Sermon, "Jesus Gave It All", by Pastor Ruth Foss, Suncook United Methodist Church, November 6, 2011

Pastor Ruth Foss
November 6, 2011
Twenty-Second Sunday of Pentecost
All Saints Day
Psalm 100 Common English Bible
11 Timothy 6:17-19 Common English Bible
2 Corinthians 9:6-10 Common English Bible

“Jesus Gave It All”

Whenever I go to the store to buy a card for someone, you can be sure that it is going to be a long trip. I will go through so many cards looking for just the right one. I take my time at it maybe that’s why Ray doesn’t really like to go card shopping with me at times. I put a lot of time and thought into picking cards out for people. And when I give the card to the person they usually tell me that the card fits them perfectly. I give an extravagant amount of time to thank them for the generosity they have shown me in my life. Not just any old card will do. I am so thankful for them being in my life I don’t want to just rush through to complete my mission of finding a card.

We have embarked on a journey these past few weeks. . . A journey of faith and trust. . . a journey of soul searching and a journey of change. . . that will guide us as we journey to become a “Fruitful Congregation.” With “the Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations” by Robert Schnase as our guide, we have made some interesting stops. . . As I have stated. . . The book has been our Google Search, the Spirit our GPS and God’s Word our Map-Quest for our faith journey. On our first stop on the tour, we talked about Radical Hospitality and how it begins at home. . . within the church and spreads out from there. On the second stop, we talked about Passionate Worship and how we, as a church, need to fall back in love with our first love in order to worship with a passion. We talked about Intentional faith development. . . about how we need to be intentional about developing our faith or we get off track. . . Our last week’s stop was called “The Practice of Risk-Taking Mission and Service”. (dba. . . going out on a limb.) Going beyond ourselves as we minister to others. This week. . . we are going to the next stop. . . the last stop before our final destination. . . one that will maybe make us squirm a little...one that will have us call upon that faith we talked about last week. This week our route takes us to Extravagant Generosity.

Throughout the bible, we find many “generosity” stories. We have the story of Cain and Able and how Cain just gave of what he had but Able gave thought about what his offering would be. Able gave the best to the best, not just the leftovers. We have the story of the Israelites in the desert and how God provided them manna each day to eat also of how some would try to get more. . . not really trusting God for the next day. . . and how that extra manna was turn into worms because they horded for themselves. . . hmmm. . . something to think about there. The story in Luke 21 about the widow and the temple treasury. Of how one person gave from what he had. . . and he had a lot. . . and how the widow gave everything, she gave it all. We have the story of Zacchaeus, about how he was so changed by hi encounter with Jesus and gave all the money back. . . with interest. . . of those he had stolen from in the past. In 2 Corinthians 9 verses 6-10, we hear about generosity and what extravagant looks like. . . how it will affect the giver. Let me read the verses for you from the Common English Bible. . .

We, as Christians, should want to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves. But helping them is not enough, we need to help them with the Spirit of generosity. . . and do it without grumbling about it. Think about the witness that comes across when we do things out of duty verses out of love. . . When we help others there should be two conditions, attitudes so to speak...generosity and joy. By showing joy we can help our brother or sister overcome their sensitivity. . . no one really wants to have to ask for help, for some it’s humiliating. . . by not having these two conditions, our helping can make them feel even worse than they already do. Where is the love of Christ in not having these two attitudes as we approach others who need our help? By an attitude of extravagant generosity (going beyond ourselves), even if we are only able to give a little it is a big gift. If we unwillingly give, even if we give big, it becomes small in stature. Our founder, John Wesley, believed that we should “Do all you can (do good) by all the means you can. All things belong to God.” In a sense:

 Earn all you can → make money
 Save all you can → don’t live a life of “over extravagance”
 Give all you can→ Use it to help others

By following John Wesley’s rules of giving. . . of how we should be as stewards of what God gives us, we will arrive at the final destination Excellence and fruitfulness. . . being a fruitful steward and a fruitful congregation.

Next week, we will be offering our pledges on the altar. My challenge to you and to me is this. I want us to dig down deep and pray about what we will be giving back to God. Think honestly about what God has given us and what we can give back in return, and come back next week and “happily” bring our offering to God and show our trust in Him as we do so. Let’s be extravagant with God who was so extravagant with humanity that he did not hold back even His own Son, Lord Jesus Christ for our own good. . .

Amen

November 7, 2011
Worship Theme: Extravagant Generosity
2 Corinthians 9:6-10 (Common English Bible)
1Timothy 6:17-19 (Common English Bible)
Psalm 100 (Common English Bible) (Call to Worship)
Marcia McFee, A Great Thanksgiving
http://marciamcfee.typepad.com/files/come-to-the-table-interactive-great-thanks.pdf
and sermon, “Jesus Gave It All”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
https://twitter.com/PastorRuthFoss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
http://pastorruth.posterous.com/
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
November 6, 2011
Twenty-First Sunday of Pentecost
All Saints Day
&
Fifth and Sixth of Six part sermon series on
“Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations”
http://fivepractices.org/books/five-practices-of-fruitful-congregations/
and the book by the same name, by Robert Schnase,
http://methodistthinker.com/2009/01/14/bishop-robert-schnase-on-the-five-practices/, bishop of the Missouri Area of the United Methodist Church
http://www.moumethodist.org/page.asp?PKValue=777
&
Worship Theme: “Risk-Taking Mission and Service”
Matthew 25:31-46 (The Message Bible)
Luke 6:32-36 (Common English Bible)
Psalm 99:1-3, 9 (Common English Bible) (Call to Worship)
Unison Prayer
Prayer of dedication (GBOD 2011)
and sermon, “Out on a Limb”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
https://twitter.com/PastorRuthFoss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
Suncook United Methodist Church
Suncook, NH
October 23, 2011
Nineteenth Sunday of Pentecost
&
Worship Theme: “Intentional Faith Development”
Acts 2:42-47 (The Message Bible)
2 Timothy 3:14-17 (Common English Bible)
Psalm 103:1-5 (Common English Bible) (Call to Worship)
Unison Prayer:
“Loving God, we thank you for this day. Thank you for
your Word that guides and sustains us. As we hear
your Word may we rejoice in your loving-kindness and goodness;
may we draw ever closer to you.
We pray for eyes to see you in the world,
ears to hear your whisper on the wind, and a heart that is
moldable in your hands. All this we pray in the
name above all names, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Prayer of dedication (GBOD 2011, prepared for 10/9/2011 service)
and sermon,
“Equipped for the Journey”
by Pastor Ruth L. Foss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://pastorruth.posterous.com
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
Suncook, NH
October 16, 2011
Nineteenth Sunday of Pentecost
&
Worship Theme: “The Practice of Passionate Worship”
Psalm 84:5-12
Psalm 84:1-4
Psalm 25:1-2a, 4-5 (Call to Worship)
Unison Prayer (GBOD 2011)
http://www.gbod.org/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=nhLRJ2PMKsG&b=5511965&ct=7918849
A Prayer for World Communion Sunday
by Safiyah Fosua
Prayers of Dedication (GBOD 2005)
and sermon, “I Give You My Heart”
Pastor Ruth L. Foss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://pastorruth.posterous.com
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
Suncook, NH
October 2, 2011
Seventeenth Sunday of Pentecost
World Communion Sunday
&
Worship Theme: “The Practice of Radical Hospitality”
Romans 15:1-7 (NRSV Bible)
Romans 15:1-13 (NRSV Bible)
James 1:22-25 (Common English Bible)
Psalm 118:28-29 (Common English Bible)(Call to Worship)
Sermon: “That’s Radical Man!”
Pastor Ruth L. Foss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://pastorruth.posterous.com
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
Suncook, NH
September 25, 2011
Sixteenth Sunday of Pentecost

All of my poems are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage. See all 21,110+ of my poems at http://www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.