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Saturday, February 03, 2018

sermon, "Providing Forgiveness...", by Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, Patten, ME, January 28, 2018



January 28, 2018
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
Lord…Teach Us To Pray
What are we really asking and praying for…?
Psalm 62:1-8 (Complete Jewish Bible)
 Matthew 6:11-12 (9-13) (CJB)


Providing Forgiveness…

The Lord be with you…
And also with you…
Let us pray…
Pray that the words spoken are not my own but God’s Words…

Please stand for the reading of the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter 6, verses 11-12. Listen to and for the Word of God for the people of God…Jesus’ disciples…
Matthew 6:11-12Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
11 Give us the food we need today.
12 Forgive us what we have done wrong,
    as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.

Good morning. Lately I have been reflecting on my life. It is something that I usually do at the beginning of each new year. What has worked and not worked for me the past year? What do I need to improve on and what do I need to celebrate? As I do this sort of yearly unpacking, there is one thing that never changes for me. I can see God working in and through, each and every moment. I am thankful that I am able to see God working, because if I didn’t, I would be discouraged and depressed. Life can be hard at times and when it seems as if no one has your back, it can seem becomes much harder… So, I pose this question, where have you seen God working in your life lately. Give time to answer.
We have begun this year unpacking the Lord’s prayer. It is one of the most recited prayers and one that is biblical because it is the one that Jesus taught His first disciples. They always saw Him going away, by Himself, and praying. They saw the relationship He had with God and they wanted to have that same connection that He did.

But there may come a time for us that prayer may become so mindless and automatic that it loses all its true meaning. I may become so repetitive that it becomes what we do instead of what we feel.  Our relationship with God becomes very distant…no real intimacy with God…no closeness and warmth with Him.

We looked some of the prayers within the bible but decided that one of the most memorized, the most prayed, is “The Lord’s Prayer”, the one He taught His First Disciples. But have you ever really thought about what you are praying? Have you ever really thought about what you and I are truly asking from God?

As I have said, each part of the prayer has meaning. It is a prayer with and of purpose. So as we prepare for Lent, we are going to break down the prayer together. My prayer is that we will maybe recapture, maybe for the first time, the meaning behind the words we pray. I don’t want to be a mindless drone just reciting the words. I want to be an intimate disciple praying, pleading, feeling every, single, word I speak to God.

We began last week with…Our Father Who art in Heaven and decided that the word Father in this context is essentially calling God Abba (and not the singing group), Daddy. Think about it, we are using the name “Daddy” as we are calling out to the Maker of Heaven and earth. It is the most intimate Name for our God…so intimate it is as if we are climbing up in His lap and being so close that not only can we feel, His heartbeat…we can hear it…that is the intimacy Jesus had with the Father…with Abba…that He taught His Disciples to have…

Now I want to stop here for a moment to repeat something I said last week. I want everyone to understand this fact. There may have been situations that have caused us to be distant from them. But this is our perfect Heavenly Father we are talking to. He can’t do us harm…that’s not His nature. This is the One who gave you and I the breath of life. He is the One and Only Father that will never leave or forsake you and me. He has promised, and He cannot tell a lie or go back on His promises…

Hallowed be Thy Name, we discussed this last week and decided that we have a Mighty God whose Name is Holy. We also decided that if we decide to take that name in vain He won’t put up with it forever. When we pray hallowed be thy name we are making a vow to keep His name Holy...to not defile His Name in any way…

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven:
OK…all together… Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done…not My. When we do His will here on earth, we are bringing down His Kingdom to earth from Heaven. By stating this we are also saying that we BELIVE that one day His will shall manifest itself on earth as it is in Heaven. We can get a foretaste of Heaven right here…where we stand…where we live…where we gather…where we are praying…right now. How AWESOME is that!

Ok…so now we have, Give us the food we need today.” (gives us this day our daily bread). How many of us have ever worried about our daily bread? I know I have. It can be hard when we don’t have and don’t know where it is going to come from. But how many of us who have worried have had our need met…almost miraculously? I believe…no I know…that is the providence. It may come through a friend or it may come through all of the sudden being given the money we need to survive… we may be give a job…however it comes…it comes… As we learn to trust…to believe Him for our daily bred we see Him moving in places we never did before.

But this is a 2-fold request. We are not only asking for our physical needs to be met but our Spiritual needs also to be met. Now this is where we need to understand something. Yes, God does give gifts of wisdom and discernment but…we have to work at our Spiritual life. It is not going to happen by itself. We are asking for our daily Spiritual bread but are we going to His Word to find it? Um Hello…how can we eat the bread if we are not going to the table to get it…?

OK…the next part…the hard part…not so much for God but for us… “Forgive us what we have done wrong, as we too have forgiven those who have wronged us.” OK…we want to be forgiven when we sin. First, we have to admit it to God. Then turn away from the sin because you can’t just keep going on sinning and expect to be forgiven.

But the other part…then end part of this section is the hard part…our part. We also have to forgive and give a fresh start like we are asking God to give us… It’s that plain…it is that simple. We are telling God we are going to forgive but how many times do we hold sins against people even when they have stopped. How many times do we not allow people to build of new life because of their “past”. News flash, we all have a past…some are just bigger than others, but the past is past, and we are now in the present which is a present from God for you and I. The present of forgiveness so our future will be forever changed.

Let’s give and example here. Here we have a pencil…just an ordinary pencil with lead in it, made of wood. But it is this end, the eraser I want to talk about. The pencil is what we use to write our story on the paper of our lives. Now, we are not perfect, and we are going to make mistakes. We don’t want to make that mistake over and over…we want to erase that whatever. So, we go to God and ask for forgiveness. And you know what He does? He turns that pencil over and uses the eraser end and erases that part that we don’t want to be part of our lives and helps us rewrite our lives from there.  But we…as humanity…you and I…at times…have to be sure that people remember what they have done…it has been erased but not with us. So, they don’t allow others to move forward. Jesus and the woman caught in adultery…Had the accusers…Jesus set them straight…ye without sin…you and I without sin…cast the first stone…they dropped them…we need to droop them, Jesus said to the woman in a sense…I forgive you, go sin no more…If we are to follow Jesus’ example then we should…

I believe in thinking before speaking. My question is, are you and I thinking as we pray or are we being just mindless drones with no feeling or heart? Are you and I willing to let go of our ambitions and lives and take up the promises and life we are promised by Abba? Are we trusting God for our daily bread and looking for it in His word? Are we being as forgiving as we are given forgiveness?

God is the Great Recreator…if we let Him. He is like White Out. He covers our sin…He forgives our sins…and enables us to rewrite everything ever done… the white of new life we are given… We are washed clean by the blood of Jesus and made righteous. It begins at our baptism. And this is where 2 people want to begin their new life in Christ…Christy and Steve Tremblay and they want us to share in that with them as they are baptized in water and Spirit…

(Baptism Ceremony)

Amen, amen, and AMEN!









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February 3, 2018


edited February 2, 2018
forgiven of sin – v2
edited February 2, 2018
forgiveness of sin – v3
edited February 2, 2018
forgiveness of sin – v2
edited/ renamed February 2, 2018
forgiveness of sin
February 2, 2018
forgiven of sin
edited February 2, 2018
haunted by demons – v2
February 2, 2018
haunted by demons
edited February 2, 2018
stalked by our demons – v2
February 2, 2018
stalked by our demons
edited February 1, 2018
Help me to Forgive them – v3
(changing the order of the stanzas)
edited February 1, 2018
Help me to Forgive them – v2
edited/new name January 30, 2018
I have seen God at work
January 30, 2018
I have seen God working
edited/change name January 30, 2018
Help me to forgive them
January 30, 2018
help me forgive them
January 30, 2018
Forgive us, oh Lord
edited/new name January 29, 2018
Forgive us for what we have done wrong
January 29, 2018
For what we have done wrong
January 29, 2018
God is in our days
January 29, 2018
God is in our minutes
January 29, 2018
God is in everything
January 29, 2018
those who have wronged us
January 29, 2018
we must forgive them
January 29, 2018
we forgive them
edited/change name January 28, 2018
Forgive me, I pray
January 28, 2018
Forgive us, we pray
January 28, 2018
talking with God – 2 – v2
January 28, 2018
Curling up in God’s lap
January 28, 2018
Stetson Memorial UMC
Week 3
Sermon Series:
Lord…Teach Us To Pray
What are we really asking and praying for…?
Psalm 62:1-8 (Complete Jewish Bible)
Matthew 6:11-12 (Complete Jewish Bible)
Matthew 6:9-13 (Complete Jewish Bible)
“The Lord’s Prayer”
and sermon “Providing Forgiveness…”
and baptism of Steve Tremblay, Jr.
text

video
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Children’s Message
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
January 28, 2018
&
January 28, 2018
we bring down God’s kingdom
January 28, 2018
awesome and intimate
January 28, 2018
Drawing near to Daddy
January 28, 2018
God’s name shall be Holy
January 28, 2018
we must honor God
God cannot lie
January 28, 2018
God has promised
January 28, 2018
God is the One and Only Father
January 28, 2018
This is our Father
January 28, 2018
God gave us the breath of life
January 28, 2018
God would not harm us
January 28, 2018
God will never harm us
January 28, 2018
the never-ending love of God
January 28, 2018
meaning within these words
January 28, 2018
our daily bread - 2
edited January 28, 2018
bread for today – v2
January 28, 2018
bread for today
January 27, 2018
we praise God Almighty – v2
January 27, 2018
the intimacy of Christ
January 27, 2018
talking to God
January 27, 2018
God’s name is mercy
January 27, 2018
God’s name is righteousness
January 27, 2018
God cannot harm us
January 27, 2018
we hallow the name of God
January 27, 2018
every word with meaning
edited January, 27, 2018
harken to God
changing tense
January 27, 2018
harkening to God
January 27, 2018
bowing in reverent prayer
January 27, 2018
sharing our life with God
January 27, 2018
hearing the prayer we offer
January 27, 2018
we are starving in the desert
January 27, 2018
we are lost in the wilderness
edited/ new name January 27, 2018
we remember what God has done
January 27, 2018
remembering what God has done
edited January 27, 2018
we remember who God is – v2
January 27, 2018
we remember who God is
January 27, 2018
we praise God Almighty
January 27, 2019
with the brush of the artist
edited January 26, 2018
painting with light – v3
edited January 26, 2018
painting with light – v2
January 26, 2018
painting with light
creation scripture
Genesis 1:1-5
Genesis 1:1-19
runner scripture
Psalm 19:4-5
“In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.”
painting Facebook post – Pastor Ruth Foss
1/26/18 6:17am
“By the way…
nice sunrise…
I Love to watch you paint…”
January 15, 2018
&
edited January 26, 2018
God is our Daddy – v2
January 26, 2018
God is our Daddy
edited January 25, 2018
Hallowing God’s name – v3
edited January 26, 2018
Hallowing God’s name – v2
January 25, 2018
Hallowing God’s name
January 25, 2018
we proclaim the holiness of God
edited January 25, 2018
whispering the Lord’s Prayer – v2
edited January 25, 2018
breathing the Lord’s Prayer – v2
edited/new name January 25, 2018
breathing the Lord’s Prayer
edited/new name January 25, 2018
whispering the Lord’s Prayer
edited/merged January 25, 2018
whispering to our Abba Father – v2
two instances of poems
with the same title
January 25, 2018
whispering to our Abba Father - 2
#whispering the #LordsPrayer to our #Abba #Father #God http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/01/whispering-to-our-abba-father-2.html
#Christ #Spirit #Faith #grace #poem #prayer #prayerlife #pray #journey #hope #love #joy #Matthew6 #Psalm62 #prayerwarrior #worship #glory #peace #relationship #believe  #mercy #bread #hallowed #kingdom
edited January 25, 2018
seated in the lap of God – v2
January 24, 2018
talking with God - 2
January 24, 2018
these words we pray
January 24, 2018
spreading God’s ripples
January 23, 2018
we can hear God’s heartbeat
January 23, 2018
our breath of life
extract January 23, 2018
God is our Father – 2
January 23, 2018
God’s breath birthed us
stanza 1
stanza 2
stanza 3
edited January 22, 2018
the intimacy of Christ’s prayer – v2
edited/ new name January 22, 2018
climbing up into our Daddy’s lap
edited January 22, 2018
whispering to our Daddy – v2
edited January 22, 2018
hearing these words – 2 – v2
January 22, 2018
hearing these words - 2
January 22, 2018
within the prayer of Jesus
edited January 22, 2018
whispering our prayers to Daddy – v2
January 22, 2018
whispering our prayers to Daddy
edited/ new name January 22, 2018
climbing up into God’s lap
January 22, 2018
climbing up into His lap
January 21, 2018
teaching us His prayer
January 21, 2018
seated in the lap of God
January 21, 2018
the intimacy of Christ’s prayer
edited/ new name/ reworked January 21, 2018
whispering to our Abba Father
January 21, 2018
whispering to our Daddy
January 21, 2018
praying from the lap of God
edited January 21, 2018
feeling every single word – v2
January 21, 2018
listening to the prayer we offer
January 21, 2018
feeling every single word
January 21, 2018
not my own words but God’s words
January 21, 2018
needing to feel our prayers
January 21, 2018
our prayers become meaningless
January 21, 2018
pray like this
January 21, 2018
meaning in these words
edited January 21, 2018
enter the Father - v2
January 21, 2018
enter in with God
January 21, 2018
Come to Abba
January 21, 2018
enter the Father
January 21, 2018
Stetson Memorial UMC
Week 2
Sermon Series:
Lord…Teach Us To Pray
What are we really asking and praying for…?
Psalm 62:1-2, 5-8 (Complete Jewish Bible)
Matthew 6:9-10 (Complete Jewish Bible)
Matthew 6:9-13 (Complete Jewish Bible)
“The Lord’s Prayer”
and sermon “Abba’s Kingdom…”
text
video
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Children’s Message
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
January 21, 2018
&
January 15, 2018
the words familiar
January 15, 2018
each word a prayer
edited/ new name January 15, 2018
dripping with meaning
January 15, 2018
every word - 2
January 15, 2018
the words we pray
January 15, 2018
This is how you should pray
January 15, 2018
The reddest of letters
the idea of a “Red-Letter Bible”,
with the words of Jesus in red
January 14, 2018
praying with these words
January 14, 2018
just mouthing these words
January 14, 2018
Save us from the Devil
January 14, 2018
protect us from evil
Luke 11:4c
(John) Wesley’s Notes on the Bible
Luke 11
11:1 Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples - The Jewish masters used to give their followers some short form of prayer, as a peculiar badge of their relation to them. This it is probable John the Baptist had done. And in this sense it seems to be that the disciples now asked Jesus, to teach them to pray. Accordingly he here repeats that form, which he had before given them in his sermon on the mount, and likewise enlarges on the same head, though still speaking the same things in substance. And this prayer uttered from the heart, and in its true and full meaning, is indeed the badge of a real Christian: for is not he such whose first and most ardent desire is the glory of God, and the happiness of man by the coming of his kingdom? Who asks for no more of this world than his daily bread, longing meantime for the bread that came down from heaven? And whose only desires for himself is forgiveness of sins, (as he heartily forgives others,) and sanctification.
11:2 When ye pray, say - And what he said to them is undoubtedly said to us also. We are therefore here directed, not only to imitate this in all our prayers, but to use this very form of prayer. Matthew 6:9-13.
11:4 Forgive us; for we forgive them - Not once, but continually. This does not denote the meritorious cause of our pardon; but the removal of that hindrance which otherwise would render it impossible.
&
January 14, 2018
starting with God
Luke 11:2b
“Father, hallowed be your name.” (NRSV)
edited January 14, 2018
praying daily – v2
January 14, 2018
praying daily
January 13, 2018
we breathe in His prayers
January 13, 2018
teach us, Lord Jesus
January 13, 2018
submit to Christ’s teaching
January 13, 2018
do you just mouth the words
January 13, 2018
in prayer, in trust, in submission
January 13, 2018
modeling prayer
January 14, 2018
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
Lord…Teach Us To Pray
What are we really asking and praying for…?
Luke 11:1-4 (The Voice)
“The Lord’s Prayer”
 Matthew 6:9-13 (King James Version)
“The Lord’s Prayer”
Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18 (Complete Jewish Bible)
1 Chronicles 4:10
“Prayer of Jabez”
Number 6:24-26
“Nate’s Theology Quiz”

and sermon “Lord Teach Us to Pray…”
text

video
by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Children’s Message

by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
January 14, 2018

All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 46,170+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

Christ, Spirit, God, Faith, love, grace, Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, bread, hope, journey, Psalm 139, Luke 11, pray, prayer, prayer warrior, Lord’s Prayer,

#Christ #God #Spirit #Faith #grace #poem #prayer #prayerlife #pray #journey #hope #love #joy #Luke11 #Psalm139 #prayerwarrior #LordsPrayer #worship #glory #peace #communion #relationship #believe #petitions #compassion #mercy #bread #hallowed #kingdom

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Christ, Spirit, God, Faith, love, grace, Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, bread, hope, journey, Psalm 62, Matthew 6, pray, prayer, prayer warrior, Lord’s Prayer, Abba, Father

#Christ #God #Spirit #Faith #grace #poem #prayer #prayerlife #pray #journey #hope #love #joy #Matthew6 #Psalm62 #prayerwarrior #LordsPrayer #worship #glory #peace #relationship #believe #compassion #mercy #bread #hallowed #kingdom #Abba #Father

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Christ, Spirit, God, Faith, love, grace, Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, hope, journey, Psalm 62, Matthew 6, pray, prayer, Lord’s Prayer, Abba, Forgiveness, forgive, trust,

#Christ #God #Spirit #Faith #grace #poem #prayer #pray #journey #hope #love #joy #Matthew6 #Psalm62 #prayerwarrior #LordsPrayer #worship #glory #peace #relationship #compassion #mercy #bread #hallowed #kingdom #Abba #Father #forgiveness #forgive

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