July 21, 2013
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
“Cruising Sacred
Waters with Jesus”
Sermon 3 of Summer
Series
1 Corinthians 13:9-12
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)
Mark 6:1-6 New Revised
Standard Version (NRSV)
“Seeing More Clearly. .
.”
The Lord
be with you. . .
And also with you. . .
Let us
pray. . . (Pray for the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and insight. . .)
Good
Morning. . .I don’t know how many of you have raised children or have had the
opportunity to teach them but it never baffles my mind that when you tell them
not to do something. . .they just have to test the theory sometimes. You are just trying to help them not get hurt
or do something that might hurt someone else and it is as if they don’t believe
you and they have to check to see if you are right or not. . .sometimes I think that they just want to
prove their parents wrong, that they know more than their parents do.
For
instance. . .you tell them “Don’t throw the ball in the house, you my break
something!” Well. . .they decide they are going to do it anyway. What do you
think happens? Yup. . .the lamp get broken or something else. You then ask them.
. .were you throwing the ball in the house? They say “yes I was.” And when you
tell them that you knew something was going to happen if they did it. . .that’s
why you told them not to, they look at you like you are psychic or something. .
.OK when they are little they do but as
they get older they just think “she was right again. . .figures. . .” The problem is they can’t see the whole
picture like their parent does. All they see is what they are doing in the moment
and are not thinking of what could happen in the future. I think God must think
that way about humanity sometimes. We are doing what we want and don’t see the
whole picture as He does. . .
We
are getting ready, as a church family, to embark on a cruise this summer. We
will be “Cruising Sacred Waters with
Jesus”. But before we set sail, we are taking some time to learn about our
Captain, our Lord Jesus. We have decided that He is our Risen Lord and King. .
.that Jesus can be trusted to be there helping us in the “stormy season” of our
faith journey. We have come to realize that as we walk through our storms. . .through
the rough places in our lives. . .we never walk alone. Jesus is right there
with us. . .our rock our solid ground on which we build our faith. Last week I
challenged you to look within your heart and to decide how much Jesus really
means to you. I pray that we have all decided that Jesus is worth more than
gold itself and realized that we are a precious pearl to our God and that He
sold everything He had. . .put His Son, Jesus on the line. . .for humanity to
have a right relationship with Him. . .
So.
. .can our Captain see even through the foggiest night? Can our Captain see the
end of our journey as we continue our journey of faith? Can our Captain
traverse the rough, dark waters we may encounter on our life’s journey with
Him? Can Jesus see more clearly than we can?
The
1st Corinthians scripture from this morning tells us exactly what
type of vision we have. Our “vision” is temporal. . .we see only what is right
in front of us. . .but. . .with God, through our Risen Lord Jesus, the whole
picture can be seen. God knows everything we will do before we do it. Our lives
were written in the “Book of Life” before we even took our first breath. One
day we will see clearly but for now we can only see in part. But as we live our
lives. . .as we live out our faith journey with Jesus at the helm. . .we begin
to see life differently. We begin to see life through the eyes of Jesus as we
become more and more like Him each day. It’s like going for an eye exam. The
eye doctor puts these weird, funky glasses on you and asks you what you can
see. Well at first you may not be able to see anything but as the doctor
changes the lenses that you are looking through, you begin to see more clearly
the chart in front of you. As we live out
our faith journey and focus our sights on our Captain, Jesus Christ, our vision
becomes clearer and we can see the “charted waters” before us. Waters charted
for us before we ever began this journey of life. We are given a new set of eyes
so we can see more clearly the eternal and less of the temporal. I love Jimmy
Cliffs song “I can see clearly now”. . .
I can
see clearly now the rain is gone.
I can
see all obstacles in my way.
Gone
are the dark clouds that had me blind.
It's
gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshinin' day.
But.
. .there are times when we refuse to see what stands before us or we discount
it as just a “figment of our imagination. . .” There are times when humanity. .
.yes even we “Christians”. . .just
aren’t wearing our glasses that we need to traverse the rough waters of this
world. . .kind of like being near sighted
and driving without your glasses on. . .Jesus had to deal with people like
that when He went from town to town teaching the people a new way of life. . .even
in His own town. Listen to this encounter He had and tell me if this doesn’t
sound familiar. . .It is found in Mark chapter six, verses 1-6. . .
Mark 6:1-6 The Message (MSG)
Just
a Carpenter
“He left there and returned to
his hometown. His disciples came along. On the Sabbath, he gave a lecture in
the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. “We had no idea he
was this good!” they said. “How did he get so wise all of a sudden, get such
ability?” But in the next breath they were cutting him down: “He’s just a
carpenter—Mary’s boy. We’ve known him since he was a kid. We know his brothers,
James, Justus, Jude, and Simon, and his sisters. Who does he think he is?” They
tripped over what little they knew about him and fell, sprawling. And they
never got any further. Jesus told them, “A prophet has little honor in his
hometown, among his relatives, on the streets he played in as a child.” Jesus
wasn’t able to do much of anything there—he laid hands on a few sick people and
healed them, that’s all. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness. He left and
made a circuit of the other villages, teaching.”
Oh yes,
I can make it now the pain is gone.
All of
the bad feelings have disappeared.
Here is
the rainbow I've been praying for.
It's
gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshinin' day.
How
many times has humanity done this to something they did not understand? How
many times have we as Christians done this to people or cultures we didn’t
understand? Because of their short sightedness. . .because of their “fear” of
the unknown. . .they missed out on blessings. . .they missed out on healings. .
.they let fear and uncertainty blind them. They had it right but then lost
their vision of the sublime and traded it in for the vision of prudent. And yet.
. .Jesus did stay and healed some of them. . .maybe the few who never lost
their vision of God’s mercy and grace. . .
Look
all around, there's nothing but blue skies.
Look
straight ahead, there's nothing but blue skies. (Ies)
We.
. .as humanity sometimes do act like children. . .we seem to want to test the
theory or think our “short sightedness” can get us through. . .we think we can
see better than the One who created time and space. . .what blessings we miss out on. . .we actually “stunt our growth”
spiritually because we refuse to take off our wrong prescriptive glasses and
put on the ones that help us see more clearly.
We,
as humanity. . .as Christians. . .need to decide that we really don’t know it
all and trust in the One who does. We live in a world that tells us that we can
do whatever we want because we don’t know what the future holds. . .We need to
live in this world doing what the Creator of it wants us to do and by doing so
we are living out His perfect vision for what He created. . .what His intent
was in creating.
I can
see clearly now the rain is gone.
I can
see all obstacles in my way.
Here's
the rainbow I've been praying for.
It's
gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshinin' day.
In
order to navigate the waters of this world. . .the chaos that the world is in.
. .we need to believe in what we see with the view that God has given us. . .the
eternal eyes and not the temporal eyes. We to trust the Captain of our cruise.
. .our Lord, Jesus. . .and the Navigator. . .the Spirit. . .knows where the cruises
destination is. We need to trust that the Captain has received His orders from
the Owner of the Cruise Line. . .our God and King. Then and only then will we
see more clearly. Then and only then will the scales from our eyes begin to
fall and our vision begins to be restored.
How
is your vision these days? Is it all fogged up from the steam of the world or is
it getting clearer each day? Are you ready to trade in your shades from the
world for eternal ones? It’s time to see the ultimate Optometrist and get a new
prescription.
It's
gonna be a bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshinin' day.
Real,
real, real, real bright (bright) bright (bright) sunshinin' day.
Amen.
. .
July
22, 2013
Theme:
“Can we see the big picture”
“Big
Picture Followers”
1
Corinthians 13:9-12 (GOD’S WORD translation)
Mark
6:1-6 (NRSV)
and
sermon “Seeing More Clearly”
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Sermon 3 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
by Pastor Ruth
Foss
sermon blog
meditation
blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
July 21, 2013
&
Luke
7:36-47 (The Message)
Mark
5:21-34 (GOD’S WORD Translation)
Matthew
13:44-46
children’s
message
We
are precious to God
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
and
sermon “How much does Jesus really matter?”
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Sermon 2 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
by Pastor Ruth
Foss
sermon blog
meditation
blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
July 14, 2013
&
Mark
4:35-41 (The Message)
Luke
4:16-21 (Common English Bible)
Matthew
14:22-33
children’s
message
We
are not alone
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
and
sermon “Who Is this Captain”
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Sermon 1 of Summer Series
“Cruising Sacred Waters with Jesus”
by Pastor Ruth
Foss
sermon blog
meditation
blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
July 7, 2013
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See all 35,860+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
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