God can use us (in every season)
Let us pray:
Dear God, we thank you for the change in the seasons, for the harvest,
for the beautiful fall colors. We thank you for the beauty you put all around
us, for your perfect plan. We pray that this time of fellowship would be
pleasing in your sight, oh God. May the meditations of my heart and the words I
share today be your words, may they be a message for each heart listening here
today. And we pray these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Do you like fall?
What is your favorite season?
How many like winter?
What about mud season?
What about black fly season?
I guess we have a couple extra
seasons here in northern Maine. I know some of the schools have harvest break
right now. I know some of you probably participated in the potato harvest.
When Terry Pettengill asked if I
could offer the message today, it makes me think of a sermon my wife Pastor
Ruth gave a long time ago, October 13, 2013, our first autumn here in Patten.
It was entitled, “Show Your
Colors”, and spoke passionately about being true to our inner selves to the
callings of God, to shine through the true colors of our gifts from God, like
the colors of the fall leaves, revealing who we are before God, like the leaves
being authentic, who we really are.
It began with a reading about
time, God’s time, for everything.
Ecclesiastes 3 King James Version (KJV)
3 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under
the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to
pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time
to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to
dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a
time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to
cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a
time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of
peace.
But the writer of this book of
wisdom, Ecclesiates, King Solomon goes on further…
9 What gain has the worker from
his toil?
10 I have seen the business that
God has given to the sons of men to be busy with. 11 He has made everything
beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man’s mind, yet so that he
cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I know that
there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long
as they live; 13 also that it is God’s gift to man that every one should eat
and drink and take pleasure in all his toil. 14 I know that whatever God does
endures for ever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; God
has made it so, in order that men should fear before him. 15 That which is,
already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has
been driven away.
16 Moreover I saw under the sun
that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of
righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge
the righteous and the wicked, for he has appointed a time for every matter, and
for every work. 18 I said in my heart with regard to the sons of men that God
is testing them to show them that they are but beasts. 19 For the fate of the
sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other.
They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for
all is vanity. 20 All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to
dust again. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit
of the beast goes down to the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better
than that a man should enjoy his work, for that is his lot; who can bring him
to see what will be after him?
These are words here of God’s
perfect plan, of a time for everything, for us to labor and for us to rest, for
us to see what we have accomplished, and for us to trust in God for the future
which we cannot see.
Other words of scripture come to
mind, of God’s promise and of our calling, within our seasons here on earth
Jeremiah 29:11 reads,
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then
you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You
will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
And I think of the Great
Commission, in Matthew 28:18-20, our calling.
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you.
But what about us. How do we
make disciples? How do we know what God wants us to do? Where does God want us
to serve? God can use us, each one of us.
God can use us in each season of our lives. God
gifts us, the Spirit that beats within us, giving us the tools, the gifts, the
words we need to lift up the body, to offer God to others, to be witnesses,
faithful to what God has done for us, for what God is still doing in our lives.
This is our continuing calling, to be faithful,
as Abraham was faithful. He didn’t know what God was going to do but he
believed God. He waited years and years for his son to be born and it wasn’t
for hundreds of years for the full legacy of his faithfulness was realized with
the Israelites arriving in the Promised Land. We don’t know how or when what we
do will bear fruit. It could be seen by us as in the Ecclesiastes scripture or
it could be a long time in the future.
God speaks to that in powerful
ways in several pieces of scripture, how we have to be faithful, how we have to
do our parts, how we won’t know the legacy we may be leaving, just that we have
to be faithful.
Some are called to plant, some
are called to water, and some are called to reap. And I believe some are called
to pray, like for water or for sun. It can be the tilling of the land.
In 1 Corinthians
3:6- 9, the Apostle Paul writes:
6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been
making it grow. 7So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is
anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The one who plants and the one
who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their
own labor. 9For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s
building.
Jesus himself says others may
reap the harvest of what you do. You won’t know your legacy. Speaking to his
disciples Jesus said,
John 4:34-38 (focus on 37)
“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the
will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s
still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the
fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and
harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad
together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to
reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have
reaped the benefits of their labor.”
And
in Galatians 6:1-10, we hear words reminiscent of the language of Ecclesiastes,
on how we should be working in the fields, within our lives.
4 Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud
of. But don’t compare yourself with others. 5 We each must carry our own load.
6 Share every good thing you have with anyone who teaches you what God
has said.
7 You cannot fool God, so don’t make a fool of yourself! You will
harvest what you plant. 8 If you follow your selfish desires, you will harvest
destruction, but if you follow the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life. 9
Don’t get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right,
if you don’t give up. 10 We should help people whenever we can, especially if
they are followers of the Lord.
We may think we can’t do it,
that it isn’t our season, that our gifts won’t make a different, that we aren’t
qualified. Well…
In our lives, in each season,
God gifts us to be His servants, His witnesses, His light bearers, to go and
make disciples, to offer hope to a world full of darkness. Some plant the
seeds, some care for the soil, some water, some harvest.
And, If you can’t do anything
else, pray. Maybe that is the tilling of the soil, or the prayers for sunlight
and rain, for the hidden growing by God. We all have a part to play in building
the kingdom, in lifting up the body.
We may see some of the fruits of
our labors but we won’t see the legacy of the good works we do, at least not in
this life. But God calls us to the work and we must go and do it.
God
can use us in powerful ways if we only are open
to
be willing to serve, to submit to God’s will
God
can use us if only we will follow, our cracked vessels ready
emptied
of our choices, given over to God’s will
God
can use us if we are emptied, ready that others may be filled to be a blessing,
poured to lift up our neighbors, our community
God
can use us to be God’s presence to walk beside them
in
times of struggle giving to them some measure of comfort
God
can use us in every season.
Amen
God can use us in each season – v3
God can use us in each season
in each season, each moment, of our lives;
God gifts us, the Spirit within us
giving us tools, gifts, words
to lift up the body,
to heal the nations
to shine the light, the message of Christ
God can use us in each season
when we are tired, worn out, broken,
when we are old, infirm, when we can only pray;
God gifts us, the Spirit within us
giving us what we need, the tools, the words,
in each season, each moment, of our lives
====
edited
September 30, 2016
God
can use us in each season – v3
edited
September 29, 2016
God
can use us in each season – v2
September
27, 2016
pray
all the harder
September
27, 2016
make
friends
September
27, 2016
share
tears
September
27, 2016
God
can use us in each season
September
27, 2016
come
along beside them
September
25, 2016
God
can use us too
Matthew 25:31-46
the sheep and the goats
Matthew 28:18-20
the great commission
Jeremiah 29:11
plans for a future
Galatians 6:1-10
Ecclesiastes 3:1-11
a time for everything
1 Corinthians 3:6-9
plant, water, harvest
John 4:37-38
one plants and another harvests
message – God can use us (in every season)
by Raymond Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Fourth Friday of the month service at Mt. Heights Health Care
Facility
Patten, ME
September 30, 2016
&
August
9, 2015
Worship
in the Park
Scripture:
1
Corinthians 13:1-3
John
13:34-35
John
15:1-17
Lord’s
Prayer
message:
“Community”
by
Raymond A. Foss
&
October
14, 2013
Worship
Theme: “Shine for God”
Ecclesiastes
3:1-8 (The Message)
Exodus
34:29-30 (The Message)
Matthew
17:1-2 (GODS WORD Translation)
children’s
message
We
all are unique
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
Meditation on fall colors by Julia Bettencourt
“The Inviting Colors of Fall”
Prayer by Joyce Rupp
“Prayer for Autumn Days”
and
sermon “Show Your Colors. . . ”
&
pictures of Mt. Katahdin
by
Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Patten, ME
October 13, 2013
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of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000,
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2014, 2015, 2016. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for
usage. See all 41,920+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
Christ,
Faith, God, grace, love, Poetry Where You Live, Sermon, Stetson Memorial United
Methodist Church, UMC, Mountain Heights, prayer, planting, watering, harvest,
work, autumn, fall, seasons,
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