Sermon Sneak Peek for August Second!

Excerpts from "Why Do You Seek Jesus?"

Sunday August 2, 2015

Have you ever asked a question and not gotten the answer you were looking for? I think we all have. 

Well, the text for this week sets up in much the same way as last week's. The crowd is looking for Jesus.

The fact is, that just because a person is asking a question, doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re looking for an answer. Especially if the answer goes against what they were looking for. 

The answers they already had in their heads were wrong. And Jesus let them know it. 

They weren’t seeking Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. They weren’t seeking Jesus as their Lord and Master and Savior. No, they were seeking Jesus only for the things He could do for them. 

They came looking for physical bread, but this time Jesus didn’t give them any. Instead, this time, Jesus turned the discussion away from physical bread to spiritual bread.

The people wanted to talk about food, and even went so far as to bring up the manna in the wilderness. But Jesus kept turning them back to Himself. That’s the theme of the passage. The pattern of the passage is very interesting, too. The people came to Jesus asking questions. As a matter of fact, they ask Him six questions. But their questions weren’t honest, seeking questions. And Jesus didn’t give them the answers that they were looking for.

Sadly, that’s the same thing that happens today. Many times, people are looking for a Jesus who will do things for them. But then as they seek Him for those things, He shows Himself for who He is.

Jesus had just filled their physical needs to overflowing less than 24 hours before. And it didn’t last. Jesus came to fill a much deeper need than that. He came to fill spiritual need

He calls us to seek Him for everlasting fulfillment—even if it costs us temporary fulfillment. Not the other way around. But that wasn’t what the people were looking for.

It’s like they knew that their motives had been exposed, so they didn’t have to beat around the bush anymore. Jesus, how can we do miracles like you do? That’s bold isn’t it? Jesus, I’ve seen you do miracles. I want to know how you do them, so I can do the same thing. And do you know what Jesus did? 

 It’s like they knew that their motives had been exposed, so they didn’t have to beat around the bush anymore. Jesus, how can we do miracles like you do? That’s bold isn’t it? Jesus, I’ve seen you do miracles. I want to know how you do them, so I can do the same thing. And do you know what Jesus did? He exposed their unbelief.

Jesus knew that the people did not believe in Him for who He is. They only saw that He could do really neat stuff. And they wanted Him to tell them how He did it, so they could do really neat stuff. But Jesus exposed their unbelief. And when He exposed their unbelief, He told them that it’s not about working miracles...

Now things are getting a little more confrontational. Things are heating up a bit.

 Now, they asked Jesus to show them another sign.  . “Jesus, I know that we’ve seen you heal lots of people.” “I know that just yesterday, we saw you feed 15-20000 people with five barley biscuits and two sardines.” “But that wasn’t enough—let’s see something else.” “Do another trick for us and we’ll believe you.”

 

They basically demanded, “Give us this bread.” Now, we might have the tendency to think they were starting to see Jesus for who He is and speaking to Him on the same level that He was speaking to them. But they weren’t. In other words, they were telling Jesus, “We want you to give us a continual supply of this bread.

He told them, “you keep wanting to know what I can do for you.” “you keep asking for the stuff that I can give you.” “but you need to know that it’s not about coming to me for what I can give you—it’s about coming to me because of who I am.”

The people were demanding to be given perpetual food. The will of God is that we would instead be perpetually given to Jesus. 

They have gone from asking Jesus questions directly to asking questions among themselves. They were completely shutting Jesus off in their unbelief. First, they tried to discredit Jesus. Then they tried to discredit His Word. This Jesus—He’s just a man. As a matter of fact, He’s not even a very special man. We know His momma and daddy. He didn’t come from heaven. And all of this stuff about eating His flesh and drinking His blood… how in the world can He do that?

And as they became more bold in rejecting Jesus, Jesus became more vague in the way He talked to them.

 

Believing in Jesus is more than just wanting Him to do good things for you. It’s more than just believing a set of facts about Him. No, believing Jesus is feasting on Him.

Just as you hunger and thirst for food, your spirit will hunger and thirst for Jesus.  A relationship with Jesus is intimate. It is life sustaining. It is continual. It is living and it is life-giving. And if you have that relationship with Jesus, it is forever. You will live forever—feeding on the Bread of Life forever.

2015 United Methodist Annual Conference Slideshow

Click on the link below to check out United Methodist Annual Conference Slideshow!
http://www.umc.org/who-we-are/slideshow-2-2015-united-methodist-annual-conferences

Sermon Sneak peek for July 26th

"All You Can Eat"

John 6:1-21

The feeding of the five thousand.  It’s a familiar story that we know quite well.  Jesus is surrounded by a large crowd.  It is getting late in the day and people start to get hungry.  Everyone looks around confused and unsure of what to do.  Jesus decides he wants to feed the people but the disciples say that it will cost too much.  Soon enough, it is discovered that one young boy has tucked away in his knapsack, presumably hidden from these hungry mob, 5 loaves of bread and two fish.  Which seems like a lot for just one boy to be carrying but the story goes on anyways.  This meager amount of food seems like a waste of time if you ask the disciples.  It will never be enough……..  It’s a nice and familiar story.

……..when Jesus is at the wedding at Cana and all the wine runs out and so Jesus magically turns water into wine so that the party doesn’t need to stop.  Sometimes, I wonder if he didn’t just dilute the wine that was there with water…..

….did the fish and the bread simply grow back any time someone took a bite out of it, or did Jesus multiply them at the beginning into hundreds of loaves and fishes, dividing them among the people? 

Sometimes, the point of the story isn’t to worry about whether it happened or not, but what the story itself is trying to say.

So here we are today, we have a story about a man named Jesus.  A man whom we claim to be the revelation of God for us.  And he feeds five thousand hungry people with a meager five loaves and two fish. 

But what I can’t figure out is why Jesus used these five loaves of bread and two fish to feed everyone.  I mean, he’s Jesus.  Why didn’t he just make bread and fish appear out of thin air?  But no.  Jesus took this small offering of food, which really amounts to almost nothing…

Sometimes I hear people talk about the way things used to be for our churches.  Back when the church was packed and the offering plates full.  Back when parents didn’t have to make their kids go to church….

….when it seems like there are 5,000 mouths to feed and only 5 loaves of bread and a couple of fish…

.  It’s like God is asking us, “What do you have to offer me?”  And all we can say is “Nothing.”

Sermon sneak peek for July 12th!

(Exerpts from the Sermon on July 12th)

From Lawless to Flawless

Biblical text: Acts 2:38

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

There were fruit flies in my office. They flitted over my desk by the dozens. I attacked them with bug spray and tried to kill a few with my bare hands. But for all the one's I got, there were dozens more to take their place. Every time I annihilated one, two more popped up. I never heard of fruit flies in an office. Someone told me the only place he ever saw fruit flies was around rotting fruit. So, I checked my wastebasket, and there it was...

In our text, Peter says there are three steps we must take to get rid of the flies.

Step One: You've got to repent. Then Peter said unto them, Repent. "Repent." It's a word that's hard to understand for several reasons. First, we don't see the point. Second, we don't have anything to be sorry for. And third,My business is my business! That's the tough, exterior shell of a man or woman that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has to crack.

When we reflect on our own conversion, and the newness of our life in Christ, it gives us a sense of awe and wonder that God could take this vessel we call man and transform our sinful flesh into a saintly fortress. And that's the mental picture we want to preserve, like a snapshot in our wallet. Look at me. I’m all cleaned up and ready to serve the Lord. But what about those sins you committed yesterday? Didn't they smudge that picture up just a bit?
We commit sins every day without a single thought of how it affects our spirit. So you can see why a repentant spirit has to be a part of our ever-evolving spiritual makeup. Repentance not only has to be specific, it has to be current and daily. When we recall our unkind thoughts, our careless words, and our selfish deeds, our repentant spirit…

· If you refuse God's mercy now without judgment, one-day you will face God’s judgment without mercy.
· If you refuse God's grace, one-day you will face God's wrath.
· If you refuse to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior now, One day He will reject you, saying, "Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity, I know you not."

"Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Adam Hamilton Talk Part Two and Three

For those interested, here is part Two and Three of Adam Hamiltons Leadership presentation!