our hearts.  Weeds.
III. Weeds Choke Out the Good Fruit In Our Life.

And the weeds grew up with it and choked it Lk.8.7
It is so wonderful to see the fresh new start of corn, squash or beans breaking through the ground.  It gives you such hope and anticipation.  But as the plants grow so do the weeds. At first they are just these little bitty things, and you get them out easily, and you keep after it and the garden is doing great.  But then you go on a trip or on vacation and you come back and some of those buggers are 3 feet tall.  They have gotten intertwined in the roots sucking the moisture from your tomatoes and corn.  They have grown over your pepper plants blocking the sun, and some of them when you try and pull them out pull the vegetables out.
So what are the weeds in your life? What is soaking the moisture out of your fruit, what is choking your spiritual roots, what is blocking the sunshine of His love from getting through?  Maybe you have allowed someone at church to upset you, and every time you come here you think about how you are upset with them and you are not listening to God.  Pull that weed out.  Confess your un-forgiveness.  You have offended God more by your un-forgiveness then that person ever offended you.  And God forgave you…so forgive them.  And there is a chance that they may have their heart right, and you can’t even see it because of your selfish desire and pride.
Another weed that will choke out the seed of the word is feeling sorry for ourselves, feeling that no-one appreciates us or values what we do. We see someone else do something and they get the praise and we are hurt because no-one is affirming us.  Pull that weed out or it will choke you.  There are people who will participate in a ministry, but if someone else comes in and begins to also take effective leadership and seems to outshine them, then they pull back and say…I am not doing that anymore.  Why don’t you work with that person, and use your gifts together, praise them, and they just might praise you.  God wants us to be…
IV.Good Soil That Yields Much Fruit.
Some fell in the good soil, and when it grew, it produced a 100 fold. Lk.8.8 Another thing that good soil needs is moisture.  We cannot produce the moisture in ourselves.  It must come from heaven above, or from the gardener watering it.  As Christians We must be dependent on the Holy Spirit for that to take place.  We become dependent on the Spirit by praying.  When we spend some significant time in prayer the Holy Spirit sends rain.  We are in a dry place right now in Michigan, but at the beginning of the summer things were well watered.  Our gardens and field crops grew quickly.  But now to make this growing season effective we need rain.  Maybe you are feeling a bit withered right now.
Maybe like the beginning of our summer a little while back you were blossoming and growing, but now you have gotten dry.  Make it your prayer that God will send the rain of the Holy Spirit to fall on your life.  God will be faithful to do it.  I think the rain is coming again.  But we have to pray it in.  We have to get people together to intercede for that.  Israel had gotten to a place where it was very dry.  They were about to dry up and die.  There were no crops left.  But the bible says Elijah followed God’s leading and He prayed and the rain came.  We need some modern day Elijah’s.  We need prayer to make it happen.
This week seed is going to be planted in the hearts of our young people. They are going to learn about the good earth and how God cares for it and for us.  They are going to hear the seed of the Word.  Moms and dads will be hearing about what they are learning.  They will come to some programs that we have here next week.  Rachel has worked hard to get the soil ready.  Now church pray for rain.  Pray that the plants will grow. Pray that this fall, the Sunday school will be full.  Pray that new people will come to worship and participate in study.  If we want the rain. God will send the rain.  Most of the time we are only half hearted about it.
For soil to let seed grow it also needs sunshine.  I learned something this year about a garden and crops.  In addition to the warmth of the sun making photosynthesis in the plants, the soil must be warmed.  I read that if the soil is at the temperature of 80 degrees or hotter that roots grow about 3-4 times faster then if it is in the 60’s or lower.  This summer my plants have grown like crazy.  I have 19 feet pumpkin runners, and 4 feet tall zucchini.  I can hardly walk through the garden.  I opened a hole for the pumpkin plant to get through the fence and it pushed through, and grew a pumpkin outside the fence.  My plants are taking over the other plants falling all over one another.  And I really didn’t do anything different then last year, there was just more sunshine.
We need God to warm the soil of our hearts. We need hearts strangely warmed.  What is the warming?  It is the love of God.  We need our hearts warmed to the love of God and warmed to the love of others.  When our hearts are warmed we will bear so much fruit that the vines will grow right past the boundaries.  We will go beyond the walls the fences and bear fruit in other places.  Is your heart warm this morning?  Are you just filled to overflowing with love towards people here, towards our world.  If it is not, say God soften my heart, and let me feel your love.  Let me love people as you loved them.  You know there is nothing more wonderful then when love is there, and nothing worse then when it is gone.
When someone gives you a great big hug and says I am so happy to see you. It makes your day.  If someone hardly makes eye contact and obviously shies away it is a downer.  If you want the love of God to flow in you love people around you.  You will produce so much fruit it will blow your mind.  Church, be the Good Soil and Bear Fruit that a Hungry World needs to Receive or it Will Die.

Sunday, July 18th

Postedon July - 20 - 2010
In Helping Others, We Help Ourselves
Gospel of Mark 2:1-12
UMC of Swartz Creek-J. D. Landis, Pastor
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Capernaum was considered to be Jesus home.  It was a  base for Him, a place He worked from.  They knew Him well there, and still to many He still was just plain folks.  You know you can see a guy sitting around his home, with family in a t-shirt and think this is just an average Joe, and he might be the head of a corporation.  I was greeting a man in one church after the service and he seemed rather quiet, so I said what is your name?  After he told me, I said we are glad to have you here, and, what is it that you do, and he said I am the CEO of Consumers.  My mouth dropped and I did not know what to say, so I said that is excellent.  But I am thinking good grief, I would never have guessed that and it was so nonchalant, it was hard to believe. But you know, Jesus had times when He was in the carpenter shop fixing furniture, and He looked like just every other craftsman, but He was the CEO of the universe.  And only those who really sought out the truth were able to find it.
When Jesus first spoke at Capernaum, they said He is just the carpenters Son.  We have seen Him every day, but nothing is that extraordinary.  When Jesus claimed to be God’s Messiah in the temple they wanted to stone Him.  Some in Capernaum saw it, some did not.  Some today see the wonderful things Christ is doing, some are oblivious. If we are not careful without realizing it we can miss what Jesus is doing in and around us.  On this day in Capernaum Christ has been invited to a home, and He is teaching as was His custom.  The bible says the house is jam packed.  “There was no room not even near the doorway” Mark 2:2
You know in the early years of the Methodist, Brethren, and Evangelical Revival they had many home meetings, where people would fill the house, stand outside and spread out all over the place.  They would get a couple of hundred people listening and even a thousand if it was in the barn.  In the house they would keep the doors and windows open so people could hear. I was able to get inside the home of Isaac Long in Lancaster.  There great revivals took place and Martin Boehm the Mennonite and William Otterbein the German Reformed preacher said “Wir Sind Bruder, thus officially bringing together the leaders that would found the United Brethren.  Which is the United in our name.   I felt like I was on Holy Ground.  That is what is going on here.  It is packed.
Now when Jesus teaches in those packed crowds are many people with great needs.  In John 5 we read that lepers, blind persons, paralyzed persons and those with serious diseases came to the pool of Bethesda.  Jesus ministry was often to those persons.   In Jesus day they were often overlooked as they are in our day.   For many reasons persons like that are often not cared for.  I want you to see from this Scripture that…
I. There Are Many People Who Have Great Needs, But Are often Neglected.
We have to open our eyes, and look a bit closer to see them.  Jesus saw them.  We need His eyes.  We need to know that Jesus is where people have great needs.  My wife was having a small procedure this past week and I was sitting in a clinic and watching people come in and out and I wondered what are they going through, are they being prayed for?  I could hear stress in some peoples voices.   I said a prayer for them.  We visit often in the hospital, but I wondered what more we as believers could do to reach the greater multitude of people who are in need outside our congregation.
In last weeks Sunday school class Joni Eraekson Tada, who is a quadriplegic was giving statistics about the host of people who have great needs.  She said that there are 660 million people worldwide with disabilities.  There are 40 million in the US and 13 thousand people who are in deep commas.  I thought what despair those families might feel.  The statistics are staggering.  It is hard to believe there are that many people. But if we stop and ask ourselves who we know that face those kinds of needs there are more than we realize. Even just driving down Miller Road, you can sometimes see people on motorized wheelchairs.  They have a great need.  Or we might see handicapped children getting on the blue bus, but often we do not know them.
Jesus Christ wants to touch those who need healing.  And God has called us to be the instrument that Christ uses to reach those who are broken. But we can easily feel overwhelmed by the numbers of folks who are hurting and by the sheer devastation they face.  But we need to believe that God can make a way, where there seems to be no way.  Often the crowded ways of life block us from them.  We need to get through to them.  That is what happened in this passage.  The crowd was blocking this paralyzed man from getting to Jesus, and without his friends he could never have gotten there.  And that is the second thing I want you to see.
II.  Without Friends and those who Care, people with serious disabilities and problems have little opportunity for improvement or healing.
We need to think of practical ways that we can include the marginalized in our outreach.  One of the things we can do is start special classes or programs for those in need and then spread the invitation.  We have mothers of pre-school children, but if we had a class for the handicapped, the impaired, it would give the parents a break, and minister to the child or adult.
I will never forget when I first came to Michigan as a Youth and Young Adult Minister in Detroit, that Metro had a class that reached out to the mentally and physically handicapped.  There were close to a hundred folks being ministered to in a special Sunday school class. This woman had a great burden for them and planned activities all the time.  They had a special section in the worship service.  It was not always easy, because sometime folks would shout out in the service but Metro was never stronger then in those years.  I think in part because God blessed the church for reaching the least, the lost and the last.  I am so delighted that many of our people reach out to those needs in Acorn Camp.
Somebody says ok pastor we need to reach out to people who have handicaps, brokenness, and empty lives, but how does this passage speak to our needs.   I am glad you asked.   The bottom line is everyone of us here faces great emotional and physical needs even thought we don’t always show it.  In fact you could say that all of us are handicapped in one way or another, and I don’t mean in your golf game.  How many here wear glasses or corrective lenses?  Without them you would have some real trouble.  How many could not stay healthy without your medicine?  How many can’t do the things you used to be able to do?  The truth of the matter is that often emotionally and physically all of us can face paralysis.
We had a prayer healing service on Wednesday and almost 20 people came forward for special prayer, because they had a great need, body, soul, and spirit.  Our youth and adults found out they had limitations in that horrendous heat in Oklahoma.  The heat really can take a toll on our bodies.  No matter what we face now, each of us is going to have a time in our lives when we are going to be dependent on the help and support of others.  If you don’t realize that you are in for a rude awakening.  This man in the story who was paralyzed is a picture of all of us, in certain moments in our lives.
I can picture him.  He has to lie on a mat and he could not get anywhere without help.  Apparently, he could not even crawl.  But thank God that he had friends who saw his need and who cared.  That brings us to our third point.  Everyone of us needs people to help us get where we ought to go, and everyone of us needs to be a person that helps others.  We need to be people who help others and then who bring them to Jesus.
III. We Need Friends to Bring us To Jesus Christ
These men had heard about Jesus and the wonderful things He had done.  It is possible they had already been touched by Christ and wanted their friend to be healed.  So they head out to Capernaum.  They may have been from town, but chances are they came from a distance, because when they arrived the place was packed with hundreds of people.   No- on wants to move aside, everyone wants to hear.  It is a terrible feeling not to be able to get through a crowd to get something we need.  If you have ever been in an emergency waiting room, and been really sick, but not get treated, you know what it is like.
So they wonder what are we going to do?  They start looking around the building.  There are no other doors, there is no window that is accessible.   Finally one person says, let’s get up on the roof, for this may be the last time he gets to see Jesus.  He may not come through here again.  As they are on the roof, still they cannot hear or see, so they decide to open up the thatching.  One of them probably says, we are going to get in trouble for this.  The bible says “they opened up the roof, and they dug an opening.”  Mark 2: 4
The clay and stray, and sticks begin to fall down.   Roofs of that time had timbers, brushwood, branches then clay and stray.   What a racket they made.  Somebody may have gotten dust in their eyes.  People are sitting there some thinking, how dare they interrupt the master, and then to their amazement a body starts coming down on ropes.  Could you imagine someone carrying a person into this service who was immobilized and laying them right at the altar for prayer.  No matter what others think Jesus does not stop it, in fact Jesus is pleased.  These guys really know the meaning of seeking the Lord.
You know when you look out at most services you see people afraid to get up front to get close.  People are afraid of disturbing things, but I don’t think our Lord minds.  If you come right up front I will be blessed. When you come up front, it shows that you are expecting something.  Jesus loves to see that kind of faith.  He loved to see the faith of these five men. Jesus is going to bless this faith, but the first thing he does is strange.  He says your sins are forgiven.  But Lord someone might have said, he obviously needs to be healed, let the sins be taken care of later.
I want to tell you something we have this healing thing backwards.  Jesus says forgiveness from guilt and wrong doing is number one.  That is why He says your sins are forgiven verse 5. In fact to be healed physically and not to have issues of the heart dealt with, is only partial healing. We need it as our United Methodist healing Service says… body, soul and spirit.  The Scribes and Pharisees realized how much power it took to forgive, because they said only God could do this.  They raised an uproar.  But Jesus said, I will show you that I am God, I will also heal this man.  And he says rise, take your pallet and go home.
The man is rejoicing.  The people are rejoicing for something has been done that they had not seen happen before.  And they go everywhere telling people what God has done.  This my friends is the second thing we often miss in healing.  It is not just for us, but it is that we will also bring others to Christ.  Mark 2:13 says that Jesus goes out to the seashore and more and more people keep coming to him.  The folks here on this day who saw the forgiveness and the healing went out and told them lets go down to the seashore and find out what God has for us.  It appears that this event spread the word like wildfire so that hundreds and thousands now come. All because 4 friends are willing to help a buddy in need.
I believe there are things that will not happen unless you and I act. There are blessings that will not be received unless we pray.  Not only do we need friends with faith, but we need to be a friend who brings others to Jesus. All of us are hindered in our walk with God in some way.  You cannot faithfully live out the Christian life without the help of others.  Usually people come to a worship service, because someone else invited them or even brought them.  Someone came to Vacation Bible School because a child was encouraged to come.  Someone went to camp because a friend was going, and maybe even took them.  Someone found a new insight because they listened to what another person shared in a Sunday school class or meeting.  Someone became a Christian because another person said, God loves you, God has a plan for your life, and there is not greater fulfillment then knowing Jesus.
Think back on those persons who helped bring you to faith in Jesus Christ.  Think about who you need to reach and to help in the same way you were helped.  The friends of this lame man had faith that God could work, and they were willing to put it into action.  If we have faith friends we will put it into action.  The best way to bring people to Jesus is to help them.  It is so simple.  Reach out to your neighbor and mow their lawn while they are gone.  Watch a young mother’s children so she can get out.  Give someone a break who has a sick husband or wife at home.  In helping others we receive a blessing and we point them to Jesus Christ.
These men realized that they and their paralyzed friend needed spiritual refreshment more than anything else.  It was priority number one.  We are all busy going to picnics, outings, and traveling up north, but how much will we sacrifice for spiritual refreshment? Are we willing to go to some special services, are we willing to travel to some other location for meetings.  Some of the best refreshment I have had in my life has been conferences and camp meetings in the summer.  There is our own Family Camp, Romeo Camp Meeting, Bay Shore, and Brown City.  There was a time back East in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s that 100,000 people would go to the seashore in Ocean Grove New Jersey to hear the gospel.
Are we willing to take time to hear special messages and gather with Christians who might inspire us?  We say we want a blessing, but how much do we want it. What these guys did was huge.  How much do you care about others coming to Christ?  What are you willing to risk to do that?  Who needs you to bring them to Jesus?  Who needs encouragement, healing and help?  Think of just one person this week.  What will you do?  Where will you bring them?  Who is not going to get to Christ without your help?  Maybe it is a handicapped person, maybe it is someone in a broken marriage, maybe it is someone who is so full of guilt from the past, and they need to be set free.  Go and bring them.  And don’t sit in the back, bring them right up front. Amen

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Postedon July - 13 - 2010



Satisfying Our Greatest Thirst
John 4:1-10
Sunday, July 11, 2010
UMC of Swartz Creek
J. D. Landis, Pastor
Isn’t it amazing the number of people you see outside in the middle of the summer.  Folks are working in their yards, others are walking, biking or jogging.   But whatever you are doing this is the kind of weather that makes you want to drink all day long, because the humidity and heat just soak the fluid from our bodies.  I read that on a really hot day with maximum exertion you can lose 4-2 liters of fluid. It is the thing now for people to carry their drink containers with them.  After awhile you really want to get out of the heat.  Our work Mission team in Oklahoma is really going to have some hot days…so keep them in your prayers.
In this passage Jesus was traveling on such a hot kind of day.  We are not sure what time of day it was, but He was tired, hot, dusty, and thirsty.  It was a heat that only our dessert Southwest knows, one that could knock you out.  Jesus desperately needed a drink.   In a strange turn of events, while asking for a water, Jesus ends up offering water which quenches a different kind of thirst.  This is one of the most captivating stories in the entire bible and through it God has something important to say to us.
The story of Samaritan woman shows that we need to get outside our normal boundaries if you are going to hear what Jesus has to say.  Jesus decision to go to Samaria goes against the rules of the day.  Not only that but He decides to talk to a woman in public which was not permitted.  People were so legalistic about it that some Jewish men would not even talk to their wives in public.  If His disciples had been along they would have fussed so much that it would have ruined the teaching moment.  It is good He sent them on ahead for food.  It is a scary thing but we as believers can actually get in God’s way, by not being open to new things.
But Jesus heads right into the center of the city of Sychar in Samaria.  It would be like you and I going right down into the center of some communities in Detroit.  We would be out of our comfort zone.  God actually did call me to walk the streets of Detroit, and there were people He used me to reach who had great needs.  Jesus knows God has a mission for him.  How many of you know that God often has appointments for us that are not in our date-book and often they are in places that we would not expect it. You see God knows we need to get out of our comfort zone.
The disciples wanted to hang out with acceptable people in their religious community.  They were comfortable with family, friends and good Methodists, but resisted people not like themselves.  I am going to be bold, and say that if you are not making new friends in this church, and if you are not spending time with some people different then yourself outside these walls, you probably are not where God wants you to be.   If your religious activity is limited only to your regular study and prayer group you are missing some appointments.
As Jesus approaches Sychar He is reminded of God’s great work in the past.  He can look off in the distance to see where Joseph is buried.  As He gets closer He sees the well.  It is Jacobs well.  He remembers how God made a nation out of one man renamed Israel.  Perhaps Jesus remembered that Scripture said that God would give the nations living water. Isaiah 12:3  With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.  In that day you will say.  Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known among the nations what He has done.  I believe in part this is a prophesy of what God is going to do with the woman at the well.  The Holy Spirit has let Him know that God is going to do something amazing.
When we come into a situation and anticipate that God is going to work we are more likely to see something.  Our youth and adults left here Friday for Oklahoma and I could see the anticipation.  How about you, do you find your heart expecting God to do things.  Sometimes in the summer dry heat our faith can get dry too.  We need to have some times when we drink from the well of God’s living water, His Holy Spirit.  I am praying you will receive a drink this morning.
Jesus is hot, dusty, and tired.  He really needs a drink.  He may have been at a place where his body could hardly go on without being hydrated.  All of us have had a moment or two like that.  It may be after working in the garden, playing basketball on a hot summer night, or traveling and getting tired and thirsty.   The most I have ever perspired was football training camp.  I would drink 2 gallons of liquid in 6 hours.  At this well, Jacob’s Well, which was about 100 feet deep, you needed an apparatus called a rope bucket.  There is a woman there getting water with it.  He asks her for a drink. She looks at him, a man in Jewish clothing.  She says how is it that you a Jew would feel free enough to ask me for a drink, and a woman no less.  And Jesus says, if you knew who I am, and what I have to give to you, you would be asking me for a drink of living water.
Now you need to understand that living water in the minds of persons that day was fresh spring water coming from the source.  She was drawing from water setting in the well, but living water would have come from the wells source, deeper then she was drawing it.  So she says how are you going to get living or running water when you don’t even have a bucket?  Are you greater then Jacob our father who carved this well out?  Then Jesus says whosoever drinks of this water will thirst again but whoever drinks of the water I give them will never thirst.  He has her full attention.  She is beginning to suspect someone pretty amazing is here.  She says get me some of that living water so I will not need to come here any more.  At this point I think she gave him a drink.  Could it be the Holy Spirit came upon her?
You know if you want something from God, often the Lord calls us to do something for someone else, and then He pours out a blessing on us.  If you want to feel closer to God, visit a shut-in.  If you want to feel the presence of the Holy Spirit reach out to someone who is in need.  Pray for someone who is hurting.  Listen to someone who has lost a loved one.  Help someone whose family member is really sick.  Jesus said in as much as you do it to the least of these you have done it to me.  When you give a something refreshing, a cup of cold water to someone else you are doing it to God and God blesses you for it.
Well, Jesus says I want you to go and get your husband.  He wanted both of them to hear what He had to say, and He realizes that He will come under criticism if He stays alone with her. She says I have no husband.  Now the revelation comes from the Spirit.  Jesus says it is true you have no husband, you have had 5 men before this and the one you have now is not your husband.  The Scripture does not say anything here about her emotional response, but we know that this just about knocks her off her feet.  How does this strange man, who does not live here coming from another region in Israel know all these things about me? Is He a prophet, maybe an angel?
This woman has made some bad choices in her life, and she has lost hope.  Jesus is beginning to give her hope again.  I want to look at three things that the master accomplishes in her life and can do for you and me.  First…
I.  Jesus Extends Forgiveness and Acceptance to Her
She is a person who no longer feels she has much worth.  She has moved from one man to another, and is now with a man who is not even her husband.  In that day and age, she was a marked person.  She was a reject, and she had very few people who cared about her.  She had a very low self image.  She felt a ton of quilt.  People talked about her behind her back.  But she could not find a way to get out of her broken lifestyle.  She moved from man to man because she needed someone to love her. Into this dreary existence God comes to her with forgiveness and acceptance.
Could you imagine being the talk of the whole town because of your mess-ups.  That would be so hard, but we all can get to a place where we feel trapped by failures, bad choices and sin.  We can feel there is no way out. We can feel that there are things in our life that we just cannot overcome and just cannot be forgiven for. Sometimes it happens when a person goes through a divorce.  They feel that they are a marked person.  Sometimes when a person loses a job they feel that way.  When a son or a daughter turns from your wisdom and instruction as a parent you can feel like a total failure.
We need to know that Jesus understands, Jesus accepts us as we are, and Jesus wants to put our lives back together, and use us right in the middle of our failures.  He can take whatever shame you feel and let you know you are loved and accepted.  If you are here this morning and you feel shame, embarrassment and confusion from your choices.  Jesus Christ accepts you and forgives you and wants to give you a drink of living water.
Secondly not only do we see that Christ wants to forgive us and accept us, but He also wants to give us satisfaction through our relationship with Him, that is far better then anything this world offers.

II. Christ Gives Us Water That Quenches Our Deepest Emotional and Spiritual Thirst.
Jesus knows that it is so easy to get dry spiritually. When we come to church we can feel the Spirit’s presence and be deeply moved, but when we go from this place then the pressure of life starts crunching in on us. Instead of turning to the Lord we look to other things to satisfy us.  We drink from wells the bible says cannot satisfy.  We don’t intend to do that, but it happens. In the summertime we plan on enjoying our family, being outdoors, and getting away more maybe up north.  But then someone gets really bossy and mouthy and we are not enjoying ourselves at all.  Then we start to talk about that person to others.  Then we feel guilty.  So now we need something to give us satisfaction, so we turn to find satisfaction in other things.  All of a sudden we feel so far from God.  We stop having our devotions, and meeting with other believers, and one morning we wake up and God seems a 1,000 miles away.
We are all thirsting for something that gives peace, joy, and love.  As the song says, “Like the woman at the well I was seeking for things that could not satisfy.  But then I heard my savior speaking, draw from the well that never shall run dry.  Fill my cup Lord, I lift it up Lord come and quench this thirsting of my soul, bread of heaven feed me till I want not more, fill it up, fill it up and make me whole.” This woman experienced it, so can you and I. There is a peace and contentment that God has for us that is better then any delight this world has to offer.  It is better than being popular , better then all the greatest achievements you can make in the world.
It is a contentment that no-one can take away.  But you have to drink from the well of God’s salvation.  You have to say Lord I am thirsty.  Lord I don’t want that other stuff.  Lord I need you and I want your ways in my life.  When you truly mean it all of a sudden we find joy in the simplest things.  A hug, a gift of flowers, a smile, and the first vegetable you pick from your garden, gives you great joy.  Just saying a prayer lifts you.  Just walking into God’s house on Sunday gives you a good feeling.  Hearing the reading of the bible before it even is preached grabs your heart.  Everything looks better.  Your wife is more beautiful, your husband is more handsome, and your home is more lovely when you are filled with the peace and contentment that comes from the Living Water Christ has.  Jesus has this water here right now for you to drink from.  Thirdly, Jesus not only forgives and accepts her, satisfies her longing but He also…
III. Gives Us Purpose and Direction
When she went back into town she said come and see a man who has told me all the things I have done.  That’s no surprise they said, the whole town knows what you have done, yes but this person has never even been here before.  He says He is greater then Jacob our father.  He knows all kinds of things about us. He told me He is the Messiah. Even though He told me all about my life, I did not feel condemned by Him.  You have to come and see, He is surely sent from heaven.  Likely the Samaritans had heard about Jesus who had been ministering north of them.  Perhaps the fact that He would come and talk to them, even though they were Samaritans, touched a chord in their hearts.  But the Spirit moved and much of the town came out.
And can you imagine how this woman felt.  She had nothing to offer people in town.  She was a cast-off, now she has this incredible message that everyone needs to hear.  It appears later on that she became an evangelist.  When Jesus came back through the area many people in this town came to believe.  God turned this woman’s shortcomings into overcoming.  When we drink from the well that has the living water of the Holy Spirit, we become different people.  Though we have messed up, we can tell others, I am forgiven and now on a new path. You know we all get to a place where we don’t feel as capable that we would like to be.  We all get to the place where we wonder am I accomplishing anything.  Is my life of value to God and others?  We are aware of our failures and our shortcomings.  And then God comes to us and says.  I love you.  I have something to give to you and I have something for you to do.
This woman goes from being a nobody to a somebody.  She has something important to tell others.  You see when you connect in with God, when you come to know the Savior then God has something for you to do.  He has people for you to reach.  You know if we are drinking from the living water we will want to go out that door today and tell everyone who Jesus is.  We will see God transform all kinds of lives.  Ever since I gave my heart to Jesus Christ, and began drinking from the well, God has used me with youth, college students, in camp, and for 30 years in churches.  He took me a nobody and helped me to help others be somebody in Jesus Christ.  God can do that with you.  Will you drink from the well that never runs dry.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Postedon July - 6 - 2010
True Freedom Comes From Jesus Christ
John 8:34-43
Sunday, July 04, 2010
UMC of Swartz Creek-John D. Landis
On this Fourth of July weekend we remember that our Founders understood that we must have certain freedoms in life if it was going to be meaningful. They knew we must be able to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  Since that time this country has had these things in abundance.  Because it seems to have always been available it is often easy to neglect being grateful.  Most of us have little idea of what it means for it to be absent.
Our early mothers and fathers did.  They had been under the thumb of England’s tax burdens.  Slaves in the south did not have those freedoms either.  Our soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan experience give up a great deal.  The normal comforts of home, family, and the freedom of a relaxed social life are gone.  They face horrid heat during the day, and bone-chilling cold at night.  They live with people who do not understand them, and they are threatened with surprise attacks every day.
Just about 2 weeks ago the Maxwell family lost Joe Johnston in Afghanistan.  I was moved with great sadness because I knew how much John and the rest of the family loved him and prayed for him.   We must not quickly forget Joe and others who have been daily in harms way.  Freedom cost a lot for Joe and for them. Freedom is such a precious gift.
The country where I just came from had only 20 years of freedom for over 400 years.  Then they experienced 20 years of it right before World War II, but they lost it again from the beginning of WWII until 1994.  In that year their freedom was established again.
Most Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians and Baltic people remember what it was like to be under Communism and Nazi Germany.  There are many buildings standing that were former KGB centers.  There are buildings where people went in and they did not come out.  There were train stations that loaded persons for Siberia, never to return.  1/5th of the country was taken to Siberian.
Now not only are they politically free, but they are free to serve Jesus Christ.  There is a wide open door for the Good News of the Gospel and that is why my heart has been moved for that part of the world that they might have the same freedom to hear that Jesus Christ died for our sins and gave us new life.  But that freedom is not only for them but it is for us.
What I want to share with you today is that only Christ can make us free. We need political freedom, but there is a deeper freedom that can only come from God. It is not just being freed from chains, or from the iron curtain or from battle duty in the Middle East that makes us free, but it is the knowledge that God’s Holy Spirit sets us free from the chains of sin.  That is why even though Paul was in prison he could say that He was free.  Jesus said in Luke 4:18 that He came to set the captive free and that includes our own inner chains of fear, self-centeredness, and guilt.
I. The Chains of Self and Sin- Jesus said…that whoever commits sin is a slave to sin. John 8:34
I went to college when it was called the Age of Aquarius.  It was the time of self-exploration.  People were resisting the status quo.  100’s of thousands of college students experimented with alternate music, alcohol, substances and so called free-love.  But in the end nothing satisfied.  It actually led to depression. Into this free for all came the message of the gospel.  Many people heard the gospel in a revival going on through groups like Campus Crusade, Inter-Varsity, and others where students found Christ as their Savior and friend. They were derisively called Jesus people.
I saw many folks have their lives completely set free. I saw first hand the power of God to free people from all sorts of addictions. I became a pastor in part because I saw that God could set people free. Dr. Howard Snyder my mentor and a well known author told me that many of those who were changed went on to become pastors.  I was reminded of this when I read that the Swedish candidate for bishop told of his conversion during this same time period in college. I thought to myself, God was working all over the world in those years.
Now you may not have a need to be set free from the kinds of things, that burdened college students.  Yet I know that there are some this morning who do struggle with addictions.  But whatever we face, if we could do some deep self-examination we will find that there are  things keeping us from what we should be.  Sometimes the things that bind us are experiences we had in our childhood.   There are people who have never felt accepted by family and friends when they were younger.  They felt as if they could never measure up.  They live in the prison of their own insecurity.
We need to allow God to help us get in touch with the things that are robbing us of freedom. Perhaps as a young adult you wasted what you were given and you did not achieve what you would have liked.  Maybe as a young mother or father you were not the parent you should have been.  You were too preoccupied with your own interests and you neglected the children.  Or maybe you did not work as a team with your husband or wife.  You had to have your own way.   You said things you should not have… that damaged the relationship.  It fell apart.  If we go to Jesus Christ and tell Him where we failed, and humbly pray for forgiveness, and seek to walk a new path, we can be free.  Charles Wesley said it this way…My chains fell off my heart was free, I rose went forth and followed thee. Jesus Christ came to set you free.  You can get a new start.  You can be forgiven.
Secondly, to be free we must have a sense of fulfillment.
II.   To be Free We Must Use The Unique Gifts the Spirit of God Has Given Us. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom  II Corinthians 3:17
When is the last time you went to the zoo?  They say the Toledo Zoo is one of the finest.  San Diego is amazing too.  We love to see the Polar bear slide down the ice, the seal swim on its back, the gorilla beat its chest.  But there is also a certain sadness for me at the zoo, because the animals are not free.  I am especially reminded of this when I have seen a Bald eagle.  There he is sitting on a small tree, inside a cage.  It is capable of soaring 10,000 feet in the air, but it is limited to 10 feet above ground.  It is almost like it does not know how to fly anymore. It has forgotten who it is.
People are like that.  God has given us wings to soar high, but we sit on a perch all caged up unable to find our place.  Friends God has given you gifts, talents and abilities to be used.  He wants you to spread your wings.  Are you living to your full potential?  Jesus Christ has a plan for your life that will make you feel fulfilled. As the song says, I will raise you up on Eagles wings bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun and hold you in the palm of God’s hand.
Have you taken the time to discover what it is you are to do here on earth?  Have you looked at who you really are and what you do best?  It is only then that we can be free.  Some people have found it, others have not.  I have found that the thing I like to do best is cultivate people, to build relationships, and to encourage other people to be all they can be.  I want them to know Christ as their Savior and to find God’s purpose for their life.  I don’t want to do it with just 5 or 6 folks, but with as many as I can reach.  That’s what fills my cup. That’s what I am called to, that is who I am in Christ.  Through preaching, worship, sharing, caring, praying and serving I want to see all of God’s people encouraged and finding their place.
I want everyone here this morning to find your place in serving Christ.  Jesus had a job for the disciples.   Some of them were fisherman, some tax gatherers, and perhaps a farmer or craftsman or two.  But they found their greatest calling and that was to take the gospel to everyone.  They were to make disciples. Now we cannot all travel the world as the disciples, but we can all spread the Good News right where we are.
Who has God made you to be?  If you are a teacher set a goal to touch the lives of children and youth.  As a business person you may not only be able to make a better life for yourself, but also for others.  Maybe you have the gift of helping, one who is always in mission to the needs of others.  Perhaps you have a passion to provide clothing, food and health care to those who do not have it.  Maybe you are called to be a bible study leader, a youth worker, or someone who helps this church run smoothly.   Ask Christ to free you to be who you are.
And church, if you see a gift in someone, let them know so that God can use you to help discern what others should be.
Thirdly we must use our gifts and talents because…
III. Jesus Christ Wants us To Be Free to Transform Our World. Jesus told the religious establishment that the truth would set them free.  They said we have Abraham to be our father what more do we need.  They were religious people, but not spiritual people.  They followed the traditions of organized religion, but they were not free.  They did not know that their sins were forgiven, and they were making laws to justify themselves before God. Jesus said the truth will set you free. Jn. 8:32 The truth is we all need a Savior to be in relationship with God and to be whole.
We can fall into the same trap.  We can saw, well I grew up in the church, I have followed its guidelines, and I performed my duty on committees therefore I am more suited for heaven then others.  But we may not be free in Christ.  We may not have the knowledge that He loves us, that He accepts us, and that heaven truly is our home.  Without truly know Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord you cannot truly be free.  Knowing Jesus, walking with Him daily overshadows any problem or difficulty we face. This is the Good News.  Do you believe that? We must take that message to neighbors, friends, and everyone we meet.
Jesus told the disciples to go into all the world and they did.  Everything you read in the New Testament is that the disciples were going out to every village, every region, and country to share the message.  The early Christians had a world vision.  We need one too.  In these last few years God has opened a wider door for us as a congregation to have a direct connection to Estonia and the countries around it.  These countries have labored under fierce persecution. The communist regime would not allow any children’s youth, or Sunday school work to go on.  They wanted to cause the church to slowly die out.   I talked with a man this past week, Olav Parnaments.  He and his wife held Sunday school for children at the threat of arrest for decades, secretly.  Would we be willing to take that kind of risk, so that our children could hear the good news?
But now there is another battle for freedom.  Europe in the last 20 years has become increasingly secular.  It now is in pursuit of the material good life, entertainment, and 21st century technology, but without the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  The United Methodist Church has had a presence in that part of the world for centuries, so we have a foot in the door.  Sadly, so many churches only have 20-30 people.  They need our prayers.  They need our encouragement.
And in some sense it is not physical help they need like repairing a roof, or renovating a room, but they need even more help with children’s ministries, outreach to youth, teaching ministries like Disciple Bible, Sunday school, and Vacation Bible school.  This door is wide open.  Our church carries a meaningful part of the ministry cost of the Haapsalu congregation.  Rachel and the Summer Sunday school are providing a birthday gift of a textbook for all their seminary professors.  I am in touch with a seminary grad, Gina, who would like to come and work in church and camp some summer.
But it is not only from our side that encouragement comes. Paul said, we impart a gift to them, but they also impart a gift to us.  I was tremendously ministered to by the worship praise teams of the Russians and Estonians in Tallin.  Urmas and I often share spiritual insights.  On Wednesday night we were sharing a meal, and gifts.  The people said it is so good you are here.  We don’t want you to leave.  I believe that we could take a ministry team there for 2 weeks and we could leave an impact that would last for decades. If we do not bring the gospel to that part of the world they will continue to seek satisfaction in the wrong things.  Drinking among teens like here is a serious problem.
Prostitution in Russia and neighboring countries is serious plague.  Many children need a home. They need true freedom.
I have been elected by the Trustees and final vote goes to the council.  This was not an initiation on my part.  In fact I wrestled against it for a whole year, feeling that it was too much outside work, that I would not be able motivate people to give enough, and that it was more administrative work which I did not need.  But after praying and asking the Staff Parish, pastors, the Superintendent, and finally the Bishop, I felt the call.  I want you to join me in this effort.
The first fruit of my labor there may be to encourage this young man to pursue his dream of ministry.  Rauno and Katherine are key leaders in the church. There is an amazing thing that happens to us when we reach outside of ourselves and share salvation with those who have not heard.  Not only do they become free when they receive Christ, but we see God’s power working and we are encouraged to trust God more.  Our faith soars and we too are free.
Some may say, well there is plenty of work to do here pastor, we don’t need to be traipsing around the world. It is true that there is plenty of work to do here, but there are needs in other places that must be ministered too.  Jesus said we were to go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and all the earth.  That translates Swartz Creek, Flint, Michigan and all the world. The disciples did not stop in their home town, because they wanted to be wherever someone had not heard of Christ.  That is what I want too.  There are many people in this country who have not heard, but there are also many who have heard over and over.  But Europe has over 90% who have not heard, and they are open to us.  We must care that their souls are lost without Christ and that they are in bondage to sin and not free.  As Martin Luther King said, if one person is not free, none of us is free.  He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
Amen.