Pray in Faith

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC on 11/13/16

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NRS Matthew 21:21 Jesus answered them, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,' it will be done. ²² Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive."

I want to share a story with you about an election that occurred. The followers of the candidate reveled in the wisdom they received when listening. They got excited about the almost revolutionary aspects of the message and how the candidate was going to change the establishment and the order of things including bringing women into their rightful place in society. They marveled at the way that the opposition pointed fingers of hate and exclaimed that the candidate was the devil incarnate, not the righteous person they knew in their hearts the candidate to be. As the election drew near the media of the day proclaimed the righteousness of the other candidate and drew the crowds against their beloved candidate. Day after day the two sides debated and argued. So the day of the election came and the candidate the media had swayed the people to vote for won. The other side was shocked and angry. They cried for hours and railed against those that had clamored for the other candidate. Out of their mouths hate and violence filled the air and they proclaimed that they would never accept the other candidate even though that candidate had been chosen. The media incited them in their explanations of justice and they were determined to never follow the candidate that won. So they followed their candidate. They followed him up the hill and watched him crucified and felt the shame of loss. For three days the two sides simmered at each other in hate and anger. And then they realized that the problem was not the people’s choice, but that they had trusted the media of the day to lead them, rather than trusting in the Lord. Both sides had allowed human thoughts and human decisions to sway them in their own focus about who to believe in and who to follow. And the world was changed from that day onward, at least for a little while.

Today I am going to finish my series on prayer. We have explored the Lord’s Prayer as an example of how to pray. We have talked about the need to have a prayer life and even have had several suggestions on how to do that. We have been challenged to pray an hour each day to God in prayer. So what does Jesus mean when He says to us, to pray in faith and whatever we pray in faith for will be received? But the real question that we need to ask is do we in fact trust God? Do we trust God in all that we do and all that we say? When we pray do we pray believing that God is going to answer those prayers?

I love the message in Proverbs 3: 5 that says, ^NRS  Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Trust in whom, in the Lord. With what, all our hearts. And do not rely on our own insight. The NIV uses the word understandings. Maybe the reason we are struggling with the election is that we trusted the wrong people to tell us what other people thought. Certainly that is the case when we put our trust in Hollywood or with the media. Hello, they have an agenda, selling us their ideas about justice and what is right or wrong. I don’t agree with Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel rather than stand for the national anthem even though I do agree he should have that right. But I also think he should realize that he should hold some sense of appreciation to the young men and women who fight for his right to do so and realize he could find a better way to send his message. Why? Because there are young people who follow his lead and put their trust in his judgment as their guide to right and wrong.

Solomon writing in Proverbs tells us that we are to acknowledge God and walk in the path of God. Children of God, we are truly blessed and we should have faith and trust in that blessing. Today as we enter this place we need to kneel down in prayer thanking God for being God, thanking God for the love that God gives us and thanking God for the abundance that God has provided. We need to kneel down in prayer and trust that God is going to see us through whatever the next few weeks, months and years will bring knowing that no matter what God is God and God’s message of love will be the same today, tomorrow and the next day.

Jeremiah tells us, ^NRS  Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. ⁸ They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. We are reminded that when we trust in God then we will grow; our root structure will be strong and even in the hard times we will survive. We have a responsibility to share the message of God with the world. I am not talking about the right or left politically but the center spiritually.

First John tells us, ^NRS  1 John 5:14 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. If we pray to God in keeping with the will of God, whatever we ask for will be answered. So we pray for others, praying that they will be healed according to the will of God, praying for comfort and compassion and praying that God will bring presence and peace. But do we believe that God will answer those prayers? I believe, do you? I believe because I have seen and felt the presence of God in the midst of trial and tribulation. I believe because I have witnessed God’s hand at work in those who are suffering and oppressed by illness or situation. If we come to God in prayer trusting God’s will and believing that God will provide God will show up.

Why do we pray and how does prayer matter? Let me share a story with about Mother Teresa. One day in the mother house in Calcutta there were about three hundred novices and they were all out for the morning. One of the novices working in the kitchen came up to Mother Teresa and said, “We’ve planned poorly; we have no flour to back these chipaties for lunch.” Chipaties are little flour and water pancakes. The situation looked bleak—three hundred plus mouths are coming to be fed in about an hour and a half and there’s nothing to cook with. There’s no food.

“What I would expect Mother Teresa to do,” Fr. Langford explained to me, “was that Mother would pick up the telephone and call some of her benefactors and mobilize them to find some way to feed her daughters. Instead, her reaction—her spontaneous reaction—was to say to this little one, ‘Sister, you’re in charge of the kitchen this week? Well then, go into the chapel and tell Jesus we have no food. That’s settled. Now let’s move on. What’s next?’”

Lo and behold, ten minutes later there was a ring at the door and Mother Teresa was called downstairs. A man she had never seen before was standing there with a clipboard. He addressed her saying “Mother Teresa, we were just informed that the teachers at the city schools are going on strike. Classes have been dismissed and we have 7,000 lunches we don’t know what to do with. Can you help us use them?”

God provided for the needs of his children.

Mother Teresa’s sanctity was built on a very simple foundation of deep faith and trust in God. Mother Teresa turned to Him in prayer, not only in need, but also to rest in the arms of the Father—body and spirit. (This is an excerpt from the book, Let the Fire Fall, by Michael Scanlan, TOR, Servant Publications.)

The writer of 2nd Corinthians tells us to walk by faith, not by sight. To trust what we cannot see rather than what we can see. Trust is that kind of faith that Indiana Jones had when he looked beyond the great divide and believed that there was a path to cross. So he stepped out in faith and came into the place where the promise of God’s abundance existed.

There is a story about a man who is wandering in the darkness and falls off a cliff. As he is falling he reaches out and grabs a small tree growing out of the cliff and there he is hanging on for dear life. He cries out in the darkness, is anybody there, help, help! No one answers, so he cries out again and again, help, is anybody there, help. A voice cuts through the darkness, Yes my son. Who is there asks the man, can you please help me. Certainly says the voice, if you will trust me I can help. Who are you says the man. I am the Lord your God, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Moses. Ok, says the man, please help me. Do you trust me says God. Yes, Yes I trust you says the man. Then let go! The man ponders that for a moment. Help Help me, says the man, is there anybody else up there that can help me, help, help.

In the very middle of the Bible, that place where there are as many verses before it as after it is Psalm 118:8. It says these words, NRS  Psalm 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in mortals. Pray in faith means that we take refuge in God, trusting that God can do what only God can do and not having our faith in human means. When we put our faith in humans we set ourselves up for disappointment and pain. God tells us to come to God in prayer and to trust in the Lord God with all our heart, mind and soul. Pray with conviction and belief. Pray in faith. 

I'm a Christian - Chapter 1

If you are using this study, please drop me an e-mail to let me know. donaquila@gmail.com  I can provide the book for you or you can print it from this page. Thanks. 

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Chapter 1:    Who is God?

One of the most asked questions’ concerning theological things is, “Who is God?” or “Is there a God?” Maybe a better question is “What do we mean when we say God?” or “How do we define what we mean by God?” Why is it important that we ask the right question? Because the question is always interpreted in what we already believe or what we have been taught. Our basic understanding of God derives from a combination of experience and education which means that we each reach this discussion from potentially different places. And it is often this combination of things that causes us to disagree. Maybe the better way to approach this question is to study the history of God throughout humanity, something that might be too large for this study. But we can summarize much of what we know. Every civilization and culture has an understanding of God. The ancient people of the world addressed God in many way: “The Great Spirit”, “Yahweh”, “Zeus”, “Odin”, and many others. What sets Christianity or more specifically, Judaism, from the rest of the world is this concept of “One God”. All other cultures have within their understanding that there are many Gods, some greater than others typically with one who is greatest of them all and all Gods are greater in power and wisdom than humans. Some of the Gods are good while others are evil. And these Gods interact with humanity, sometimes for the good of humanity and sometimes for evil or mischief. What is important to understand is that there are three basic definitions of God based on the number of Gods. One definition defines that there are many Gods and is called polytheism. Another belief is that God exists in all things and is in everything and this belief is called pantheism. Monotheism is the belief in one god in whom all things are created and exist. We can clearly agree that Judaism is rooted in the concept known as Monotheism and Christianity, as an extension of Judiasm, falls in line with this.

Our understanding of God then is that there is only one, one God to create us, the same God to redeem us and the same God to sustain us. That from the beginning of time as we know it, there has always been God and always will be God. Our God created the world and then us in it. We get that from the foundation of our belief system, the Bible. I will talk more about the Bible later, but let us define the bible at this point as the story of God’s relationship with humanity from the beginning to the end of time somewhere in our future.

In the ancient histories of people and cultures that populated the earth, people looked for answers to the basic questions: “How did we get here”, “Who made the world, the stars, etc.”, and other basic questions of creation and existence. Truth is, we still ask those same questions, if not openly, certainly in our minds. So it comes as no surprise that early people would begin to define these answers in ways that made sense to them. Scientifically we have come to learn that built within our complex mind is an innate sense that there is some higher being; therefore God. So the easiest answers point to a being more powerful and higher in existence than ourselves. This being then has the ability to create the world, the universe, the animals, and so on. Cultures clash when differing understandings of creation and who and how the world was created become the source of argument and discussion. How can we reconcile those differences? The ancient Romans dealt with that by allowing for the “Unknown God”. Basically they said, we have our Gods, you have your Gods, and we don’t see the inconsistency in that so we will allow your understanding to coexist with ours. That is, until along came these folks called the Christians.

In the earliest of Hebrew writings, there has always existed this “One God” who created us. There are many similarities between the early stories of ancient cultures and the Hebrew histories found in the earliest book, Genesis. The story of creation, the story of the flood, and the giving and receiving of the earliest rules for living are all a part of ancient cultures in the Middle East and Mediterranean. So what sets us apart? Primarily and most importantly the difference is this concept of a single God in the world. What is important is that the early records of Judaism also seem to acknowledge that there are other Gods’ in the world. But all of these other Gods of other cultures are subordinate to the Hebrews “One God”. In fact, as we read the story, we realize that at no time do we see these other Gods actually perform, speak or do anything. Just simply, the early Hebrew people seem to acknowledge that other cultures have Gods; theirs is more powerful and intimate. In other words, the Hebrew God interacts with the people, talks to them, heals them, fights wars for them and sets the rules for them. Now in our simplest understanding, this radical difference defines the Hebrew people and ultimately the Christian world. So when we speak of God we are speaking of this being that was before the world existed and is greater than anything we can imagine. The gender of God is a modern dilemma that we have created for ourselves and will be addressed later in this chapter. We in modern times have come to personify God so much that we begin to make God human in our description of God. But when we look at the Biblical understanding and focus on the Hebrew understanding we learn something else. To the Hebrew people, there is no problem accepting that God exists. The real issue for all of us should simply be that God does exist, that existence is often difficult for us to accept and believe. How could the world have suddenly existed if there is no force to create it? Is it circumstance? Are we truly creatures of chance and chemical reaction? As a kid, I was an inquisitive person, often to the point where adults got uncomfortable. I was once told by a preacher not to ask questions about things I need to just accept. Maybe you are like me. If we are creatures by chance and atoms split and started this big old universe, then who created the atom?

The one thing that sets our God apart from all other deities in the world is this concept of relationship. No other deity in any other culture is interested in having a relationship with humanity that is two sided but the God of Abraham. So this sets God apart from other Gods in ancient cultures and also sets Judaism, Islam and Christianity apart from the other world religions. So when we talk of God, we are addressing a real being who is interested in a relationship with us. Again, food for great discussion!

            We will focus on this relationship more as we progress through this course, but let us focus on some bullet points that set the basis for our study of God:

·         We accept that God exists as a matter of belief.

·         God’s story of the relationship with humanity is laid out in detail in the Bible.

·         This story outlines a relationship that is two sided, with God showing love for God’s creation.

·         We believe God to be a triune God.

·         We believe that God is supreme, omnipotent and omnipresent.

·         We believe that God is the source of all there is.

·         God is the sustaining power of the universe

·         God is eternal

·         God is Holy

·         God is personal

·         God is present with us

·         God is Redeemer

·         God is spirit

·         God is love

So if we simply say that “God is”, then in truth we have defined God. To use any other measure simply complicates our understanding. To the early Hebrew people, this definition more closely aligns itself with their understanding of God. And if we look at the list above, we see that God is so overwhelmingly difficult to define, simply saying that “God is” fits. 

Before leaving this topic I want to explore the subject of gender. To the ancient Hebrew gender was never a topic of discussion. Quite frankly, to the ancient Hebrew, God simply “IS”. And if more of us understood God this way our world view of God would be better. To answer this age old question of the gender of God I am going to simply give you some scripture, show the Hebrew and its definition and then allow you to discuss it if you desire.

The gender of God

^NRS Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth."

~d"²a'  - literally means “mankind/ humankind” – noun common masculine absolute which can be either male or female

WnmeÞl.c;B. - literally means “in the image” – noun common masculine

Wnte_Wmd>Ki - literally means “according to our likeness” – noun common feminine

It would appear from this passage that God is neutral, neither male nor female. Now we also see that there is a masculine aspect as well as a feminine aspect of God. This might yet be the best definition of God when it comes to gender.

^NRS Proverbs 8:1 Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? ² On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;

 ³ beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: ⁴ "To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live. ⁵ O simple ones, learn prudence; acquire intelligence, you who lack it. ⁶ Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right; ⁷ for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips. ⁸ All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. ⁹ They are all straight to one who understands and right to those who find knowledge.

hm'îk.x' – literally means “wisdom” – noun common feminine

From this discussion, we see that wisdom, a unique characteristic of God, is feminine. So is God feminine?

^KJV Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

^NIV Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me."

^NRS Isaiah 49:14 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."

!AYàci – literally means “Zion” (what we would refer to as the city of God) – noun, no gender

hw"+hy> literally means “YHWH or Yahweh” – noun, no gender

yn"ßdoaw: - literally means “my Lord or my God” – noun, no gender

^NRS John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

Here we see God with no gender in the Old Testament and the clear masculine gender in the New Testament.

Two other points – Jerusalem or Zion is the city of God in the Old Testament and not always considered to the physical city. It is always a feminine noun.

RUAH is the Hebrew word for spirit and is the word that used for the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost. It is a neuter noun or noun with no gender.

Questions:

1.    How do we describe God from the scriptures (Read Genesis 1: 1, 1: 26; Psalm 18:2-3; Isaiah 66:13, 2 Corinthians 1: 3-4 and Matthew 5: 43-48)?

2.    How do you describe God?

a.    To an adult?

b.    To a child?

3.    We believe as Christians that God is revealed through scripture. How do you believe God is revealed in the world?

4.    How does the historical story of God in the world shape how you feel about God?

5.    What would you say to a non-Christian is the most significant thing about God?

Practice Spirituality

Sermon given at Sydenstricker UMC 11/6/16

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^NRS Matthew 6: 1 "Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³ But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ⁵ "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. ⁷ "When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ⁹ "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us this day our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. ¹⁴ For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; ¹⁵ but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

As we gather this morning to worship, to praise God and join in fellowship let us explore the question of God. When do we search for God? What are we seeking with God? How do we find God? These are deep theological questions that each of us answers in our lifetimes hopefully. “Does God exist? Why am I here? Is there more? These questions nag at us incessantly throughout our lives. But the answers are forever elusive, always just out of reach. Today we are fact-driven people: we need evidence before we form opinions and often dismiss events that can’t be logically explained. Yet we desperately want the security that comes with having a certain future. The search for these answers has divided people into two camps; those who look for solace in organized religion and its promise of an afterlife and those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious: they believe their souls are going somewhere but they’re just not sure exactly where. Regardless of what camp you’re in, we all want the same thing. We want confirmation that what we believe is true. We want proof of modern day encounters with the Divine.

Theologians the world over tell us that we most often seek God when we have struggled through some great trial. For some it is the healing miraculously of cancer or some deadly illness. For others it may be that they survived some great calamity like 9/11. After World War II many sought to learn about God, especially in Europe. Take what they had just been through. They had endured Mustard Gas that killed hundreds horribly and the world turned upside down with the war and its carnage. For the first time rockets had been used effectively over great distance to cause harm and destruction. In fact for the first time rockets launched in one country had flown over several before arriving in London England where they destroyed much of the city. And how can ever forget the first nuclear explosions over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. For the first time the destruction of the world was possible in a new and horrible way. And once we rolled into Germany we found the remnants of the Jewish race in concentration camps. Thousands had been cruelly treated and then gassed to death or died in acid chambers. So why wouldn’t the survivors of the great world war seek God. And the questions that they had were also deep and numerous. In fact for many of them they believed that the end of the world must be near. And maybe it was nearer than they thought. In 1948 these same people resurrected the nation of Israel to be a nation again for the first time in two thousand years.

During the 60’s and 70’s a spiritual awakening occurred in this country unlike anything we had seen in more than a hundred years. The great revival of Billy Graham brought God into our stadiums, our towns and our homes. I still watch the reruns of some of these revivals on television. What is amazing is to watch the faces of those in the stands as they listened to the words of Billy Graham. What he said was not earth shattering or even especially new. But what he did was set out to answer the question on the hearts of those who had come to hear him speak. Who is God? Why do I care? Are these your questions this morning? There was a series on television for a while called Touched by an Angel. In that show the guest characters would routinely encounter angels in their most difficult trials, almost always in response to a prayer that they had made to God. It was a popular show in part because we want to believe in God and God’s angels. And we want to believe that God is in control and that God’s love is real. And many of us desire to hear the voice of God as assurance that God exists. So where do we search for God? God is real.

Do you know what day it is in the Christian calendar? It’s All Saints Day. It is the day when we follow All Hallows Eve, celebrated in this country as Halloween with a day dedicated to the Saints. Some churches even go so far as to have homecoming celebrations on this particular Sunday. But we are going to celebrate it by remembering. I want you to close your eyes. Now with your eyes closed, look around the room and visualize the Saints who are sitting here but no longer here. We remember them not to be sad but to celebrate. Celebrate that we hold within us their legacy and now we hold within us the responsibility of carrying the torch of that legacy to the world. It is the succession that our parents received from theirs and theirs from our grandparents and so on all the way back to Abraham. We are tasked with carrying the blessing of God to the world. And today we celebrate those who have gone on before us. You can open your eyes now. So each year when All Saints Day rolls around, remember them. Remember their smiles, their jokes, their special weird things that they did that made us laugh, and then step into those big shoes and move from where we are to where we need to be as a people and as a church. Sydenstricker is here because of generation after generation of people who desired to have Christ inside them to guide them, to fill them up, and to mold them into Christ here on earth that other people may be blessed by their presence. Too often we forget our past while trying to focus on the future.  That is why the writer of Hebrews writes about such a cloud of witnesses that are watching as we lay aside our humanly desires of sin and run this race to its end. So today we remember Annie Hall, Ada Taylor, Reverend Sydenstricker and Reverend Amidon who refused to give us up for lost. We remember Doug Hottle and Claude Gentry, Barbara Russell and Shirley Dolfy, Ruth Newcomb and Clara Hall, Grant Wright and Carl Thorne, Irv Sackett and Estelle Taylor. We remember their smiles, their antics, their determination to make this church something special. The race that is laid out before us like the track of a great speedway, with its obstacles and its dangers, we run this race not for our own glory but the glory of the team of witnesses. We do it not because it gains us anything, just as Christ went to the cross not to gain himself anything, but to bring glory to God and to bring glory to those who are searching for it even not realizing that they are.

Years ago my mother used to tell us all the time, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all. I like the modern day version of that. It is better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. I heard this story the other day and want to share it with you. “One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us! My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, really friendly. So I asked, “Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!” This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, “The Law of the Garbage Truck.” He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage (frustration, anger, and disappointment, etc.). As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you. Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so… love the people who treat you right & pray for the ones who don’t. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!” So we can allow the garbage trucks of life to overrun us or we can be like the taxi driver, focused on the right things that keep us in right relationship with God.

We are doing great things at Sydenstricker. There is evidence everywhere of all the things that we share with our community and the world. Walk the halls of Hottle Hall and you can see the collections of needful things for those who have little. Check out our TWAS and our Steeple for all the missional activities that we are doing that help to change the world into a better place. Change is always in a part of life. We have had many changes in the life of Sydenstricker. I believe that the saints who have gone on before us would tell us to change if it means winning more people to Christ. Today we celebrate the past as we look forward to the future. Practicing spirituality is listening to God, often through the voices and example of those who led us and now have received their glory.