Suncook United Methodist Church
October 10, 2010
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 Amplified Bible
Psalm 66:1-12 NIV Bible
Settling In
How many of you have had the experience of being in a city. . . a job. . . a place where you think to yourself “Why am I here. . . I think I will go someplace else . . . This is not good for me, it doesn’t work with my “agenda”. . . Why has God put me here?” I know that I have.
There was this time when I was in a friendship with this person and it was not a really good one at the start. This person was very controlling and they had to have things their own way. This person was a nonbeliever and they thought that religion was a “sham”. . . most Christians were not very Christian at all and they had walked away from all that “stuff.” Their dad even told me that they were a lost cause . . . they would never change and they were hopeless. I had even asked God why I was friends with that person. . . why couldn’t I break off the friendship. . . why was this person like the “thing that wouldn’t leave” in my life.
But being who I am (the “Champion of Lost Causes) I stuck it out. . . trusting that God knew what He was doing. (I decided to just be where God had put me. . . don’t get me wrong. . . there was a lot of kicking and screaming going on through this). Eventually. . . God revealed His plan to me. You see. . . this person, whom her own father said was hopeless, un-savable, eventually came back to the saving grace of God. . . they really did turn their life back around. . . as a matter of fact. . . her children were even baptized. God has a plan for each and every one of us and He has put us here in the places where we can share His love and mercy to those who may need it most.
As we read the Bible, we also read stories about how people have been in places where they felt they shouldn’t be but trusted in God to work things out. Esther was in a place “for a time such as this” and by her trusting in God, she saved the whole Jewish nation. . . David, a young shepherd boy, was put in a place where he trusted God and slain a giant called Goliath. . . with just a sling shot and 5 smooth stones. . . and the stories go on, and on and on. God has a plan for each of us and He has put us in the places where we can share His love and mercy to those who may need it most.
God has been placing people for “a time such as this” for a very long time. God puts people in places and situations so that His glory may be seen. God puts churches and nations in a place for “a time such as this.” God put you and me in places for “a time such as this.” I want you to listen to a story from the book of Jeremiah. It is found in Jeremiah 29 verses 1 and 4-7. It is a story that may sound a little familiar to our lives here in this day and age. It is a story about how God wants us to act when we are where “He puts us”. . . a story of settling in. . .
1NOW THESE are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders in exile and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon.
4Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the captives whom I have caused to be carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5Build yourselves houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. 6Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not be diminished. 7And seek (inquire for, require, and request) the peace and welfare of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray to the Lord for it, for in the welfare of [the city in which you live] you will have welfare.
God wanted the people to settle in to where He had put them. . . God wanted the people to live a good life of plenty where He had put them. . . God wanted His people to grow and not diminish because of where they were. . . God wanted the best not only for His people but also for the people around them. Not only were the people blessed but also the people around them. . . also those nonbelievers that were in their midst. God’s glory was shown to all and I am sure that many came to an understanding of the “One true God” of Abraham. God’s people grew because they settled in to where they were. God has a plan for each and every one of us and He has put us in the places where we can share His love and mercy to those who may need it most.
We. . . as the United Methodist Church. . . are talking about “re-Thinking Church”. . . about how we can reach those who are in our midst. . . about how church is no longer a building that we go to on Sunday morning. We are the church.. How better can we, as Christ’s ambassadors, than to do just that. . . to settle in to where we are, to take root where we are put. . . touch the lives of those around us with the Gospel of Grace. . . to be a blessing where we are and help people to come to a new understanding of the “One True God” of Israel. God has a plan for your and for me and He has put us in the places where we can share His love and mercy to those around us.
The word of the Lord, through Jeremiah, states that we need to pray for those in the city where we find ourselves. . . to include them in our lives especially through our prays as well as our presence in this place. . . we never know how we can touch a life until we try. The nation of Israel and our lives. . . our faith. . . is being restored by settling in. . . our presence in the land of “exile”, so to speak, does make a difference. When we go outside our own walls, we are actually widening our spiritual “gene pool.” Isn’t that what we are called to do. . . to reach all peoples. . . to the end of the earth. . . to bring the lost sheep back to the Shepherd? God has a plan for each and every one of us and He has put us in the places where we can share His love, his glory, and mercy to those who may need it most.
Beloved church, we are a chosen and redeemed people. . . we are a holy nation of God’s choosing. We have a choice to make here in our “exile”. We can either stay within our own walls, happy not to have to go out into the world and make disciples of all nations. . . or. . . we can step out in faith and be the people we are called to be. Will we sing songs of fear and woe or will we sing songs as the Psalmist did in the Psalm reading this morning about a place of abundance. . . of joy. . . of deliverance. . . to the place where we have been placed. God has a plan for each and every one of us and He has put us in the places we are in so that we can share His love and mercy to those who may need it most. The choice is yours and mine to make. Which will we choose?
Let us pray. . .
Loving and Gracious God. . . you have called us by name and we are yours. Help us to see those places in our lives where we are kicking and screaming about where we are. . . those places where we feel we are in exile and see no future in it. Help us to persevere in our times such as this so that your love and joy may be extended to those who are in need of a place to call home. . . a place where they too may live in your abundant grace. And we pray this in the name of the One who through His love we may enter the land of milk and honey...our Risen Lord Jesus Christ. . .
Amen. . . amen. . . and AMEN!
October 10, 2010
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7 (Amplified Bible)
Psalm 66:1-12
Psalm 24:7-10 (Call to Worship)
Worship Theme: “Where has God placed us?”
and sermon, “Settling In”
by Pastor Ruth L. Foss
sermon
blog
meditation
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“God’s
Whisper” blog
Suncook United Methodist ChurchSuncook, NH
October 10, 2010
Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
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