Saturday, May 07, 2016

sermon, "Love, Is A Many Splendid Thing...", by Pastor Ruth Foss, Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church, Patten, ME, May 1, 2016




May 1, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
“When in doubt…read the instructions”
Love, the Main Thing
(What did Jesus instruct His disciples then and now…?)
1 Corinthians 13:1-7a
Mark 12:28-32
Psalm 67
The Proof of Your Love by King and Country

“Love, Is A Many Splendid Thing…”

Prayer for God’s Word to be heard through me or in spite of me…

Talk about the video a little…

Today is May Day…every May 1st is May Day. Now I never really remembered about May Day until I met Ray. He told me that every year he would gather together flowers for his mom and then go to the front door and ring the bell. He would leave the flowers there and then run and hide. OK…Then you had to not be caught and tradition says that if you are caught you have to give a kiss to the person you left the flowers for. The things we do for love…maybe that is where the whole bringing flowers when you court someone so you get the kiss…I don’t know…

But seriously…this whole love thing can be so hard. But the bible tells us all about this thing called love…

We are all on a reading journey as we read the instructions that Jesus gave the first disciples and what He intended all to follow to do. We are gathering the knowledge that we need to be Christ Ambassador’s in a world in need of a Savior. Now Jesus wants us to “go and do likewise”…to take His example, His instructions and follow them. Some of the instructions may not be words but actions that Jesus showed His disciples. Now I hope you all brought your bibles this morning. If not there are some in the pews. I want us each to look up the instructions…for ourselves…instead of me reading them to you. Who knows, maybe after we are done it is something we will continue to do… just sayin.

So…where have we been so far? The first instruction was on Easter Sunday to a woman called Mary Magdalene…Go, tell. Just that simple…go tell others I am alive… Go and tell…ministry is an action. The next were stay…wait…witness (stay where they were and to wait for the Holy Spirit, then to witness to and for Him all over the world). Another is touch…heal. We may touch lives by our words or actions but either way we can bring healing to others…and to ourselves. Now the one that seems against each other…“Beware…don’t worry”. We are to beware but not worry as we are doing so…we are to “walk in the world” with our “eyes wide open” but go into it anyway… And then there is one of my favorites…“Don’t Argue, Agree to Disagree.” Now we decided that we, as the body of Christ, need to come together as the “body” not just as different parts. We need to unite together so that we can see God’s Kingdom Come and His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven all heaven is in agreement so is should be on earth…

Now we have this whole love thing…we need to make love the main thing in life. When Jesus was asked about the most important commandment by one of the scribes His answer was all about love. Let’s read His answer found in Mark chapter 12 verses 28-31…Read scripture together

Speak from the Spirit…

WE know what love is not and what happens when we don’t love. Now I want us to look at 1 Corinthians Chapter 13…the Love Chapter. Now I know what you may be thinking… Oh no…I have heard this scripture to death…almost every wedding I have been too has this as part of the scripture…ugh… I agree but I really think it has something to tell us about what happens without love. Let’s only look at verses 1-7a right now.  I am reading the message version…I love how it speaks of what love isn’t…

Speak from the Spirit…

Maybe…just maybe…if we decided to stop thinking we have heard this 100 times and really listen for the 101st time it just may sink in. The way we can prove who Jesus was and is by the way we love. I’ll say it again… The way we can prove who Jesus was and is by the way we love. Jesus was and is all about love… If you want a powerful witness of who Jesus was…love your enemies, do good to those who may have hurt you…love the un-lovable.

Go, tell…stay, wait, witness…touch, heal… be on guard, don’t worry…don’t argue, agree to disagree…Love, the Main Thing…these instructions really are as simple as that. But we as Christians sometimes forget about the most important of these instructions…to love. We can’t follow any of these instructions to the fullest unless we love. WE need to meet people where they are…not where we think they should be.   Unless we understand the instructions and follow them to the point of us truly being that image of Christ our commissioning that Christ gave all of His disciples cannot be lived out in our lives. As I have said before…there are going to be times when we forget these instructions. One way of remembering is reading God’s Word each day…if we spend time daily with the Author of the manual, Immanuel we will have more of a chance of following the instructions for life.

May be if we begin to listen and follow the commissioning that Christ gave on all of our livesmaybe…just maybe we can be the “Body of Christ”…working together like a well oiled machine bringing about the Kingdom. But it is a choice…yours and mine. Do you think our lives can truly make a difference in this world? Do you think that maybe…just maybe we, as the body of Christ get it sort of right? I say yes with the help of the Holy Spirit which guides us in all truth…the truth of our God and king. How will you spend your life?  Love really is a many splendid thing. As we start to trust and listen to the Holy Spirits leading…our lives can truly be the proof of our Risen Lord and Savior, Christ’s love.

The Proof of Your Love by King and County

Amen.

May 1, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
“When in doubt…read the instructions”
Love, the Main Thing
(What did Jesus instruct His disciples then and now…?)
1 Corinthians 13:1-7a
Mark 12:28-32
Psalm 67
The Proof of Your Love by King and Country
sermon, “Love, Is A Many Splendid Thing…”
text:

video

by Pastor Ruth Foss
sermon blog
meditation blog
“God’s Whisper” blog
Children’s Message from Mystery Box

by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
May 1, 2016
&
April 24, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
“When in doubt…read the instructions”
Don’t Argue, Agree To Disagree
(What did Jesus instruct His disciples then and now…?)
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Mark 9:33-35; Matthew 18:18-20
Romans 12:15-17; Philippians 4:1-3;
2 Timothy 2:22-25; Titus 3:8-9
Psalm 148
sermon, “Can We Just Get Along…”
text:
video
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message from Mystery Box
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
April 24, 2016
&
April 17, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
“When in doubt…read the instructions”
Beware, Don’t Worry
(What did Jesus instruct His disciples then and now…?)
Mark 13:9-11
Matthew 6:25-34
Psalm 23
Philippians 4:4-7
sermon, “Be Courageous…”
text:
video:
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message from Mystery Box
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
April 17, 2016
&
April 10, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
“When in doubt…read the instructions”
(What did Jesus instruct His disciples then and now…?)
Acts 3:1-10 AMP
Mark 6:53-56 AMP
Psalm 30
sermon, “Touch… Heal…”
text:
video:
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message from Mystery Box
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
April 10, 2016
&
April 3, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
Sermon Series:
“When in doubt…read the instructions”
(What did Jesus instruct His disciples then and now…?)
Acts 1:1-14 NKJ
Psalm 150:1-6
sermon, “Stay…Wait…Witness”
text:
video:
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message from Mystery Box
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
April 3, 2016
&
March 27, 2016
Stetson Memorial UMC
Resurrection (Easter) Sunday
Acts 10:34-43 AMP
John 20:1-18 AMP
sermon, “On the Third Day”
text:
video:
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Children’s Message from Mystery Box
by Pastor Ruth Foss
Stetson Memorial United Methodist Church
Resurrection (Easter) Sunday
March 27, 2016

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. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for usage. See all 41,210+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.

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