Posts Tagged brantley
John 6.13-21 Why Are You Afraid? 20150726 RSUMC
Be not afraid?
So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.” When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going. [NRSV]
I love this passage, but it is so much more powerful remembering the setting and context of the storm on the sea.
On the Tail of Miraculous Blessing: 12 Baskets for 12 Disciples
- Think of the times that God has blessed us in the past.
- Remembering the witnesses of our past and others.
- Keeping our current storm in the context of where God has guided us before.
- If we look only at the storm in the present, we see only the fear, grief and lack of control.
Life in the Storm: What are our current storms?
- Politics
- Racism
- Terrorism
- Economic
- Marriage and Divorce
- Drugs
- Grief
- That is a good starting list..
This is why we start with the context of where God has been revealed in the past.
Time to make a list of 12 examples where God has blessed, loved, forgiven, showed-up in our lives:
- God showed up in the backyard of a house church in Monterrey, Mexico and called me to preach.
- God showed up in the worship service and fellowship at Camp Glisson in the rock chapel.
- God showed up to surround me in love through my father and grandmothers and a dozen churches.
- God showed up to broaden my heart and mind in seminary study and worship.
- God showed in the lives of children in Peru, Brazil, Venezuela, Honduras, Moscow
- God shows up nudging me to pray, call, contact within two hours
- God showed in ideas that I think are my own but God reveals them to you and when you share them, I am confirmed.
- God shows us when someone is looking for God to speak and I have nothing to say and God’s words come rolling out.
- God shows us to convict, cleanse and correct when I have messed up.
- God shows up when I pray asking for direction
- God shows up when I put myself in a place of listening and reflection
- God shows up when I lay aside my mind and worries and come to worship and praise.
Making the a List as an act of preparing for my storms and your storms.
The disciples did not ask for faith lesson, they were tired, needed a retreat-vacation and the work interrupted,
and when much needed break was in order, they are overwhelmed by a life-threatening storm.
Jesus is in the storm with them.
When they invite Jesus in, the storm is over.
The Lesson: The sooner we invite Jesus in the boat, the less time fear leads our lives.
To go back to the list of fears:
- Politics: We can’t be ostriches, we must be involved leaders and prophets
- Racism: What builds our community and what divides us?
- Terrorism: We love the person but denounce the behavior
- Economic: Discern where our heart/faith clings fast?
- Marriage: Are we Godly, not only at the wedding, but throughout the relationship
- Divorce: Acknowledge marriage is sometime not repairable, but angry people are hurting all around
- Drugs: This is maybe the biggest storm that affects our families
- Grief: Loss of loved ones
- Death/End times: What is our part in the larger story? Where is our foundation? Where is our love in loss?
This is a time, as disciples, we need to encourage instead of judge, gossip and distance ourselves.
- Remember where God shows up, Reminds us we are never alone.
- Remember we are in this together and need each others support.
- Remember the storms are coming, but in Christ, we will make it through.
Angels announced: Be Not Afraid, God is here.
Emmanuel: God is with us!
Sermon Roulette (Pick 1 of 4) Four Sermon Outlines: Pick Which One You Like RSUMC 20150426
Posted by myoikos in Uncategorized on April 25, 2015
Four Sermon Outlines: Pick Which One You Like
We Told You So Acts 4:5-12
The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” [NRSV]
Cornerstone, Jesus is the
- Power from the Cornerstone
- Truth from the Cornerstone
- Salvation through the Cornerstone
Our Shepherd Knows Our Needs Psalm 23
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff– they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long. [NRSV]
The shepherd leads the sheep to what they need
- Daily Bread
- Daily Walk
- Daily Struggle with Evil
- Daily Worship
1 John 3:16-24 God Jumped In First
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us–and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us. [NRSV]
Love is an active verb not just a cognitive affirmation
- Christ Acts Before We Do
- God Loves Frist
- Our Response to Grace and Love is Commitment
- We Obey because God Has Already Moved in to Help/Save
John 10:11-18 Listening and Hearing
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away–and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” [NRSV]
Listening and Hearing
- The shepherd and sheep listen for one another
- Listening because we can
- Listening because we have to
- Listening to see what we choose to hear
- Listening to be found by God
- Jesus has hardwired our connection
Vanderbilt Lectionary Weekly Texts- January 20, 2019: Second Sunday after the Epiphany (Year C)Isaiah 62:1-5 * Psalm 36:5-10 * 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 * John 2:1-11
- January 20, 2019: Second Sunday after the Epiphany (Year C)