May 17, 2015
Stetson Memorial United
Methodist Church
Sermon
4 in Sermon Series
“Five
Marks of a Christian”
Adapted
from: “Five Marks of a Methodist”
By
Steve Harper
Matthew
6:5-13 NIV
Ephesians
6:10-20 NIV
I Say A Little Prayer For You!
Prayer for God’s word
to be heard through me or in spite of me. . .
The moment I wake up
Before I put on my
makeup
I say a little prayer
for you
While combing my
hair, now
And wonder what dress
to wear, now
I say a little prayer
for you
When I was growing up, my
mom taught me many things. . . some good and some not so good. But the one
thing she instilled in me was that I could and should pray to God when things
were going bad in my life. I was taught that I could find comfort in those
times and that God was always there to listen to what was troubling me and He
would help me in those times of adversity. When all else fails. . . pray. . . When all
else fails. . . pray. . .
But the problem with that is
that I never really built a relationship with God. I would come to Him in
prayer expecting Him to fix all my problems. It was almost like He was the
“Candy Man’ and He would give me or help me in my times of trouble. It wasn’t
until much later that I built a relationship with God and prayed in good times
and in bad. Now people call me to pray
for them because they know that I pray on and in all situations with prayers
that can move mountains. It is because of my relationship with God. . . my
trust in God. . . my belief that He hears my prayers. . . that I am able to
pray without ceasing. . . until there is an answer from heaven.
With this type of theory in
life, my mom grew to believe that God was too busy to help or that her problem
wasn’t important enough for God to help her. Unfortunately she never really had
that real relationship with God that we are called to have with Him. There are
many people out there that still have that assumption in life and miss out on
the richness of His grace.
We have begun our journey of
looking at the five things. . . five ways. . . that we can see that we are
“being changed by the story” of Easter. I have adapted this Sermon Series from
a book written by Steve Harper that is titled “Five Marks of a Methodist: The Fruit of a Living Faith.” But this
book is not just for “Methodist”, it is for all who follow Christ. It gives
five distinct ways to tell. . . to visually see. . . that you are being
“changed by the story”, not just reading it.
The five ways are as
follows:
A “Christian” not just Methodist:
1.
Loves God
2.
Rejoices in God
3.
Gives Thanks
4.
Prays Constantly
5.
Loves Others
We have talked about the
fact that “we love God” and that it is not just a fleeting love but a love that
encompasses all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will be. It is
what drives us in our relationship with Him. The more we are in love with Him
the more we want to know Him. And the more we know Him the more we want of Him
in our lives.
We have discovered that not
only do we love God but we rejoice in Him. Not just simply rejoice in Him but
rejoice in Him from the bottom of our feet to the tops of our heads. How can we not. . . look at all that He has
given us in our lives. . . look at all that He has done in our lives and the
lives of others. Now that’s reason to truly rejoice.
Giving thanks to God is
another way to tell we are living the Easter life. Giving thanks is so
important because as we do, we don’t forget that it is God who gives us all
that we have. It is God who grows us. It is God who has given us our talents so
that we can use them to further His kingdom here on earth.
The next sign is that we
pray continually. In the good and bad times we pray to God and build a
relationship of love and trust with Him. As we pray without ceasing, we see
that God does answer pray and that He does care. I have seen so many answered prayers here at our church. There are many
who are “prayer warriors” and all it takes is a call from someone who needs
prayer and they go right into action. They don’t just say I’ll pray for
you...they actually do it. . .
How
do we know how to pray? Is there some kind of formula that guides us in prayer?
Is there a right or wrong way to pray? We can glean the answer for these
questions from the Matthew scripture I read this morning. Jesus’ disciples
wanted their teacher to teach them to pray. They saw Him on many occasions
going away alone to pray. They wanted to know what He knew. So He gave them an
example of how not to pray.
The people of the temple
would go out and pray these long prayers that had no real meaning behind them.
They just prayed lots of words that were kind of hollow so to speak. Then He
gave them not only the perfect prayer to pray but told them the right state of
heart to pray in. they didn’t need all kinds of fancy words to pray to God.
They could just go to God and pray from their hearts. We too don’t need all kinds of fancy words or to pray for hours at a
time. All we need to do is to pray from our hearts to God. . . that’s it. . . that’s
the formula for prayer. . .
I
run for the bus, dear
While
riding I think of us, dear
I
say a little prayer for you
At
work, I just take time
And
all through my coffee break-time
I
say a little prayer for you
One of my favorite pieces of
scripture tells us how important prayer is. It is one of the tools in our
arsenal for our work in God’s vineyard. It is found in Ephesians 6, verses
10-20. Listen to what it says about prayer and its importance in our lives as
Christ followers. . .
Read
the Ephesians Scripture. . .
We are to pray without
ceasing for one another. We are to pray continually for those who are in need. As we suit up with God’s armor, we are not to
forget that it is within our relationship with God. . . our continual
conversation with God. . . that we are strongest. It is within our prayer life
that we are able to fight off whatever the enemy has to offer us. WE actually
help others grow in their trust and love of God as we pray for them and they
see the answered prayer in their own life.
We are connected to Jesus as
the branches of the vine in which He is the One who gives nourishment and
without the vine we are nothing. We are no longer servants but friends of the
One who gave His life for us. We have
gone from servants to sons and daughters of the Most High God. . . Even our earthly friendships require
communication and communion. . . being with one another. . . so it is also with
our heavenly relationship. You see. . . as we love God we will rejoice in Him.
As we rejoice in Him we will give thanks to Him for all He has done. Because of
our thankfulness we want to communion and communicate with God through prayer. There seems to be a pattern forming here. .
. As we pray we become more aware of
God in our daily lives and we are able to “hear” His voice.
Beloved child of God. . . if you thought of prayer as a
response to God for all He has done. . . is doing . . . or will ever do in your
life, how would that change your prayer life? Would you find it easier to pray?
Would you pray without ceasing? God
is waiting to hear from His children, in good times and in bad. How will you
respond? He is so approachable. . . as a matter of fact. . . that He even came
and walked amongst humanity. Think about that for a moment. . . God’s door is
open 24/7. He wants to hear about your day. . . He wants to hear about your
joys and sorrows. He wants to be the first and last thing during your day.
Through our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ, He has paved the way for something more
than just being acquaintances but to be the Love of your life.
Forever,
forever, you'll stay in my heart
And
I will love you
Forever,
and ever, we never will part
Oh,
how I'll love you
Together,
together, that's how it must be
To
live without you
Would
only mean heartbreak for me
Amen!
Seventh
Sunday of Easter
Matthew
6:5-13 (NIV)
Ephesians
6:10-20 (NIV)
and sermon,
“I
Say A Little Prayer For You!”
video:
text:
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s
Whisper” blog
Children’s Message
-
mystery
box – set of keys
-
“Give
Jesus the keys of your life”
video:
text:
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
May 17, 2015
&
Sixth
Sunday of Easter
Exodus
15:1-19 (NIV)
Romans
8:33-39 (AMP)
and sermon,
“Giving
Thanks!”
video:
text:
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
May 10, 2015
&
Fifth
Sunday of Easter
Psalm
73:23-28 (Common English Bible)
Philippians
4:4-9 (The Message)
and sermon,
“I
Will Rejoice for He Is My God!“
video:
text:
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
May 3, 2015
&
Fourth
Sunday of Easter
Matthew
22:36-38
1 John
4:16b-21
and sermon,
“Loving
God. . . “
video:
text:
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
April 26, 2015
&
Third
Sunday of Easter
Acts
3:12-19
1 John
3:1-7
Acts 3:1-19
Matthew
28:18-20
2 Kings
2:1-11
and sermon,
“Let
the Story Change You”
video:
text:
by
Raymond A. Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
April 19, 2015
&
First
Sunday after Easter
Isaiah
52:13-15
Luke
24:13-53
Walk to
Emmaus
Christ
Appearing to Disciples
Ascension
and sermon,
“The
Rest of the Story”
by
Steve Curtis
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
April 12, 2015
&
April 5, 2015
Easter
Sunday!
Matthew
28:1-10 (The Message)
John
20:1
John
20:11-16 (Amplified Bible)
Communion
and sermon “The End Is Just
the Beginning. . . ”
scan:
video:
text:
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
April 5, 2015
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