August 3, 2014
Stetson Memorial United Methodist
Church
Sermon
Series on “All My Day: A Summer of Prayer”
Inspired
by Marcia McFee
Sermon
6 of series-
“Spiritual
Struggles”
Genesis 32:22-28
Common English Bible
Psalm 139:1-14
NIV Bible
“G.W.E.”
Let us pray. . . (Pray for God’s illumination. . . )
I
remember growing up I used to always hate Saturday afternoons. My brother and I
would be watching T.V. together and all of the sudden wrestling would come on
the T.V. I hated wrestling but my brother loved it. . . the old W.W.E. . . .World
Wrestling Entertainment. Well my brother would get entertainment out of it and
all I would get is bored. I think he
liked it so that he could learn some moves to try out on me later that day. What
is so mesmerizing about wrestling any way? Two guys throwing each other around
the ring. I just don’t get it.
Some
times when I think about it. . . our faith walks can be kind of like a
wrestling match with God. We wrestle with God over this or that. . . instead of
W.W.E. I like to call it G.W.E. . . .God Wrestling Entertainment. . . Boy I am sure He must get some entertainment
out of me sometimes. He knows He will win but the way I struggle must make Him
giggle sometimes. Why do we wrestle at times in our Faith Walk? God usually
wins out but we still have to try to put Him in some type of Suplex or
something trying to have our own way. . .
This
summer, we are invited to pray “All My Days” and to make a habit of prayer
wherever you are. Each Sunday in worship we have focused on one of the steps of
the prayer beads but you are encouraged to pray these categories all summer
long. I would ask that you take out your beads if you brought them with you
this morning. My continued hope is that our Summer Sermon Series “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer” will
help us learn a way of prayer that will bring us closer to the maker of all we
see.
I
don't know about you but I have had an awesome time so far as we have been
going through the beads on the string.
Remember. . . the Gold Bead. . . which reminds us to begin with
adoration and the second bead. . . .the bumpy beady. . . .that is to remind us
to let go and let God. The “holey Bead” invites us to sit in silence,
listen for what God has to say. Then the steeping stone bead, our journey of
faith. What a hard bead it is. To think our Faith Journey can lead others to
God as He illuminates our walk for others to see. The next bead is one that is
very important in our journey of life. The black...the black and white...the
grey bead...it represents our struggles in our faith. What do we struggle with
each day...what are we struggling with spiritually?
So.
. . why do we struggle so much? Through experience we know that God will win
out in the end. There is no hiding from God as the Psalm I read this morning
tells us. No matter where we try to go. . . no matter where we try to hide. . .
God finds us. . . As Paul says. . . at
times “we know what we should do but we do what we shouldn’t do.” I guess that
is human nature. We want to be in charge and we know better than anyone else
what we should do. But there are those times that while we are “doing our own
thing. . . thinking our own ways” God breaks through and we begin to wrestle
with Him about our thoughts and attitudes.
There
is a story in the Bible that talks about a wrestling match. It is one that I
think of when my hip starts bothering me at times. I think to myself. . . OK
Lord, what am I wrestling with you on? It is the wrestling match between Jacob
and God. It is found in Genesis 32 verses 22-28. Listen to the commentary on
this match and see if you can put yourself in Jacob’s place from time to time.
. .
Jacob
wrestles with God
Jacob
got up during the night, took his two wives, his two women servants, and his
eleven sons, and crossed the Jabbok River’s shallow water. He took them and
everything that belonged to him, and he helped them cross the river. But Jacob
stayed apart by himself, and a man wrestled with him until dawn broke. When the
man saw that he couldn’t defeat Jacob, he grabbed Jacob’s thigh and tore a
muscle in Jacob’s thigh as he wrestled with him. The man said, “Let me go
because the dawn is breaking.”But Jacob said, “I won’t let you go until you
bless me.”
He
said to Jacob, “What’s your name?” and he said, “Jacob.” Then he said, “Your
name won’t be Jacob any longer, but Israel, because you struggled with God and
with men and won.”
Jacob.
. . now Israel. . . won but at what cost. He walked with pain and a limp for
the rest of his life. It can be like that sometimes when we wrestle with God.
God usually wins in the end and we walk away limping. God wants us to bring
those things that we struggle with to Him in prayer so that He can help us with
those things that can take us away from His loving care if we let them. He
wants us to be real with Him with our struggles. Remember as the psalmist wrote. . . God knows everything about us so we
shouldn’t try to be something we are not.
So.
. . what are you struggling with today? Being
judgmental or gossiping. . . maybe causing another to walk away from the church.
. . being harsh on yourself and on others. . . un-forgiveness or envy. . . how
about not spending alone time with God. . . no matter what it maybe, God wants
us to come to him with our struggles so that together they can be conquered. As
we come to God, through our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, in prayer we will find
our burdens lifted and our struggles ended. So what are you struggling with?
Take it to the Lord in prayer and feel the wrestling match end and come away
stronger, wiser and closer to God. Or. . . we can go along in life limping as
our spiritual life has been “put out of joint.” The choice is yours and mine to
make. Which will you choose?
Let
us pray. . . pray about those things we
struggle within our spiritual life. . .
Amen
August 3, 2014
Genesis 32:22-28 Common
English Bible
Psalm 139:1-14 NIV Bible
Sermon 6 of “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer”
Summer
Sermon Series on Prayer
Grey, Black and White, Day
and Night Bead – Spiritual Struggles
children’s message
-
Mystery Box –
dog treats and squeaky ball
-
God gives us
treats
-
God wants us to
play
by Pastor Ruth Foss
and
sermon, “G.W.E.” (God Wrestling Entertainment)
by Pastor
Ruth Foss
sermon
blog
meditation
blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
August 3,
2014
&
Romans 10:12-15 (GOD’S
WORD Translation)
Luke 12:12-15
Luke 12:1-6 Common English Bible
“The Long and Winding Road” The Beatles
Sermon 5 of “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer”
Summer
Sermon Series on Prayer
Stepping Stone Bead –
Journey of Faith
children’s message by Ellen
Alward Dickinson
reading story – A Black
Bear and Four Boys
and
sermon, “A Long And Winding Road”
by Pastor
Ruth Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
July 27,
2014
&
Psalm 37:5-7 (Common English Bible)
1 Kings 19:9-23 (NIV Bible)
Sermon 4 of “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer”
Summer
Sermon Series on Prayer
Bead with a Hole - Silence
children’s message by
Pastor Ruth Foss
-
Mystery Box
- a blank space
-
God starts with a
blank canvas,
God fills in the picture until
a masterpiece
is created and we come home
and
sermon, “Is Silence Really Golden?”
by Pastor
Ruth Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
July 20,
2014
&
Psalm 33:30-22
Psalm 25:1-3
Romans 8:30-32
Matthew 11:28-30
Sermon 3 of “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer”
Summer
Sermon Series on Prayer
Bumpy Bead – Letting Go
children’s message by
Pastor Ruth Foss
-
Mystery Box –
a broken set of prayer beads
-
God can make
something beautiful of all the broken pieces:
-
Dad can you fix
this? Yes I can…
and sermon,
“In the Letting Go We Find”
by Pastor
Ruth Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
July 13,
2014
&
June 29, 2014
Psalm 105:1-6 Common English Bible
Exodus 15:1-3 The Living Bible
Psalm 89:1-18 The Message Bible
Closing Hymn – “As the Deer”
Sermon 2 of “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer”
Summer
Sermon Series on Prayer
children’s message by
Pastor Ruth Foss
-
Mystery Box –
-
Sabbath rest,
time with God outdoors, in nature
and
sermon, “All My Adoration. . . !”
by Pastor
Ruth Foss
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
June 29,
2014
&
June 22, 2014
Matthew 6:5-14
“Jesus Teaches About
Prayer” (NCV)
(including Lord’s Prayer)
Romans 12:12
Ephesians 6:11-18
Sermon 1 of “All My Days: A Summer of Prayer”
Summer Sermon Series on Prayer
children’s message by Ray
Foss
-
God fills in the
words we pray
based on Upper Room Daily
Devotional for June 9, 2014
Romans
8:26 (NRSV)
Romans
8:22-27
Upper
Room Daily Devotional
“Guided
by the Spirit”
by
Milly Ibanda
for
March and April 2014
-
spontaneous
prayer, wait for God’s answer
(based on Shanequa’s
prayer for a puppy July 21, 2006)
opening and welcome by
Pastor Ruth Foss
and
sermon, “Stop, Look and Listen”
by Sally
Drew
Stetson
Memorial United Methodist Church
June
22, 2014
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Contact me at Ray
Foss for usage. See all 31,400+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
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