Mark 1:1-8 - “A Voice of One Calling in the Wilderness”

2nd Sunday in Advent (Year B - Lutheran Service Book readings)
Sunday, December 4, 2011

Whistle: pure sweet Canada Canada Canada (2X)

A voice of one calling in the wilderness.

Whistle: pure sweet Canada Canada Canada

A beautiful, rich bird song which fills the woods. You look up into the canopy of trees, searching for the bird singing so sweetly, and you’re amazed at the beauty of the forest, amazed at the many different birds busy flying and eating and chattering, but none of these birds appears to own the song you heard. When you hear the song again, it does not look like any of the birds that you can see have stopped what they are doing to make such a song.

As you sit down on a log, it is only through careful observation that you find the singer—on the ground. You hear a rustle of leaves in the undergrowth and then from behind some broken branches lying on the ground not far from you a bird just barely appears. This bird breaks into that wonderful song. It is the white-throated sparrow.

You realize that in looking for this singing bird you have observed so much more of the forest, so many more birds than you would have. The white-throated sparrow has a voice that causes you to stop and watch and see the wonders of God’s Creation. The white-throated sparrow has a voice that calls your attention to rest of the woods—not to himself. A voice not unlike that of John the Baptist, who calls our attention to Jesus—not to himself.

John the Baptist says he came to speak about one more powerful than himself, one who is so righteous and holy that John is not even worthy to be His servant, not worthy enough to untie His sandals—a very humble thing to do. But John says that he’s not even good enough to do that humiliating task.

Yet, we learn from another Gospel, the Gospel of John, that the Jews will come to John the Baptist asking what he has to say concerning himself. John the Baptist does not really say anything concerning himself. He is true to his mission and turns his answers to those questions into answers that are concerning the Messiah, concerning Jesus. John the Baptist has a voice that causes us to stop and watch and see the coming One, the Savior of the world. A voice that calls our attention to the Savior—not to himself.

So we learn about John the Baptist in order to learn about Jesus. We talk about John the Baptist during Advent because He points us to Jesus, and Advent points us to Jesus. We don’t learn about John the Baptist to believe in John the Baptist. We learn about John the Baptist so that we can learn his message about Jesus as the Christ. John the Baptist has a voice which calls our attention to the Savior—not to himself.

That John the Baptist should call attention to Jesus not himself, the group of Jews are baffled by this. They expect to be able to have some definite answers to give to the leaders concerning who John the Baptist is and what he says concerning himself. They cannot understand someone who has such a following, who has such a clear voice and who does not speak concerning himself. John the Baptist will not talk about himself.

In the Gospel of John, we hear the Jews ply John the Baptist with questions. Every set of questions from the Jews is thwarted with a “no.” “I am not the Christ.” Are you Elijah? “I am not.” Are you the Prophet? “No.”

John turns around every question from the Jews, turns them around so that he might proclaim the Messiah. What do you say concerning yourself? “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for our Lord.’”

Every inquiry John takes as an opportunity to point to someone else, to the coming Messiah. Why then do you baptize? “I baptize you with water, but the Messiah will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

John the Baptist has one purpose: to witness to Jesus the Christ. He is not distracted from this purpose. He is not tripped up in his witness. His voice is a beautiful, rich song which causes us to look not to him but to our Savior. A voice not unlike that of the white-throated sparrow.

Whistle: pure sweet Canada Canada Canada

A voice of one calling in the wilderness.
But don’t you think that the white-throated sparrow is ever tempted to call attention to himself? Don’t you think that he gets tired of hiding out in the underbrush seeing the flashy cardinals and bluejays and hawks get all of our attention? Don’t you think he’s ever tempted to light upon a rock, lean back, puff up his chest and sing some jazz tune, to dance around and hog our attention, to cry out and turn our attention to himself?

Don’t you think that John the Baptist was ever tempted to call attention to himself? Don’t you think he got tired of always downplaying himself and making sure that the Messiah got all of the attention? Don’t you think he was tempted to talk about himself? So people would ask, “Who are you?” and he would say, “Well, I’m glad you asked. My name is John, son of Zachariah and Elizabeth, a Jew from the land of Judah. I travel around preaching, and man, let me tell you, it’s tough. Oh, yeah, it’s nice when the crowds show up, but you’ve got to wear camel hair and eat locusts. And the deal is, I’m supposed to introduce some Messiah, and I don’t even know what he looks like. I’m guessing by all the pictures I’ve seen that he’s white, long blonde hair, blue eyes, and a beard, but who knows? This preaching bit is tough.”

Don’t you think that John the Baptist was tempted to talk about himself because aren’t you? Aren’t you tempted to let conversations turn to yourself? Aren’t you tempted to complain about how busy Advent and Christmas are for a church-goer? Aren’t you tempted to spend more time talking to people about how you dealt with a certain sin as if you’re the example of how to live rather than helping them turn their eyes to Jesus when they’re tempted? Aren’t you tempted when in Bible study to spend more time talking about yourself than talking about the Messiah? Aren’t you tempted to turn the attention to yourself instead of Jesus?

It’s so tempting. . .and we’re encouraged to turn this whole Christmas thing into being about ourselves. Aren’t we? I mean, take for instance Target’s Christmas Champ. You know who I’m talking about? The woman in the TV commercials for Target who goes crazy getting ready for Target’s 2-Day Sale. We see her doing workouts to get ready to shop. She cries hysterically over the 2-Dale Sale ad. She’s officially known as the Christmas Champ; even has her own Twitter account. (Meanwhile, she gives me the creeps.) But anyway, what’s Target trying to say? Christmas is all about shopping, all about bargains, all about. . .you. It’s all about making your Christmas perfect with the right decorations and the right shopping. We’re encouraged to be thinking about ourselves on Christmas.

So that’s the message you get in between your favorite TV show or during the Bears game. That’s the message you get from so many places: think of yourself this Christmas.

And then we come here on Sunday morning, and we see just the opposite in the ministry of John the Baptist. If you’ve been tempted at all to be making Christmas about yourself, well, it’ll make your head spin when you hear John the Baptist say that it’s not about himself; it’s about the Savior.

Whistle: pure sweet Canada Canada Canada

A voice of one calling in the wilderness.
A voice of one pointing to the beauty all around us.
A voice of one getting us to stop thinking that Christmas is about us.
A voice of one pointing to the Savior.

If John the Baptist ever succumbed to the temptation to talk about himself, we don’t see it. Rather, the Gospel of Mark shows us an example of focusing our witness solely on Jesus. We don’t see John the Baptist talk about how tough it is to be the second Elijah. What we see in John the Baptist is Jesus.

We see that Jesus is coming. We see that Jesus is the One who was promised, the One who was coming to give the Holy Spirit to all people. We see that Jesus is coming in His greatness, in His awe-inspiring greatness, in His righteousness and holiness, and that John and everyone else is unworthy to untie His sandals. What we see in John the Baptist is Jesus.

We see Jesus as the One filled with love and compassion, the One who healed the sick and cared for the outcasts. We see Jesus as the One who came to overcome all evil. We see Jesus who conquered death and rose again. What we see in John the Baptist is Jesus.

And may the same be said about our Christmas celebrations: what we see in Christmas is Jesus. May we see that Jesus is coming into our lives. May we see that Jesus is the promised Savior, the One who has come to give us the Holy Spirit. May we see Jesus in His greatness, in His awe-inspiring greatness, in His righteousness and holiness. May we see Jesus coming with love and compassion, to bring healing, to care for the outcasts, to live, die, and rise again. May this be true: What we see in Christmas is Jesus.

And yet, when we see Jesus, something else dawns on us, something that reacts against Him, something that cowers in fear. We cower because in Jesus, we see our sinfulness, how we do not match up to the expectations of God. We see how we do not keep our focus on Jesus but focus on ourselves. We are humbled by the perfection of Jesus, and we are caused to wonder: how then can we be saved?

And the thing is, Jesus focuses on us. Even while John the Baptist has shown us that our focus needs to be on Jesus, even while we need to turn the attention of others to Jesus, the attention of Jesus is on us. Even when Jesus talks about Himself, it is because He came to save us and He wants us to know and believe this. Jesus focuses on us, because He knows we fail to focus on Him. He focuses on us, because He knows our sinfulness and knows we need salvation. He focuses on us and says, “I forgive you for focusing on yourself. I forgive you for not focusing on me. I forgive you for your pride.”

John the Baptist understood this: concentrating on himself, that’s not where salvation’s at. Concentrating on Jesus, that’s where salvation is. In concentrating on Jesus, we see that He has our salvation in mind, that He’s the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He came to focus on us and give us eternal life.

And so, in our life together as a congregation, as a fellowship of believers, we concentrate on Jesus, focus on Him, call attention to Him, put it all on Him. Then we are following in the footsteps of the white-throated sparrow, and we have a voice which causes others to stop and watch and see the coming Savior. Then we are following in the footsteps of John the Baptist, and we have a voice which calls attention to Jesus—not to ourselves.

Today’s Instantaneous Performance at Gurnee Mills is a good example. This Flash Mob—oh, yeah, the mall told us we can’t call it a mob—this group that will show up and sing at Gurnee Mills will be pointing to Jesus. They’re going to sing “Prepare the Way,” a reminder to prepare your hearts for Jesus to come into our lives, a reminder that these days of preparation are about preparing for Jesus. Yes, in the process, hopefully people will find out that we’re from Bethel Lutheran Church. But, in the process, hopefully people will realize we’re a church that’s focused on Jesus. We want others to care about Jesus—whether at church with us or at their own church. We want others to focus on Jesus. Today’s Instantaneous Performance is like the White-throated Sparrow—singing and calling our attention to the beauty in the woods. Today our White-throated Sparrows will sing and call attention to the beauty that came into our world through Jesus. And then we are pointing to the One who has taken His stand in our midst for us.

The One who came into our midst as the baby born in a manger, He came for us.

The One who is in our midst through the Word, through Baptism, through the Lord’s Supper, He is here for us.

The One who will come again into our midst in His Second Advent, He will come again for us.

So we pray, “We have sinned, even so, come, Lord Jesus, come and save us. We fail to focus on you, even so, come, Lord Jesus, come again and keep your focus on us!” And that He will do. Amen.

Psalm 80:1-7 - “Lament Number 223”

1st Sunday in Advent (Year B, Lutheran Service Book readings)
Sunday, November 27, 2011

• Start putting black pieces of cloth into a box marked with David Sweeney’s “Lament Number 223,” saying one word per piece of cloth.
• Sadness, grief, despair, fights, war, shame, hurtful words, hurtful actions, sickness, death, loss, pain.
• Tape up box and put it under a chair in the corner.

• Ask congregation: Where are my laments?
• “In the corner, boxed up, taped up, hidden”
• Ask congregation: Where are your laments?

• Somewhere along the way we get the idea that we need to box up our laments, our sadnesses, our distresses, box them up during the season of Advent—which really has become known as the season of Christmas—what with everyone preparing for Christmas and talking about Christmas and good cheer and eggnog and what not.
• We get the idea we need to box up all of that dark stuff and hide it in the corner during Advent.
• Like putting away the normal decorations in the house to make room for the Christmas decorations, we box up our laments, mark the box, and put it away until January.

• That’s what David Sweeney’s art piece got me thinking
• The stenciled word “lament” over and over again
• Like marking a box, marking a box that contains all of our dark stuff
• It’s “Lament Number 223,” another in the series of laments by David Sweeney.
• Rather than giving his work titles, Sweeney numbers them, but to me it’s another reminder of how we treat our laments—especially during this season—we mark them like just something else to be numbered, we box them up, shove them in a corner, and try to stop thinking about what’s in there.

• My Grandpa died during Advent in 2000.
• We spent those last couple of days with him in the hospital, we grieved and had the funeral, but I’ll admit that as soon as I returned to my congregation, I got right back to work, preached the next week, talked about Grandpa and grief but really I put the lament in the corner and went on with what I had to. The lament was boxed up, labeled and numbered, and left there to gather dust.
• I suppose I thought it wasn’t appropriate to keep my lament, my grief around during the season of Christmas.
• I suppose I thought I’d take out my lament when it was more appropriate in January.

• Ask the congregation: Where were my laments?
• “In the corner, boxed up, taped up, hidden”
• Ask congregation: Where are your laments?

• So now what?
• Do we really just leave those laments in the corner?
• Today’s Psalm reading, the Psalm reading appointed for the First Sunday in Advent won’t let us leave the laments in the corner.

1 Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel,
Awaken your might;
come and save us.
3 Restore us, O God;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.
4 O LORD God Almighty,
how long will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
6 You have made us a source of contention to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.
7 Restore us, O God Almighty;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.
• O Lord God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?
You have fed them with the bread of tears;
You have made them drink tears by the bowlful.

 
• Psalm 80:1-7, the reading for the First Sunday in Advent stops us short. There’s the psalm making the request to the warehouse: “Bring out the box marked ‘Lament.’”

• Bring box back.

• There’s the psalm looking past the way in which we tried to hide our lament under the cover of starkly stenciled words. There’s the psalm not letting the lament be hidden until a more convenient time. There’s the psalm causing us to see that lament is most crucial to our understanding of Advent.

• Psalm 80 calls on God to act: “Restore us.” It does not let God go quietly into the Christmas celebration as if that was enough; instead it says: “Save us.” It does not settle for the glow of Christmas lights, but instead pleads for God’s benediction: “Make your face shine upon us.”

• Psalm 80 remains aware of the urgent wondering and the blank stare we get when we look up into the sky. “O LORD God Almighty, how long will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people?” How long until you come to save us?
• Even now with the knowledge of salvation through the cross and resurrection of Christ, we still wonder how long until the skies open up to reveal Jesus returning. And until He returns, we lament. We cry out. “Restore us, save us, make your face shine upon us.”

• Psalm 80 invites us to bring out the box from the back shelf, gently dust it off, open up the lament, and let God have it.

• Open box up, start pulling out fabric pieces and reading the words.
• Sadness, grief, despair, fights, war, shame, hurtful words, hurtful actions, sickness, death, loss, pain.

• Psalm 80 invites us to take those laments back out and bring those laments to God.

• We were never meant to warehouse those laments; we were meant to take them to God who promises He will save us.

• Put fabric pieces back in box, (don’t tape it shut), and put it under the altar.

• We take those laments to God, because He promises to hear our laments and promises to save us through Jesus, save us from the laments of this world.
• We go to God, because He promises to shine His face upon us, look upon us with His grace and warmth, promises to lift us up out of this darkness.

• We may have gotten the idea along the way that Advent, this season of preparing for Christmas, this season of shopping and parties, that this season means that we should box up our laments.
• But really Advent was made for laments.
• Advent means “waiting,” and we’re certainly waiting for the Lord.
• Yes, the Lord came as a babe born in Bethlehem, the Lord has come.
• But we’re still waiting, waiting for Christ to return, waiting for Jesus to rescue us from this place of laments, this place of darkness
• Jesus didn’t just come die on the cross and rise again and ascend into heaven and now He’s done.
• Jesus promised that He would return, return to take us to be with Him forever, return to give us eternal life.
• So we’re still living in Advent times—always.
• We’re still living in Advent times when we’re waiting for Jesus to return, waiting for Jesus to restore us, to save us, to rescue us, to bring us to be with Him forever.
• We have the promise that through faith we will have eternal life. Through believing in Jesus, through believing that He died and rose again, through believing that He is our Savior, we have the promise of eternal life.
• But now we wait.

• And while we wait, we live through darkness and laments.
• We live through sadness, despair, fights, war. . .

• But we can take those things to God, put them at His feet at the altar.
• We can leave our laments with God.
• We can ask God to walk with us through the darkness.
• And He promises that He hears our cries and will be with us through all things.

• So this Advent season, there’s no reason to box up your laments, to box ‘em up and tape it shut and shove it into a corner.
• Instead, bring those laments to God, bring them to the altar
• You can bring them to God by praying—talking to God very frankly about what’s going on in your heart.
• You can bring your laments to God by singing to God in worship during Advent, letting the hymns and the Scriptures call to mind your laments, and bring them to God in your worship of Him.
• You can bring your laments to God by talking to another Christian—talking very frankly about your laments and asking that person to pray for you.
• And if you’re having trouble imagining bringing your laments to God, if this idea is a challenge to you, please come and talk to me. That’s why I’m here. Sometimes people think I’m too busy to hear your concerns and talk to you, but that’s why I’m here. So if it would be helpful to talk about your laments with me, call me or email me or Facebook me. Let’s find a time to take your laments to God.

• And when you’re talking to me or when you’re talking to another Christian or when you’re singing the hymns or when you’re praying to God, use the words of Psalm 80, the words that get the laments off the shelf and bring them to God.
• Psalm 80 calls on God to act: “Restore us.”
• God will not go quietly into the Christmas celebration as if that was enough; instead Psalm 80 says: “Save us.”
• It’s not about the glow of Christmas lights, but instead Psalm 80 pleads for God’s benediction: “Make your face shine upon us.”

• The Lord hears your prayers—the prayers that echo the words of Psalm 80:
• Restore us, O God Almighty;
make your face shine upon us,
that we may be saved.

• Come, Lord Jesus, come and restore us.
• The Father shines His face upon you
• You are saved from your laments.
• You have eternal life in Jesus.
• Even so, Come, Lord Jesus, come and restore us!

• Get box back out from under the altar.
• As I name these laments again, silently name your laments before God. Name your laments and see that you don’t need to box them up and hide them.
• You can name your laments and bring them to the altar, you can bring them to God.
• Sadness, grief, despair, fights, war, shame, hurtful words, hurtful actions, sickness, death, loss, pain.

 
• Close box and put it under the altar again.
• God hears your cries.
• God will restore you from your lament.
• Even as you wait in this Advent life, God promises to send Christ again to bring you to eternal life.
• As you wait, as you lament, know that the Lord hears your cries, hears your prayers, takes your laments to heart, and sends you a comfort by His Holy Spirit—a comfort that goes beyond words and understand, a comfort that gives us strength in the darkest of days.

• And God promises through Jesus Christ that He will indeed make His face shine upon us.
• He will look upon us with His grace and comfort and mercy and forgiveness and love.
• He will show us His great warmth and bring us through this lament and bring us to eternal life.

Psalm 67 - "Benediction"

This Thanksgiving Eve sermon took the form of a poem compiled and edited from various sources. You can view the sermon in its entirety by clicking here.

Malachi 3:6-12 - “Principles of Giving”

Excel in the Grace of Giving (Week 3)
Sunday, November 20, 2011

• I’ve been making a lot of phone calls lately, trying to check in on people who we have listed as members but maybe who haven’t been in worship for a while, a long while.
• Now when I’m not talking to voicemail, every once in a while I actually get to talk to a real, live person, and I explain why I’m calling.
• I’m Pastor Squires, been making my way through the membership lists, calling people that maybe I haven’t met yet. I’m calling you because you haven’t been in worship for a while, and I’m wondering if there’s any way I can be supporting you in your spiritual life.
• The responses to that opening are varied, but sometimes I get this response: “I know I should be in church. I should really get back there.”
• It makes me cringe.
• Why would someone saying that they should be in church make me cringe?
• Because it sounds like it’s just a duty, it’s just a requirement, it’s just a hoop to jump through, it’s just an obligation.
• It makes me cringe, because I’m not just calling, hoping that the person will come to church once in a while.
• I’m calling to check on the person’s spiritual life.
• It’s not just about showing up for worship a few times.
• It’s about what’s going on in the heart.
• It’s about a heart relationship with the Lord.
• That’s the principle behind calling people: we want people to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.

• That principle also comes into play today when we’re talking about stewardship.
• Stewardship is about the heart.
• It’s about a relationship with Jesus.
• People think that the pastor’s just talking about money because the congregation needs more money.
• That makes me cringe.
• It makes me cringe, because I’m not talking about money just so that you’ll give to church once in a while.
• It makes me cringe like I used to cringe when I used to know a member of a church who never went to worship but every 3 months would stop by to drop off his 3 months of accumulated offering envelopes. That man had no interest in worship, no interest even in meeting me as the pastor there. It didn’t appear to be about a relationship with Jesus; it only appeared to be about some kind of obligation. It made me cringe.
• It made me cringe, because I wanted that man to have a relationship with Jesus. I should’ve given his offering envelopes back to him, because really I didn’t want his money if it was just to fulfill some obligation that didn’t have anything to do with the rest of his life.
• So in talking about stewardship, in talking about money, it’s not just about giving offering a few times.
• It’s about what’s going in the heart.
• It’s about the heart relationship with the Lord.
• That’s the principle behind stewardship: we want people to have a relationship with Jesus Christ—a relationship that spills out into everything that we do in our lives—including how we use our money.


• Malachi the prophet sent to the people who lived in the days after the Babylonian Exile.
• These were the days when the temple had been rebuilt, but it wasn’t nearly the grand structure that Solomon had made generations before, the temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians.
• These are the days when the people had been brought back from exile, but when Jerusalem was still ruled by a foreign empire, taxed heavily, and not coming into the prosperity that everyone had imagined would come for God’s people.
• Malachi was sent to bring God’s Word to a grumbling people, a people who still hadn’t seen the glorious promises of the earlier prophets be fulfilled.
• People were more interested in making a good living than in following the commandments of God, especially commandments like bringing sacrifices to the temple and offering their tithes, ten percent of their livelihood given to the temple.
• People ignored God’s regulations and practiced idolatry. They did not pay attention to God’s command to love others and act justly.
• So when Malachi brings up the tithe, he’s not bringing that up because that’s the only problem.
• No, there’s a deeper problem, a spiritual problem, a problem of disobedience, a problem of not trusting in the Lord, a reluctance to trust the Lord completely
• The people were robbing God of the full tithe, because their hearts were in the wrong place, their hearts were only partially turned towards the Lord
• It’s about the heart, a relationship with the Lord.
• The lack of bringing the tithe to the temple storehouse, that’s a symptom of a spiritual problem that needs to be confessed and forgiven.
• In fact, there were those who heard Malachi that day, those who feared the Lord, who believed and honored the Lord, and they were cut to the quick, they were cut to the heart, and the Lord saw that.
• He promised that day that they would be forgiven, they would be brought into His loving presence in His kingdom.
• It’s about the heart, and God comes to heal the heart.

• And that promise comes fully true in Jesus, as He comes to bring forgiveness to the people,
• as He comes to restore our hearts, as He comes to bring us sinners into His kingdom.
• It’s about the heart, and Christ has done something about the heart. He’s forgiven and healed us.
• The principle behind all of this stewardship talk is that we want you to have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
• But your relationship isn’t dependent on your stewardship.
• Your relationship with Christ is dependent on what Christ has done in your life, the faith He works in your heart by His Holy Spirit.

• But today as we wrap up our stewardship emphasis, as we bring our commitment cards forward today, I do want to mention the mechanics of tithing, because I want you to tithe, to give a percentage of your income to the Lord.
• But as I talk about those mechanics of giving, I don’t want you to lose sight of the fact that it’s about a relationship with Jesus Christ. It’s about the response of your actions to the love and grace that Jesus has already poured out into your life.
• I’m not talking about the mechanics of giving just so that you’ll give to the church once in a while.
• I’m talking about the mechanics of giving because it’s about how your faith in Jesus transforms your entire life—including how you use the money that you’ve been given as a gift from God.
• Don’t make me cringe and just drop off your offering envelope and think that’s the only thing I want.
• Above all else, I want you to continue in your relationship with Jesus Christ, and I want His love, grace, and forgiveness to fully transform your life.

• Let’s say there’s someone who refuses to give anything to the church. I’d love to talk to that person.
• But we’d only talk about giving as a symptom, a symptom that might be signaling that there’s something else going on in your faith life.
• Why are you refusing to give to the church?
• That’s really what Malachi was doing by bringing up the tithe. He was concerned about the people’s relationship with God, and the lack of tithing was a signal that something much more serious was going on, serious trouble in their faith.
• Like when I call people who haven’t been in church for a while, the real conversation isn’t about their action or lack of action. The real conversation that I want to have is: how’s your faith in Jesus?

• So stewardship, it’s about the heart.
• It’s about a relationship with Jesus.
 
• That said, do I want you to tithe? Do I want you to give ten percent of your income to the work of the Lord here and in other places? Yes.
• I want you to figure out a percentage you’re going to give to the Lord, and stick with that percentage throughout the year
• I want you to see that the Lord will bless your dedication to giving to Him, bless you in ways you may not imagine, ways that go beyond material things, bless you in spiritual ways
• I want you to be regular givers.
• I want you to be in the habit of giving to the congregation and other ministries.
• Some people tithe from their income before taxes; some people tithe from their income after taxes.
That decision, I feel, is up to you.
The point is, give regularly, give to God first, live on the rest of what He provides for you.

• A few years ago a study was done in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod about congregation members and their attitudes about giving to the Church.
• It was found that three-fourths of people do not realize that their pastors favor giving and tithing.
• Three-fourths of the people don’t realize that the pastor believes that people ought to give to God and tithe from their income
• In other words, the pastors believe something about giving and stewardship, but the congregations aren’t picking up on the message.

 
• So let me be clear:
• I believe you ought to give to the Lord.
• I believe in tithing, giving ten percent to the work of God in the world.
• I agree with Malachi that if we short-change God then we are robbing Him.
• I agree with the very direct words of Malachi:
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.
Bring the whole tithe into the congregation and other God-serving agencies.
• But I also believe that tithing is something we work towards, that we look for ways to grow in our giving, that we begin with a percentage and then work towards giving ten percent.

• But now that I’ve been clear about that, let me be very clear about something else:
• I want you to have a relationship with Jesus.
• My first concern is your relationship with Jesus.
• If you’re not giving to the Lord, my concern isn’t about getting your money.
• My first and foremost concern is: how’s your faith in Jesus?

• If you feel like you’re struggling in your faith, if you feel like you have symptoms of a struggling faith,
• then praise God that you’re here. Praise God that you’re here and receiving His Word of forgiveness and grace in Jesus Christ.
• Let’s say all of this stewardship talk is making you wonder about your spiritual health—well, then you’re getting to the heart of the issue.
• It’s not about pulling out an extra $20 bill from your wallet today.
• It’s about recognizing that God has called you into a beautiful relationship with Him, a relationship that gives you the sure promise of eternal life, a relationship that can flow into the rest of your life.
• Let’s say all of this stewardship talk is making you realize how much you’re struggling in your faith today, struggling to remain focused on Jesus.
• Well, praise God that you’re here. Praise God that you’re getting to the heart of the matter.
• Praise God that you’re here to receive the gift of Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, the body and blood for the strengthening of your faith.
• Praise God that He has done everything necessary to bring you into a right relationship with Him.
• Praise God that stewardship can be a response to that right relationship, not a way of proving yourself or making yourself right, but that stewardship can be a reflection of the loving relationship you have with God through what Jesus did on the cross and in His resurrection.
• Praise God that you’ve gotten to the heart of the matter today, that stewardship talk has gotten you thinking about your faith in Jesus.
• And praise God that when you think about your faith in Jesus, you get to hear again that it’s all about what Jesus has done for you, it’s all about the fact that Jesus has died for you and forgives you and calls you into a beautiful relationship with Him.
• Praise God that you can bring your commitment card forward today as a response to your faith in Jesus.
• Praise God that it’s not just about dropping off some money at church.
• Praise God that first and foremost you have a relationship with Jesus.

1 Chronicles 29:10-17 - “Outrageous Giving”

Excel in the Grace of Giving (Week 2)
Sunday, November 13, 2011

• Children’s Message: Bring up children and explain we’re going to get the adults moving, too, to help everyone think about who God has made them to be
• Ask adults to get up and move to one of the spots on the edge of the seating area—Worship/Music, Administration/Leadership, Education/Discipleship, Fellowship, Community Service, Maintenance/Hands On Labor
• Encourage people to move as they are able, to locate their most natural talent area, and then meet others who are there.
• PRAY
• Send adults back to their seats; then children.
• Ask people to turn to Old Testament reading.

• “Praise be to you, O LORD,
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
12 Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
• In our Old Testament reading from 1 Chronicles, King David is praising God, especially because the people had just gathered a tremendous offering to make the temple.
• But on this day when we’re thinking about Time and Talents, I want you to see how these words could also apply to the giving of our time and talents.
• “Praise be to you, O LORD,
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
EVERYTHING WE HAVE IS FROM GOD—INCLUDING OUR TIME AND TALENTS, OUR ABILITIES, OUR PASSIONS.
• Everything we have is a gift from God.
• Jesus comes into our lives to connect us with those gifts through His Holy Spirit.

• Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
GOD IS HEAD OVER ALL THINGS, INCLUDING OUR TIME AND TALENTS, LEADING US TO USE THOSE THINGS FOR HIS KINGDOM.
• Last week we talked about how God invites us to be His coworkers in bringing His blessings to our neighbors, the people around us.
• Well, this is true with time and talents as much as our money. We’re invited to share our time and talents for the sake of building up God’s kingdom, building up His people, bringing blessings to others, bringing Jesus to others.
• 12 Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
HERE DAVID MENTIONS SPECIFICALLY THAT HE’S PRAISING GOD ABOUT TREASURES, BUT NOTICE WHAT HE SAYS NEXT:
• In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
ALL STRENGTH AND POWER IS IN GOD.
HE IS THE ONE WHO LIFTS US UP AND GIVES US STRENGTH.
• God giving us strength; strengthen us through Jesus Christ—that goes beyond giving us money, treasures. That includes giving us our strengths—our talents, our abilities, our passions.
• And it includes giving us our time—a very precious commodity, the time to enjoy His blessings, the time to serve Him and serve others.
• God gives you your time and talents, and that’s what we celebrate today.

• So everything we have is from God.
• God is head over all that we have.
• God lifts us up and gives us strength.
• What’s the result of that?
• Well, according to David’s prayer, the result is:
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.
WHEN WE REALIZE THE GIFTS THAT GOD HAS GIVEN US, OUR RESPONSE IS TO PRAISE HIS GLORIOUS NAME, PRAISE HIM FOR WHAT HE’S DOING IN US AND THROUGH US.


• Because of reFocusing, the process that the congregation is involved in to discover our individual and congregational calling in the Lord, because of reFocusing, and because of other things I see happening at Bethel, I really sense that we’re in a season of discovering who we are in the Lord.
• That’s why I wanted to have you get up and move today.
• That’s why I wanted you to meet others who share a similar talent or passion.
• That’s why I want those words of David to be on your lips—God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious Name.
• I really sense that God is calling us together to serve Him, helping us to see ways to serve Him and serve each other and serve our community.
• I really sense God’s Spirit moving in this place to call us to recognize the gifts that He’s placed in us, gifts that He desires to use for His kingdom, His kingdom of grace, love, and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.

• Now I don’t say this lightly.
• I don’t always talk in these ways—about sensing God’s presence and movement.
• I’m not saying this just because it works for the sermon.
• I’m saying this because looking at what’s happening, hearing what people are saying, seeing people’s passions starting to bubble up and come together—well, I’m very confident that God’s moving in this place
• I believe so much that Jesus has loved us and forgiven us, but that He’s also sending us, calling us to serve Him and serve others.

• And this train’s leaving the station.
• Things are happening; things are beginning to move forward.
• I want you to be on this train.
• I want you to be recognizing your talents and how they could fit into serving God, serving Bethel, and serving our community.
• I want you to be on this train.
• I want you to be rejoicing in how God lifts you up and strengthens you.
• I want you to see that everything you have is a gift from God for the sake of His kingdom.
• I want you to be on this train.
• I want you to serve Him with your time and talents.

• Now next week we’ll talk more directly about how we use our money, how giving to the Church serves our neighbors.
• Usually that seems like the biggest step, it seems like a big step to speak directly about money.

• But honestly, today’s the big step, a big step in telling you that this train’s leaving the station, that I want you on this train, that I want you to serve Him with your time and talents, that I want you to see ways in which God is calling you to serve Him, serve Bethel, serve the community.
• It’s a big step, because I’m asking for your time and talents, I’m asking you to make a commitment to serve, I’m asking you to step out of your comfort zone, I’m asking you to serve Him beyond one hour on Sunday, I’m asking for you to see the countless ways that God has blessed you in how He has made you.
• It’s a big step. . .
• But I so much want to see all of you recognize the tremendous people that God has made you to be.
• I want you to see that God can use you in many different ways.
• I want to have spiritual conversations with each one of you—conversations which call us to remember that God made you, God is shaping you, God can use you for the sake of His forgiveness and love in Jesus Christ.
• You are a gift from God.
• May you rejoice in that!
• I want you to be on this train—this train of God’s forgiven people responding to Him by serving others.

• Now we’re going to give you a few minutes to fill out the Time and Talent Survey.
• Now you don’t have to only mark down things under the category that you went to when we walked around. We’ve all got many different kinds of talents and passions.
• But I also don’t want you to mark down things just because you think you should. That’s following some kind of obligation; that’s not following your passion.
• Mark down the things that seem to grab your attention right away—even if it’s something you’ve never done before. Mark down the things where you feel a passion welling up inside of you, an interest that goes a little deeper, things that strike a chord with you.
• If you’re visiting with us, use this time to think about how you might serve in your congregation or see the ways you could serve at Bethel.
• As you finish, pray for Bethel during these minutes.
• Close the sermon by praying for the congregation before giving them a few minutes to fill out the Time & Talent survey. Give to ushers when you finish.

2 Corinthians 8:1-15 - “Why Christians Give”

Excel in the Grace of Giving (Week 1)
Sunday, November 6, 2011

• Set up half of the pipe, send coins down
• This is God sending down His blessings to us and to others
• Except that’s not quite the whole picture

• Ask for a volunteer
• You be God. (give them the jar of coins)
• Set up top half of the pipe with Y-joint in middle
• Meanwhile, you give me some blessings and encourage me to share those blessings with others (Volunteer pours some coins into a smaller jar)
• So God keeps sharing blessings with people (Volunteer keeps putting coins in the top of the pipe)
• Meanwhile, I as His child am encouraged to share blessings with others also (start putting coins in middle of the pipe through Y-joint)
• The blessings of God come to us by grace, by gift
• We are companions of this grace
• We are coworkers, encouraged by God to join Him in this sharing with others.

• How many of you are thinking putting coins down this pipe looks fun? Oddly relaxing?
• That’s the kid in us.
• And that’s kind of how stewardship can work: God shows us what He’s doing—then invites us to try it out
• (Volunteer sits down)

• Borrowing a phrase from another preacher: “The stewardship invitation is not about moral obligation to pay God back or even to express gratitude, but to engage with God in love in the world” (William Loader).
• I think it still has to do with returning a portion of what God has given us.
• I think our offerings are still a way of expressing thanks to God.
• But the whole idea of being companions of God in the grace of giving—that idea is revolutionary to me.
• It’s amazing to think that God is inviting us to be stewards of our time, talent, and treasure, invites us to be good stewards, because He wants us to be His coworkers in sharing blessings with the world
• So it’s really about our neighbor, about taking part in God blessing our neighbors, blessing them materially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

• Notice in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, notice how Paul is encouraging the Corinthians to give to the church in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was going through a famine, and so Paul had been raising funds from all of the churches in the region, raising support for the Christians in Jerusalem.
• Notice how Paul spurs on the Corinthians by telling them about the faith and action of another church—the Macedonians. The Macedonians who begged to be a part of the collection for Jerusalem. The Macedonians who saw that they could be a part of something bigger than themselves, they could be part of what God was doing for the Church—big “C,” the Church of all the brothers and sisters in the faith.
• Stewardship was about loving their neighbors.
• Using the example of the Macedonians, Paul is urging the Corinthians to follow through on the commitment they had already made to Jerusalem, encouraging them to finish the collection and send it to Jerusalem.
• He commends them, compliments them, recognizes how the Spirit of God was already working in them through their faith, speech, knowledge, complete earnestness and love. The Corinthians were excelling in all of these ways.
• But now Paul encourages them to also excel in the grace of giving, the gift of giving, to excel in being God’s companions in passing on blessings to others.
• In other words, excel at putting coins in the pipe.

• So according to this pipe image, why do Christians give?
• Do we give because that makes us better Christians?
• No, God’s already delivering the blessing of salvation! That blessing comes from Him.
• It’s the grace of giving. It’s God’s graciousness.
It’s always about the gifts from God.
• So do we give because we need to make up the difference between what God provides and what’s still needed?
• No, because notice that God continues to give blessings whether or not I take part.
• I mean, notice what Paul is saying to the Corinthians. He’s saying that the Macedonians and others are already giving to support Jerusalem. He doesn’t lay it on the Corinthians that they make or break the operation.

 
• So according to this image of the coins in the pipe, why do Christians give?
• It’s fun.
• We’re being invited to be a part of something fun, beautiful, incredible that God is already doing.
• We’re being invited to be God’s companions.
• We’re being invited to be a part of God’s mission to love all people.
• We’re being transformed into people who are part of God’s mission.

• Now if I keep my jar of coins to myself, if I decide that
I’m not going share, I’m not going to join in the game,
I suppose there’s a sin there.
• I might be selfish, greedy, not trusting God
• There could be a lot of sinful reasons for holding onto the coins in my jar.
• For those sinful reasons, I need God to shower His forgiveness on me.
• And if this talk about stewardship has conjured up guilt for you, if you’re thinking about some sin that stands between you and sharing with others, well, then be assured that there is plenty of forgiveness for you in Jesus Christ.
• Jesus Christ died for all of our sins—even our sin of keeping the coins to ourselves, keeping His blessings to ourselves.
• Jesus Christ conquered death and rose again so that there’s this gift of salvation, there’s a gift of eternal life that we don’t need to earn.
• It’s a free gift.
• And being a good steward doesn’t earn you a bigger piece of eternity. You’ve got eternity through what Jesus did and what Jesus is doing in you.

• But when we think about the Corinthians keeping their coins to themselves, Paul isn’t condemning them. In fact, Paul even says, “I am not commanding you.” This isn’t Paul shaking his finger at those Corinthians.
• No, what we see Paul saying in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 is that the Corinthians are missing out if they keep their coins to themselves, they’re missing out on being a part of what God is doing
• They’re missing out on being a part of that movement in the Church—big “C” church—the movement bringing funds from all over the region to support the Christians in Jerusalem. If they keep their coins to themselves, they won’t be a part of this incredible thing, this thing that God’s invited them to be a part of.
• They won’t get the fun of putting the coins down the pipe.

• That’s the same for us—God doesn’t want us to miss out on the fun of sending coins down the pipe, sending on blessings to our neighbors, doesn’t want us to miss out on being His companions in this grace, His gifts to His people.

• How many of you have heard of Compassion International?
• Support children around the world so that they get food, clothes, and education.
• You sign up to sponsor a child, pledging to sponsor them hopefully until they graduate from the program
• Well, a youth group I worked with heard about Compassion at a Christian concert, they got excited about it, and they asked me, “Pastor, can we sponsor a child? You know, the youth group together sponsor a child.”
• They pleaded with me that evening, and maybe against my better judgment, I said they could sign up. They assured me that they would take offering each week at Bible study and that’s how they’d come up with the money each month—because I explained that the funds couldn’t come from the church budget. It had to be something they did as the youth.
• Well, a couple of months passed, we were paying the pledge each month—out of the youth budget
• The offering plate would get passed, but not much was going in it—a few dollars, a few coins, and a couple of pencils since someone thought it was pencil basket.
• Finally, I had to sit down with a few key youth who had asked to do this, and I said that they’d either have to get the youth to donate more or they were going to have to stop sponsoring a child.
• After a couple more weeks of no one bringing offering, they decided that they’d have to stop.
• I told them that they’d have to write the letter to Compassion and explain that we couldn’t sponsor this child anymore.
• That was a tough lesson for those youth, but it was about following through on their commitment, following through on their pledge.

• That’s kind of what is happening here in 2 Corinthians—Paul is having to tell those Corinthian Christians that they either needed to follow through on their commitment to the Jerusalem church or that they should write a letter saying they couldn’t keep their pledge.
• Except Paul does it all much more graciously than I did with those youth.
• With the youth, I kind of laid out the Law, showed them how they weren’t meeting their commitment, told them to go out and drum up more support.
• Paul, though, paints a picture for the Corinthians. Paints a picture for them to see what it means to be companions of God, what it means to join God in loving others.
• Paul paints a picture like the pipe
• OK, so he doesn’t talk about PVC pipe and coins, but the principle is there—join in what God is already doing, be God’s partner, excel in the grace of giving

• Now I’m probably still stumbling over how best to talk about stewardship.
• I’m still learning when it comes to talking about giving and blessing others and the needs of the congregation and the chance to participate in the mission of the Church through our giving
• I’m still learning

• But I’ll tell you what: the image of getting to put coins down a pipe that God’s already using, the image of getting to join God’s work, that image that arises out of Paul’s words to the Corinthians, that image speaks volumes to me
• It speaks volumes, because it centers it back on God
• It centers it back on what God is already doing in our lives through Christ, already delivering blessings

• (Volunteer comes back up, add second volunteer)
• Remember: God’s sharing blessings with us constantly
• We’ve been invited to be a part of that process
• We can share from our coin jars, we can share with our neighbors
• But if we stop, if we hold onto our blessings—God’s still blessing others
• He doesn’t stop if we stop
• He’ll simply look for other ways to deliver blessings
• He’ll invite others to be His companions
• meanwhile, meanwhile—we’re missing out on the fun

• So excel in the grace of giving
• Join the fun (2nd volunteer starts putting coins down Y-joint)
• Excel in the grace of giving

• Join the fun of sharing your blessings so that others are blessed materially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually
• What Paul said about the Corinthians I would say about you here at Bethel: you excel in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us
• Excel now also in the grace of giving
• Celebrate that you’re God’s partners, companions, coworkers
• See yourselves right here at the Y-joint, right here getting to step and send your blessings onto others

Psalm 46 - “Medieval Knights”

Reformation Day (Year A)
Sunday, October 30, 2011

• (Repeat after me)
• Above the chaos
• God is with us
• God brings peace

• The theme for this year’s Gurnee Days was Medieval Knights—that was back in those warm days of August
• So our Gurnee Days chair Matt Messmer assembled a team of people who brainstormed and came up with the theme for our float: “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”
• It worked perfectly—the image of a castle fitting in with the medieval/middle ages theme of the parade
• the image of a castle tying in with Luther’s hymn inspired by Psalm 46,
• Luther’s hymn that talks about God being our refuge and strength, God being our fortress
• In fact, the float worked so well it won first place!
• But I’m still wondering: Can we see things like this as being more than telling people about Bethel Lutheran Church?
• Could we see being in the community as our chance to tell people about GRACE?
• Could we see being in the community as our chance to tell people that God is our strength?
• That God is the strong One, the One who saves us
• Psalm 46 and “A Mighty Fortress” tell us that:
• Above the chaos
• God is with us
• God brings peace
• Churches—even non-Lutheran churches—sing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” to celebrate Martin Luther
• But may it really be about celebrating God’s grace
• May it be to celebrate that the Church once again recognized God’s grace in the Scriptures
• “A Mighty Fortress” inspired by Psalm 46
• Connects Psalm 46 with Christ, lifts up the grace
• Luther took comfort in Psalm 46 for the way it points to life and salvation in God, life and salvation that come to us by grace—as gift
• Took comfort because tells us that God is our strength

• Above the chaos
• God is with us
• God brings peace

• Above the Chaos – first verses
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
• (MSG) We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom
Courageous in seastorm and earthquake
Before the rush and roar of oceans,
The tremors that shift mountains.
• Above the Chaos—that’s SALVATION
• because Christ lifts us up, gives us courage, trust in what He has done in the cross and resurrection
• Bring us out of the chaos; that’s GIFT/GRACE
• Above the chaos
• God is with us
• God brings peace
• Withness
• Refrain: “The LORD Almighty is with us;
• the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
• He is WITH us
• His Withness is so central to what He has revealed about Himself
• He sent His Son to be WITH us—Immanuel
• Withness—LIFE WITH GOD
• Because Jesus is with us—lives in us by His Spirit

• Above the chaos
• God is with us
• God brings peace

• Desolations of peace
• “Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.”
• Expect scenes of destruction but what do we have?
• He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.
• Desolation to our destruction
• Brings an end to our way of doing things
• Desolations of peace—LIFE
• Because Jesus brings peace through His forgiveness

• Above the chaos
• God is with us
• God brings peace

 
• Bob Lenz has spoken to hundreds of thousands students, including National Youth Gatherings
• Spoke to our Northern Illinois District pastors
• Bob’s not Lutheran but has a great way of emphasizing that we are saved by grace through faith
• A tremendous set of stories that show our strength, our salvation, our hope, our comfort, our refuge in God
• At the pastors’ conference, Bob encouraged us, almost pleaded with us Lutherans to SHARE THE GRACE
• Share the message we have
• Share this hope we have that we’re saved by what Jesus does and not by what we do
• Not by our own strength; saved by the strength of God

• Above the chaos
• God is with us
• God brings peace


• That’s what we have to share with the world
• That’s what Bob Lenz was urging us pastors to share
• This thing called GRACE; salvation as GIFT
• The power of salvation is in what God does;
• The power is in what God does in Christ

• Above the chaos
• God is with us
• God brings peace

Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18 - “Cones”

19th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 25) (Year A)
Sunday, October 23, 2011

• People outside of the Church are watching us
• They’re watching to see if we take the words of Jesus seriously
• They’re watching to see if we really love our neighbors as ourselves—words from the Old Testament book of Leviticus but words that Jesus repeated as He summarized the Law
• The people outside of the Church realize that those are radical words—love your neighbor as yourself
• They’re radical words because it’s a whole different way to live.
• It’s a call to live without revenge, without payback
• It’s living without retaliating, hitting back
• And they’re radical words, because they call on us to love people, all people, not just people in our tribe, they call on us to love people outside of our friends, outside of our family, outside of our community.
• As Leviticus later says in chapter 19, God’s calling on us to love the alien, the stranger, the person completely different than us
• That’s radical, that’s not how most of the world operates
• The people outside of the Church are watching to see if we’re going to be that radical
• The people outside of the Church resonate with these words, resonate, respond to this beautiful, radical love
• But they haven’t always seen this in the Church
• They haven’t always seen Christians as loving neighbors as themselves
• They’ve seen the Church standing off to the side, taking care of their own, judging those outside of the Church
• That’s the perception that many people have—we’re judgmental, we condemn others, we don’t show love
• That’s how we’re seen

• And frankly, we stand accused
• We’re caught in the act of being unloving
• We’re caught not following the radical love of Jesus

• I mean, aren’t they right?
• We don’t always love our neighbors as ourselves
 
• Here’s how it works:
• I’m traveling along in life and come to a moment when I am called to show love to a neighbor (cone)
• Instead, I step aside and take care of myself (bypass cone away from people)
• But here’s what those outside the Church might not realize:
God comes to me, convicts me of my sin (points back to my action), and forgives me in Jesus Christ
• Then He sets me up another moment to love a neighbor (cone)
• Again, I step aside and take care of myself (bypass cone away from people)
• God comes to me, convicts me of my sin, and forgives me in Jesus Christ
• Then He sets me up another moment to love a neighbor (cone)
• This time I follow the Holy Spirit’s leading, I am moved by the love of God to love my neighbor (turn towards congregation)
• Life is a series of cones, a series of moments where sometimes I follow His leading and sometimes I turn my own way
• But at every step of the way, God loves and forgives me
• God is committed to me and to my neighbors
• When I turn to love my neighbor, I’m not trying to earn my salvation—my salvation is secure in Jesus
• Yet, even though my salvation is secure, God is constantly prompting me to live out my faith
• That’s what it means to love my neighbor—I live out my faith, I respond to salvation
• I let God’s love for me flow through me

• So people outside of the Church will be watching us
• Watching us as we get to know our neighborhoods
• Watching to see if we love our neighbors as ourselves
• They’ll be watching to see if we’re as radical as Jesus
• And what will they see?
• They’ll see a series of cones
• They’ll see us take some correct turns and love radically
• They’ll see us take some wrong turns
• They’ll see us be convicted and admit our sins
• They’ll see us rejoice in God’s love and forgiveness
• They’ll see us return to the cones, move forward to try again by God’s power to love our neighbors

• But above all of this, what we pray they see is the love of God
• After all, it’s not really about our love
• It’s about the love of God
• The love of flowing through us to them
• We want them to see Jesus
• We want them to see the beautiful, radical love of Jesus

 
• The Go! Project is one of these cones
• Find a way to love our neighbors as ourselves
• Find a way to love our neighbors by sharing the Gospel with them
• Describe the Go! Project (thegoproject.org)

• The reason we need the Go! Project is because we don’t naturally love our neighbors as ourselves
• Our sinful instinct is to love ourselves and ignore the needs of others
• Despite the fact that we know the Gospel, still our sinful nature gets the best of us and we keep this Good News to ourselves
• We don’t love our neighbors as ourselves
• We don’t tell our neighbors about Jesus
• We need the Go! Project to jump start us on loving our neighbors
• It’s training us, forming us, giving form to our actions, calling us to live out the Gospel, calling us to live for God

• Of course, it’s not really the Go! Project that jump starts us on loving our neighbors
• I mean, it’s a tool used by God to help us love our neighbors

 
• What really jump starts us is the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts
• God comes to us, convicts us of our sin, tells us that we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves
• But then God comes to us with a grand word of forgiveness, a grand word of removing that sin from us

• In Jesus, we are forgiven for not loving our neighbors
• In Jesus, we have the promise of eternal life despite our sin
• In Jesus, we are healed from our sinful ways
• In Jesus, we are transformed
• In Jesus, sent back out to love our neighbors, jump started, energized by the love of God
• In other words, when we turn away from loving our neighbors (bypass the cone),
• We find ourselves in front of Jesus
• And He confronts our sin, calls us to repent, and offers us forgiveness—then sends us back to our neighbors
• So either way—on either side of the cone, there’s Jesus
• If I turn away from loving my neighbor, there’s Jesus to confront me and forgive me and send me back
• If I love my neighbor, there’s Jesus, His love flowing right through me
• Either side of the cone, there’s Jesus

Psalm 96:1-9 - “Preaching to the Choir”

18th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24) (Year A)
LWML (Lutheran Women’s Missionary League) Sunday
Sunday, October 16, 2011

• Climbing up on the shelves in the warehouse, counting how many Bible studies are still left in open boxes
• Small way I was helping the families of the world ascribe glory to the Lord

• Dollar bills in a mite box
• Small way that you are able to help the families of the world ascribe glory to the Lord
• Because of those dollars add up to a lot of money used to support mission projects in districts across North America, including Northern Illinois, and around the world
• With a goal of raising $1.8 million for grants to places like Haiti, Dominican Republic, Kansas, and Detroit
• In our district, LWML supports places like Voice of Hope prison ministry and Voice of Care developmentally-disabled ministry

• But what is the LWML setting out to do? What is any mission society aiming to do? What are we at Bethel trying to do?
• We’re inviting the families of the world to sing the new song of Psalm 96 with us.

• Psalm 96, I suppose, could just sound like another hymn, a hymn to the Lord—


• Sing to the LORD
sing to the LORD,
Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
Declare his glory
• They’re words of praise calling on us to honor the Lord

• But notice something else about those first lines
• Notice how it’s addressed to the nations, to all people,
• It’s a mission psalm

1 Sing to the LORD a new song;
THE PEOPLE DIDN’T HAVE THIS SONG BEFORE
sing to the LORD, all the earth. NOT JUST ISRAEL
2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous deeds among all peoples.

4 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
ABOVE WHAT OTHERS BELIEVE IN
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols,
but the LORD made the heavens.
ALL PEOPLES ALL CALLED TO PRAISE GOD
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations,
ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;


• It’s what one author calls a psalm of “new orientation” (Brueggemann)
• It’s a psalm that calls the hearer to have a new orientation to the world, a new way of looking at the world, a changed perspective
• The psalm’s calling on the hearers to turn and ascribe glory to the Lord, only to the Lord


• In your bulletins, you have a logo I made for Psalm 96

• When I hear the later verses from today’s reading, the verses about ascribing glory and strength to His Name, this is what came to mind
• The LORD’s Name, God the Father’s personal Name is Yahweh in Hebrew,
• To His Name we ascribe, we give to His Name, we grant to His Name—glory and strength.
• Glory—His Name is above all else
• Strength—His Name is far stronger than anything else
• In His Name, there is glory and strength

• What’s His glory? What’s His strength? Where do we see this most clearly?
• In Jesus Christ—His cross and resurrection
• The cross is His glory—the mercy, grace, and forgiveness He won for us
• The cross is His strength—going to death for us
• The resurrection is His glory—conquering death
• The resurrection is His strength—mighty to save us
• The LWML, other mission societies, our mission as a congregation, our calling as individual Christians, it’s to invite others to ascribe glory and strength to the Name of Yahweh, to the Name of Jesus Christ

• But that calls for reenvisioning the world, reenvisioning the people around us (Robert Foster), because we can’t just think of them as enemies
• Psalm 96 invites us to see the families of the world as potential choir members who will sing praise to Yahweh
• Psalm 96 is preaching to the choir—but that choir’s not just the insiders anymore

• What will we do to make room for new choir members?
• Will you start making room for new people in small ways—a handshake, a smile, a warm greeting on Sunday morning?
• Will you see the need for the LWML, for mission societies, for outreach in our community?
• What will we do to give people a new song to sing, replacing their old songs of despair with a song of hope in Jesus?
• What will we do to help others ascribe glory and strength to the Lord?

• Because that’s what it means to preach to this choir—this growing choir, this growing group of followers of Christ
• calling on others to ascribe glory and strength to the Lord
• calling on others to declare that Jesus is Savior

Psalm 23 - “Bear Pack”

17th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 23) (Year A)
Sunday, October 9, 2011

• What is a bear pack?
• Explain
• (Use rope and backpack, have some pretend to be a tree)

• Why do you put up a bear pack?
• Keep your food safe
• Have you seen the bears?
• No, but you know they’re out there
• (Person sits down)

• Psalm 23, that very, very familiar psalm, talks about the Lord as our shepherd
• What does a shepherd do?
• Protects and guides the sheep
• I imagine that if the shepherd could, he’d put all of the sheep up in a tree like a giant bear pack protecting them from wild animals
• So I hear that a shepherd protects and guides the sheep, lifts them out of trouble, that’s why I thought of the bear pack—lifting something valuable out of trouble
• Which means we’re something valuable to the Lord, we’re something that needs His protection and guidance, we’re something that needs to be lifted up
• We’re the sheep.
• We’re the bear pack.


• Psalm 23 tells us these great, comforting things that God has done for us
• Psalm’s comfort comes because we know the opposites
• We know there are bears out there
• We know there are things that threaten us

• Take a look at the psalm with me, the first verses about the Lord being our shepherd
• What does opposites does the psalm assume?

• The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, SPELLS OUT THE PROBLEM HERE
I will fear no evil, AGAIN MENTIONS THE PROBLEM
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

• You are the bear pack being pulled up to safety by God
• Pulled out of want, dry lands, threatening waters, bear attacks
• Pulled out of a broken soul, sinful paths, death, separation from God
• Pulled out of danger, lifted up by what Jesus did on the cross, by what Jesus did by rising from the dead
• Through the forgiveness of Jesus, you aren’t in danger of being sent to hell
• Through the power of Jesus, the evil one can’t overcome you
• Through Jesus, you are protected from the bears in your life.

• This is a spiritual place, a spiritual journey when you’re pulled up into the tree by God
• This isn’t a psalm that promises endless paychecks and beautiful houses and an ideal life
• That’s not what the first verse means
• “I shall not be in want”—it means that the Lord will provide for our needs, provide for us each day, but perhaps not in the ways we expect or imagine
• and not first and foremost in material ways.
• First and foremost the Lord will provide for us spiritually.

• We are not in want spiritually with Jesus
• There’s not something still needed to be supplied
• He died—paid for our sins completely
• He rose again—conquered death
• He sent His Spirit—filled out hearts in faith
• The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.

• One author put it this way:
• When we ask "What do I lack?" it’s more in the sense of "What really matters that I do not have?" What, at the hour of death, would I dare not lack? (James Limburg, workingpreaching.org)
• With Jesus. . .we’ve been given the confidence that we lack nothing at the hour of death

• Ah, but that stands in the face of our laments, our anxieties, our fears, our questions
• We stand and wonder aloud why God allows us all of these bears to gather around us
• Why is there want and dry fields and threatening waters?
• Why is there soul-death, paths of sin, death, and separation from God?

• Another author says that Psalm 23 is kind of like a creed, something where we state our belief in God
• It talks back to the lament
• It doesn’t let the lament have the final say (Frederick J. Gaiser, Word & World)

• So again imagine that you are a bear pack, that life is like being a bear pack.
• What kinds of things are you going to need to talk back to? The bear that’s climbing the tree and swinging out trying to get you.
• What are you going to tell those bears in your life?
• I shall not want.
• Green pastures.
• Still waters.
• Paths of righteousness.
• God is with me.

• What’s the challenge, though, in talking back to the bear? What’s the challenge in talking back to the lament?
• You’re hanging out there; feels lonely; looks scary.

• But what’s it mean that the Lord is your shepherd?
• He’s providing everything you need even when the bears come sniffing around.
• Jesus has pulled you up to safety—forever.

Isaiah 5:1-7 - “Unforgettable”

16th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22) (A)
Sunday, October 2, 2011

• Roll out cart with CD player on it.

• Isaiah 5:1-7 is a love song.
• It’s God’s love song for His people.

• The owner did everything for that vineyard
• He put the vineyard on a hill to get good sunlight
• He dug and broke up the ground
• He cleared the stones
• He planted the best vines
• He set up the wine press, prepared for harvest
• He built a watchtower to protect it
• The owner doing everything for the vineyard, it’s a way of saying how much God has done for His people.
• It’s God’s love song for His people.

• Play “Unforgettable” which begins to skip part way in
• After it skips a couple of times, remove CD
• Smash CD with hammer

• Isaiah 5:1-7 is a love song smashed to bits

• Owner did everything he could for the vineyard
• And what does he get?
• Bad fruit
• Literally, he gets stinking, rotten grapes

• God did everything he could to love His people
• Stinking, rotten actions

• Owner - judgment on the vineyard
• Take away all of the protection and care

• God - judgment on the people
• Send them into exile

• When the people first heard Isaiah’s words,
• Probably thought he was talking about Israel, northern kingdom, already taken over
• Isaiah, though, reveals that he’s talking about Jerusalem and Judah, southern kingdom, the people who were probably confident in themselves
• Judah and Jerusalem will be lost, smashed to bits, the end of the love song

• We’d like to think, too, that God’s judgment is going to fall on someone else, those other people, those people who aren’t here
• Yet, God’s judgment comes on our sin, too
• His love song for us, smashed to bits, because we’re sinners
• Our sin produces stinking, rotten grapes
• God looks to see if our faith produces justice, produces right actions
• —but it only produces riots and bloodshed
• God looks to see if our faith produces righteousness, produces compassion
• —but it only produces complaints

• We stand accused
• We’re stinking, rotten grapes, too
• Our actions produce riots and complaints
• Our actions produce the opposite of what God intends

• Our sins hurt other people
• We hurt others by our actions and our lack of action
• We’re very far away from that love song God meant to sing about us.

• We need God to revive the love song.
• We need God to restore the broken love song
• We need God to repair the vineyard
• Take out another CD, play “Unforgettable”
• This CD plays the song without skipping

• Jesus Christ is the love song restored
• Jesus Christ has come to repair the vineyard
• Jesus Christ was sent to restore God’s people

• The cross and resurrection is all about restoring the love song, repairing the vineyard, restoring God’s people
• We may have sinned, we may have caused riots instead of right, we may have caused complaints instead of compassion
• But through the power of the cross, through the triumph of the resurrection, there is forgiveness for our sins, forgiveness for our stinking, rotten grapes

• And with that love song playing in the background, what does God work in us, work in our lives?
• Justice and righteousness
• Right actions and compassion
• Changes our hearts, changes our actions to reflect His love for all people
• Remember, though, it’s not your actions that restore the love song
• It’s God’s action; it’s Jesus Christ that restores the love song, that repairs the vineyard, that restores His ways in your heart and life

• One of the difficulties in preaching on this text is that you are not Jerusalem and Judah, you are not smug in your sin, you are not self-confident in your unrighteous, unjust actions
• Isaiah was preaching to a people who were refusing to listen to God’s Word, but here you are, ready to listen, having already confessed your sin
• Instead, you are more like the person in Isaiah’s audience, the person who lingers after everyone leaves
• Everyone else goes away grumbling, shaking their fists at Isaiah, telling Isaiah he’s got no right to speak to them that way
• Yet, you linger, you stay behind, you approach the prophet, you say,
• “What do I do? I know I have sinned. I know I have angered the Lord. I know my actions are stinking, rotten grapes.”

• In that moment, I imagine Isaiah whispering the Gospel, the Good News that you need to hear
• I imagine Isaiah singing the love song again
• I imagine Isaiah speaking about restoration
• I imagine Isaiah speaking the words he’d later proclaim, where God says:
• 57:17 I was enraged by his sinful greed;
I punished him, and hid my face in anger,
yet he kept on in his willful ways.
18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
I will guide him and restore comfort to him,
19 creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel.

• So today as you hear the Lord reminds us that He smashes the love song to bits, tears down the vineyard, brings judgment on our sin
• Remember that you have also pulled the prophet aside
• Pulled him aside, come to hear the rest of the message
• You have come to the prophet, have come to God with tears and shaking voice and repentance
• And the Lord promises restoration of the love song
• Promises restoration through Jesus
• God was enraged by your sinful greed;
God punished you, and hid His face in anger,
yet you kept on in your willful ways.
God has seen you ways, but He will heal you;
God will guide you and restore comfort to you,
creating praise on the lips of the mourners, those who repent in the Church
• God will guide you and restore you
• God will sing the love song again

Matthew 21:23-32 - “Repent and Be Welcomed”

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21) (Year A - Lutheran Service Book readings)
Sunday, September 25, 2011

• So I just did a Children’s Message on the word “Repent.”
• It’s not usually one of those warm fuzzy words made perfect for a warm fuzzy children’s message.
• But did you catch how “repent” is an invitation to come back to God?
• It’s not an invitation to come back to God so that God can punish you.
• It’s an invitation to come back to God so He can share His love with you.

• Where’d we ever get the feeling that the word “repent” is meant to be yelled?
• I mean, I did a Google Image search for “repent” and it came up with signs like “Repent or Die!” and pictures of people pointing their fingers and slamming their fists and yelling “repent”

• Is it meant to be a scary word?
• Is it meant to be a word decorated with flames?

• I mean, on the one hand, it’s a word about our sin, a word about taking our sin seriously,
• so it is meant to bring us to our knees,
• it’s meant to cause us to confess our sins to God
 
• But on the other hand, on the extremely important other hand, we’re called to turn back to God, to make that U-turn, to go back to Him so that He can forgive us and love us and show us mercy.
• We don’t need to be afraid to repent.
• We can rejoice that when we repent there’s hope and comfort and open arms.

• Look with me at the parable of the two sons, the second half of today’s Gospel reading. It’s about repentance.

28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

• Who is the father? (God)
• What is the vineyard? (Kingdom of God)
• But then who are the two sons?
(chief priests/elders and tax collectors/prostitutes/sinners)

• Now typically teaching about preaching would counsel the pastor never to compare the congregation to the chief priests
• You are the redeemed, baptized, believing children of God; so to call you chief priests/elders/Pharisees, well, that’s just wrong

• But look at the two sons. . .don’t you feel like you might be either one at different times?
• I mean, there’s plenty of times that I’ve refused to do what God wants, but in the end, I follow His will
• I think I’ll refuse to do His will, that I’ll look out for number one instead of loving my neighbor, but in the end, His Spirit works in me, and I show love to my neighbor

• Yet there are also times when I commit to God, I commit to doing His will
• And then I slink around, sneak around, and just simply never get around to doing His will
• I vow to love my neighbor, but I end up ignoring that vow, ignore my commitment to love others

• I could be either son
• But that means that the message of repentance, that message is meant for me

• John the Baptist’s message: “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near”
• The message of Jesus: “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near”
• The message of the disciples when they are sent out and preached a message of repentance
• That message of repentance is the message I need to hear

• What does it mean to repent?
Changed his mind so changed his action
• Who repented in the parable?
• Who was repenting when it came to hearing the words of Jesus?
• Tax collectors and prostitutes and sinners
• Who is repenting now when it comes to the words of Jesus?
• We are if we are changing our minds so changing our actions

• However you understand the parable, however you want to line up the parable, we’re the ones who need to repent.

• A year ago, after Matthew Harrison was elected as the president of our denomination, he wrote an article for the magazine, The Lutheran Witness, called “Beginning with Repentance.” In other words, he began his presidency with repentance. He would lead with repentance, an acknowledgement of sin and the need to return to God, the need for forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Harrison said,

• The Reformation began the same way. The very first words of Luther’s Ninety-five Theses declare: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ says ‘Repent,’ he wills that the entire life of the Christian be one of repentance.” The Reformation began with a divine call to repentance—with a confession of sin and a rejection of the delusion that human activity can in any way, whole or in part, bring about salvation or divine favor.

• Harrison continued in talking about the things that the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod might need to repent about, the things we as members of the Missouri Synod churches might need to repent about. He said:

• Why have we lacked missionary zeal? Why have we been so divided? Why have we failed to love each other? Why have we struggled financially? Why have we failed to convince both those within and outside our fellowship? Why have we been unable to listen to our brothers and sisters? Why has our preaching so often lacked urgency and biblical depth? Are we preachers therapists, or are we prophets of God with a clear message of Law and Gospel? Are we still the Church that preaches Jesus’ own message of repentance? As I write these things, I am thinking above all of myself, of my own sins.

• Harrison continued with a very direct statement: There is nothing for any of us in the Missouri Synod to be smug about.

• But Harrison didn’t stop there. Repentance doesn’t stop there. It’s not just about turning away from sin, shamed by our actions, and trying to fix our lives. Repentance is about turning to the Gospel. Harrison said:

• The good news is that the Lord delights in having mercy upon sinners, just like us. In fact, “Christ dwells only in sinners” (Luther). That means that Christ dwells only in a Church made up of sinners—people and pastors just like us. Jesus has given us an astounding gift. May the Lord grant us repentance, all of us, that the Gospel not pass from us and that we poor sinners—yes, the Missouri Synod—might be His own tool to preach repentance, forgiveness, and faith in His name—even now, even today. (September 2010)

• So indeed, may God grant us repentance today. In fact, that’s another reminder about what repentance is: it’s God’s action in our lives
• it’s God working in our hearts to turn us away from sin
• It’s God helping us to see that He will welcome us back into His family even though we are sinners.
• Repentance is God’s action.

• Not every Christian will teach this.
• You won’t always hear this.
• You’ll get the idea that repentance is our action and God meets us there.
• We do a little, God does a little, and that’s salvation.
• But instead, looking at Scripture, we believe that salvation is completely God’s action.
• So that even my repentance, even my turning away from sin, is the action of God, His Holy Spirit working in my heart.

• So definitely, may God grant us repentance today. May God work that repentance in our hearts.
• May we be the son who repents.

• And when we repent, when God turns us around,
• We find God coming to us, coming to us with forgiveness and love
• It’s a message of hope and grace for us who have been crushed by the Law.
• It’s a message of hope and grace for those who have been turned around by God.

• So think of a time when you turned away from sin,
a time when you repented
• That may have been a difficult time
• That may have been a time when you felt guilty, sad, ashamed, scared

• But as you remember repenting, turning away from the sin, turning away from that action,
• Remember this:
• That was God’s action—praise Him for it
• God was working in your heart—give Him the glory
• And remember what you found when God brought you, when you returned to the Lord, when the Lord drew You to Himself, what did you find?
• You found forgiveness and love
• You found Gospel.
• You found Good News.

• So when you hear the word “repent,” now you don’t need to just hear it as a scary word of shaking fingers
• Now you can hear it as God intends it—
• A word of God turning you to Himself
• A word of God bringing you back to Himself
• A word of God returning you to His love and grace

Isaiah 55:6-9 - "86"

14^th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20) (Year A - Lutheran Service Book readings)

Sunday, September 18, 2011

These are the notes from this sermon. No manuscript available.

• I want you to remember two numbers: 86 and 11.
• And for those of you who feel the need to add those numbers, they add up to 97 but that doesn’t really have anything to do with this.

• Let’s take 11 first. Where’s that show up in today’s readings? (Gospel)
• What does it mean that the workers showed up at the eleventh hour? (What time of day? 5 p.m., last hour of sunlight)
• What did the workers receive after working for an hour?

• How does that connect the Gospel reading, the parable of Jesus, connect that with Isaiah 55?
Seek the LORD while he may be found; 
call on him while he is near. 
Let the wicked forsake his way 
and the evil man his thoughts. 
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
• God allows Himself to be found right up to the last moment of someone’s life, and right up to the last moments of this world, this present age
• God allows Himself to be found and He offers the full salvation to people who seek Him, who call on Him

• Isaiah – call to all people who are wicked

• Who are all the wicked people?
• “seek the Lord,” stepping up to where God is, but it’s not really about our action
• It’s about God’s willingness to be found
• And now is that time!

• What do we find when we seek the Lord?
• Us wicked people, what do we find according to Isaiah?
• How does this happen? (Jesus)

• What was the other number I wanted you to remember?
• What’s the significance of that number usually?
• Food industry – 86’d means it’s gone or spoiled or whatever, 86 something on the menu means cross it out, get rid of it, don’t offer it anymore
• Starbucks – whiteboard

• God is not 86’d.
• Seek Him while He may be found.

• Makes me think we have to make Jesus be found
• I get this image of needing to get people’s attention
• Hold up signs that say “Jesus”

• Funny thing is, that’s not very effective

• Randy Gifford and I attended the Regional Outreach Conference, hosted by Lutheran Hour Ministries and Northern Illinois District,
• learned about what ways to reach out, do evangelism, share the faith
• Didn’t include standing on the corner with a “Jesus” sign
• Instead, you be the sign, you be the sign that says “Jesus”
• Mike Mast, “hands and feet of Jesus,” like our Bethel t-shirts remind us

• God is not 86’d yet
• But it’s the 11th hour
• Sense of urgency for our neighbors
• How does that change the way you view the people around you?
• People are headed towards hell, separated from God for eternity
• Do I take that seriously?
• Remember the numbers: 86 and 11

• God is not 86’d yet
• It’s the 11th hour, there’s still time
• No one you meet is too far beyond God’s grace
• Have you ever met someone you figured was too far beyond what God could do?
• Remember the numbers: 86 and 11
• Remember Isaiah 55
Seek the LORD while he may be found; 
call on him while he is near. 
Let the wicked forsake his way 
and the evil man his thoughts. 
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

• It’s the 11th hour for some people, coming to Jesus relatively late in their lives, compared to being born into the Church
• Still offer them complete salvation in Jesus Christ
• Can’t treat people as second-class citizens if they haven’t always been Christians or if they’ve wandered away from the faith and are coming back
• Remember the numbers: 86 and 11

• Earlier I asked: us wicked people, what do we find when we find the Lord according to Isaiah?
• How does this happen? (Jesus)
• New question: what do we need forgiveness for when it comes to thinking about 86 and 11?
o Thinking God is 86’d, beyond some people
o Forgetting the urgency
o Keeping God to myself
• And what does God say to all of those sins?
o Seek the LORD while he may be found; 
call on him while he is near. 
Let the wicked forsake his way 
and the evil man his thoughts. 
Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
• The message has an impact on us first
• God is not 86’d in your life
• God is here with forgiveness, grace, and mercy in Jesus
• Then we realize that it’s a message for all of the people around us.