“The Restoring God”
1st Sun. of Advent- Hope
11/30/08; Psalm 80:1-7

Introduction: A couple of seasons ago Tyler and I went with my brother to a Dodger game. They were playing the Atlanta Braves, and it was a close game. But in the seventh inning the Braves scored a couple of runs to take a lead. It was a school night, so I looked at Tyler and said: “I think we should get you home, I don’t think the Dodgers are going to win today.” But Tyler looked at me with eyes of hope and said: “Dad, they could still come back and win. Could we please stay?” So I said yes, and the game continued in the seventh, and the eighth, without the Dodgers scoring, and the time getting later. But in the ninth inning, one of the Dodgers hit a 3-run homerun to win the game!
On this first Sunday of Advent we talk about Hope./ And what is hope? Hope is not quitting. Hope is going on in the midst of challenges all around us. Hope is believing in a good outcome even though you can’t understand how that might happen. Hope is seeing ourselves struggling along, only to have God come and restore wholeness to our lives. Hope is God making beautiful music out of our selfish, sinful lives.

I. The Shining Face of God- (Psalm 80:1-3; Philippians 4:4)
a. Give ear- There are many people in this world that have no hope. And
the first reason that they have no hope is that they have no one to turn to for help. In this society that encourages individualism and a do-it-yourself attitude, so many people have stopped relying on others. Did you know that sometimes just telling someone your troubles is helpful? When you keep things to yourself, it can eat at you and frustrate you more. We have been created to be in relationship with others; and that includes sharing our troubles with each other.
I know that many people think that when you share your troubles with another, you are being a burden to them. I have had many people tell me that they don’t come to talk with me because they don’t want to burden me with their troubles. But the truth is, if someone cares for you at all, then they will not be burdened by your sharing, but will welcome the opportunity to be there for you.
Even more than that, our hope should reside in the fact that the God of this universe, the creator of all things, allows us to bend His ear. We have the availability of God to us anytime, any day! This brings hope, because we know that not only is God willing to listen, God has the capabilities of helping us once we give Him our troubles. We can call out to God for help and ask for God’s favor.
b. Stir up Your might- This leads us to the second reason why many
people have no hope, and that is because they have no one who is capable of doing anything about the troubles in their life. I know that there are many times in my life that people come to me and share their struggles. I hear what they have to say, and I struggle with them. But I know that I can’t physically do anything to ease their pain. I cry out to God: “O God, what am I to do for this person?
Example- There is a movie that came out a number of years ago called “Bruce
Almighty,” starring Jim Carrey.” In this movie a man named Bruce is given the
opportunity to be God for a day. In one scene in the movie, Bruce is sitting before his computer, and he hears the familiar phrase, ‘you’ve got mail.’ As he checks his e-mail he sees that he has 1 million prayer requests. He opens the first, reads it, and then answers it as he sees fit. But then his prayer request list jumps to 3 million! In frustration he answers yes to all the requests. There is pandemonium because of all this. Bruce then goes to see God, and God explains that it is not good for everyone to have their prayers answered as they desire. One example of this is that Bruce answered yes to a woman to receive some money. But the plan was for her to have to go to her sister for help (her sister to which she was estranged). By going to her sister the relationship would have been restored.
We need to be reminded that we can’t always do it on our own, or we can’t always help each other, but we have a God who has insight and who can help us in ways we might never understand. There is hope in knowing that we have a God of strength available to us.
c. God’s shining face- A third reason people feel like they have no hope
is that they don’t have anyone who is there for them. If you have ever seen a family that generally gets along and supports each other, you will see a group of people who are basically content with life. This doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems in their family. And it doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems in their lives. But because they have a strong support system, they have a healthy and positive outlook on life.
Why is this? Well, it is because sometimes, more than having our problems taken away, more than having someone to talk to, it is important to know that there is somebody who is always there for you. Sometimes the ministry of presence is the most important ministry of all. What is the ministry of presence? It is just being present for someone in a time of need. Maybe you hear that somebody is in the hospital. You can’t make them better. There are probably no words you could say that would take away their troubles. But you choose to go and be with them anyway. You know what? That is the ministry of presence, and is probably the best thing you could do for them.
When we know that we have people in our lives that are just there for us, then that brings a lot of peace and calmness to our lives. That is why it is good news, news of hope, to know that God’s shining face is always there for us. Even when we don’t feel like God is at work, just knowing that God is present in our lives is wonderful. That is why the apostle Paul could say the words in Philippians 4:4- “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say rejoice.” Paul rejoiced because he knew that God was always with Him!

II. The Restoring God- (Psalm 80:4-7; Mark 11:15-17; Hebrews 12:9-10)
a. Is God angry? (…The Tardy Oxcart, p. 33- Thomas Jefferson once
said: “When angry count to ten, if very angry count to a hundred.” Mark Twain said it this way: “When angry count to four, if very angry, swear.”) There is some good advice there, and that is when we are angry, we will usually respond quickly in inappropriate ways. Mark Twain didn’t count high enough, and his response was to swear! To count to ten….or one hundred, helps us to let our anger diminish before we respond.
Unfortunately, we think that God gets angry with us in the same way that we get angry with others. We believe that God wants to be harsh with us. We believe that God will have trouble accepting what we’ve done and won’t want to forgive us. But the good news is that God does not get angry in the same way we do. As the psalmist asks in Psalm 80:4- “O Lord God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?”/ In other words, they think that God isn’t answering their prayers because God is angry. And as long as God is angry in this way, then we have no hope, because we have lost access to God’s presence.
But God does not get angry in the way we get angry. An example of God’s anger is how Jesus responded in the market place in the gospel of Mark, chapter 11. In this chapter Jesus entered the market place that was set up in front of the temple. Jesus’ anger came from seeing how the sellers were taking advantage of the people by telling them that they had to buy certain things before they could enter the temple. Jesus’ anger was not that of un-forgiveness, but that of wanting to wake the people up to their wrong and hurtful behavior.
Example: I know that sometimes I have to raise my voice to my children, get a little angry with them, to get their attention and wake them up to what they need to do... This is true of God as well. His anger toward us is for the purpose of waking us up to what we need to stop doing so that we might start doing the right things.
b. Does God punish? The psalmist continues in verse 6 when he says,
“You make us the scorn of our neighbors…” The psalmist believes that God is punishing His people, and by His punishment, they have been scorned before others.
So we might ask, does God punish? And the answer is “yes.” God does punish us. As we are told in the book of Hebrews 12:9-10, “Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness.”/
Example- Believe it or not, there are times when Tyler or Tiffany will do something wrong. Maybe they are talking back to us and giving us a poor attitude and not doing what they need to be doing. Or maybe they lie to us. When this happens, it would not be good for us to let it pass without some kind of appropriate discipline. So we might take away the computer, or their TV time, or their gameboy. We don’t do this to hurt them, but rather to help them learn how to behave and respond in life. The discipline is for their good.
You see, God doesn’t discipline us for the purpose of harming us in any way, or trying to embarrass us before others, but for the purpose of helping us to be more holy; for the purpose of bringing long term hope to our lives.
c. Restore us God- When we are undisciplined, we have little hope for
good. That is why we as parents challenge and discipline our children. We discipline them not to hurt them, but to help them follow a good and right path. It is even more true for God. Any punishment that might come our way is to bring us back to a right place with God and with our lives.
You might not feel lost. You might not see how you have gone astray. But
the truth is that all of us are choosing our own path daily. And because of this, all of us need some extra discipline in our lives. We need the discipline that God brings to us so that we might be restored.
If you were your own parent, and you looked at your life, and the way you are living, and the decisions you are making, and the type of commitment that you have towards God, where might you discipline yourself? What is causing you to distance yourself from God?
The whole point of Psalm 80 was a cry to God for God’s face to be seen, and for the people to be in a right relationship with God. That is why the psalmist twice said, in verses 3 and 7- “Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved.”

Conclusion: “At the Counter,” Stories for the Heart, p. 47
There is a story of a woman, Paula Kirk, who had to visit her daughter
over her Easter vacation. It turns out that her daughter’s husband of one
year had left her, and the daughter was devastated, and in shock. Her
daughter was an air traffic controller, and so they were both concerned
about how her mental state would affect her work….As Paula found
herself in the airport to fly home, she wondered if her presence had helped
her daughter at all. To kill some time Paula decided to buy some souvenirs
for her grandchildren at the gift shop. As she put the gifts on the counter,
the clerk asked her how she liked the state. “I always enjoy the area here,”
she answered. “In fact, I usually enjoy most every area I visit.” The clerk
then asked her how her trip went, which caused Paula to start crying, and
then she preceded to share about her daughter’s problem. The clerk listened
intently, and then said: “Oh, but God is good. He will act on your daughter’s
behalf.” To which Paula answered: “I know.” She grabbed her gift and
walked toward her terminal. But after a few steps, she began to feel the
power of God come upon her and give her a sense of hope that all would
work out. As God touched her hurting heart, she knew God would touch her
daughter’s as well!
Hope will come to us when we open up our hearts to God and cry out to God. Hope will come to us when we believe that God is always with us. Hope will come to us when we let God’s face daily shine on us. Hope will come to us when we understand that the discipline of God is there to restore us and bring us back into a right relationship with God. Let us leave here today with a strong sense of hope, because we realize that God is present, and God can work all things for the good! Amen.

“Learning From Other People”
Learning from Life Series
Sunday, 11/23/08- Acts 19:1-10

Introduction: In the Disney park, California Adventure, there is an Animation Studio where you can go and learn how to draw one of the Disney characters, or you can see Crush from “Finding Nemo,” or you can go to find out what Disney character you are most like. In this last exhibit, the screen asks you different multiple choice questions to help you discover your personality and who you are most like. One question that is asked is: Would you rather curl up by yourself with a book, or go out and party? Of course, if you choose the first answer, you are more of a loner. If you choose the second answer you are more of a people person.
This morning, as we finish our series on “Learning from Life,” I want to talk about how we all need to be a “people person” to some extent. What I mean by this is that God developed us to be in relationship/fellowship with others. We are not meant to do everything by ourselves. God gives us people in our lives to assist us, but also to help teach us. So let’s see how we learn from other people.

I. Adam and Eve- (Genesis 2:18-24; Matthew 22:37-40; Prov. 27:17)

a. Not good to be alone- From the very start, we see that creation is
about being in relationship. God created man and woman last in the order of creation, but that was so that He could first create all that we would need to survive. But when He created man and woman, He created us in His image, in His likeness, so that we would be able to relate to God. But God also wanted us to be in relationship with other people. That is why in Genesis 2:14 God says: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” God then proceeds to create a woman, Eve, so that Adam and Eve would not be alone, but have each other.
Later on, when Jesus was on this earth, we see Jesus talking about the 2 great commands. Jesus says in Matthew 22:37-40, “Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
b. Importance of human relationships- We are called to be in
relationship with others not just to love and be loved, but so that we could learn from others as well. To think that we can know all things without help from others is foolishness. As Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” We are sharpened by another who has wisdom and knowledge to share. We are sharpened in our character when we associate with others of good character. We increase in understanding when we seek to learn what we do not know from those who know it.
Going back to Adam and Eve, we can see that during the time of creation, Adam wasn’t alone; Genesis 2:19-20 tells us, “Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.” Adam had all the animals, and plants, and trees to care for, but these were not suitable helpers for Adam. So God causes Adam to fall asleep, and out of one of his ribs he forms the woman. This represents the closeness that a man and a woman are to have in marriage. But it also shows the importance of human relationships!

II. Holy Spirit- (Acts 19:1-7; John 14:16-17, 26; John 16:7-8, 13-14; Isaiah 11:2-3; )
a. Holy Spirit in the New Testament- This last weekend I had the
opportunity to take some of the youth on an Alpha retreat to talk about the Holy Spirit. We learned about who the Holy Spirit is, and what the Holy Spirit does. The Holy Spirit actually has a multi-faceted role. He was involved in the creation of the world, He was the breath that gave Adam life (the ruach), and He was fully given to us after Jesus left the earth. When Jesus is talking to His disciples as recorded in the gospel of John, we see Jesus trying to help the disciples try to understand the role that the Holy Spirit will play in their lives after Jesus leaves this earth.
Let me read for you a couple of passages; one from John 14 and the other from John 16… John 14:16-17, 26- “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you…. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” God has given us the Holy Spirit as a counselor; one who is there to teach us what we need to know and help us to understand what might be confusing. The Holy Spirit is also there to let us know what we have learned, and remind us in those times when it is best to remember.
In John 16:7-8, 13-14 Jesus tells us a little more of the Holy Spirit’s role:
“But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:… 13But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.” The Holy Spirit is also there to teach us about our sin and help to lead us out of our sin. It is because of the Holy Spirit that we can know the truth of God and apply this truth to our lives. Those who have not given themselves over to the presence of the Holy Spirit will struggle to learn and understand these truths!
And in Acts 19:7 we see the Holy Spirit coming upon the people as they were baptized by Paul in the Holy Spirit, and they prophesied God’s truth, and many were taught by these words of prophesy. Even though God was no longer flesh, God found a way to speak to His people through the power of His Holy Spirit.
b. Holy Spirit in the Old Testament- But the Holy Spirit also played
the role of teacher at times in the Old Testament, and came upon others to give them the ability to teach.
1. Exodus 4:15- God says to Moses: “You shall speak
to him (Aaron) and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.” This is one of many places in the Old Testament that uses this phrase “put words in his mouth.” This phrase is referring to God using His Spirit to enable Moses to be able to speak God’s message to the Pharaoh and the Egyptians. It is by the Spirit’s leading that Moses will be able to clearly speak the truth of God and inform the people what of God intends to do and how God will bring His people out of bondage and into freedom!
2. Numbers 22:28-34, 38, “Then the LORD opened
the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" 29 Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now." 30 The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" "No," he said. 31 Then the LORD opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. 32 The angel of the LORD asked him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. 33 The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her." 34 Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, "I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me. Now if you are displeased, I will go back… Well, I have come to you now," Balaam replied. "But can I say just anything? I must speak only what God puts in my mouth.” Here we see God’s Spirit speaking through and teaching with the mouths of both Balaam’s donkey and Balaam himself.
3. Deuteronomy 18:17-20- “The LORD said to me:
‘What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. 19 If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. 20 But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.’” Here again we see this phrase “put words in his mouth” referring to how God speaks His words by His Spirit filling His prophets so that the truth of God is made known.
4. Jeremiah 1:9- “Then the LORD reached out his
hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth.” Jeremiah was concerned to be set apart to speak for the Lord seeing that he was so young and didn’t think others would listen to him. But God assured Him that because the Spirit of God would be giving Jeremiah the words, all would be well, and people would still receive God’s teaching and they will listen!

III. Disciples- (Matthew 4:19, 5:1, 9:1-8)
The disciples were those who learned from another; mainly Jesus Christ. Here we have fisherman, and tax collectors, not trained in the ways of God. And yet Jesus called them to follow Him. As Jesus Himself said in Matthew 4:19- “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They did not know how to convert people to become followers of Jesus, but they would learn how to do this by listening to Jesus, and watching Jesus, and following Jesus.
And we see Jesus continually teaching them:
We know that the beatitudes were Jesus’ teaching the people, but we might not realize that they were directed at the disciples; listen to Matthew 5:1, “Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them…” Jesus goes on to teach them about being salt and light, fulfilling the law, aboutnmurder and hate, adultery, divorce, making oaths, not seeking revenge, loving their enemies, giving to the needy, prayer, fasting, not worrying, not judging others, making requests of God, bearing fruit, and being a wise builder. WHAT A SET OF LESSONS THIS WAS FOR THE DISCIPLES. IT WAS LIKE A CRASH COURSE TO GET THEM READY FOR MINISTRY!
But the disciples also learned from others who encountered Jesus; as they watched Jesus teach others, they in turn learned as well. One example of this is seen in Matthew 9:1-8, where some people bring a paralyzed man to Jesus to be healed. As Jesus sees this man, he forgives him of his sins. But this isn’t what they wanted or expected, they wanted Jesus to heal the man. We pick it up in Matthew 9:4-8, “Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? 5Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? 6But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." Then he said to the paralytic, "Get up, take your mat and go home." 7And the man got up and went home. 8When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men.” The people learned about the authority of Jesus right here, and the disciples learned as they watched Jesus teaching other people. This was a pretty regular occurrence for the disciples.
How wonderful it was for the disciples to learn from Jesus, the Master. They learned when Jesus taught in parables, and then they had the opportunity to ask about the meaning later after everyone else left. They learned when Jesus did miracles; they learned when Jesus challenged the Pharisees. They were always learning, because they were always with Jesus.

IV. Teachers- (Acts 19:8-10)
a. Paul as a teacher- People can also learn by having teachers in their
lives. There are times when my kids don’t like to do their homework, or complain about having to go to school. I ask them: What would it be like if you never learned anything more? What would it be like if 20 years from now you still only know what you know now? That would be a great shame, and would limit their lives greatly!
Teachers are an important part of life. And we see this example of Paul in Acts 19:8-10, where the scripture tells us: “Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” Paul taught in the synagogue, the lecture hall, he even taught in town squares and the courtroom. God used Paul to teach others.
Who are some of the important teachers in your life? For me it was my youth director, Dan Webster. I remember that he had a tremendous impact on my life. But I also gained much knowledge in seminary, and at the many conferences I go to. We should be thankful for those teachers God puts in our lives.
b. Mentors in life- God also helps us to learn from mentors that come
into our lives. We see that Paul was a mentor to others. Three of the more well known mentees of Paul’s were Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. If you want to know more about these relationships, you can read the letters he wrote to them in New Testament. For Timothy, it was Paul helping him to learn how to be a leader. He helped Timothy in avoiding false teachings, overcoming heresy, appointing qualified leaders, and how to supervise the affairs of the Ephesian church.
For Titus it was about appointing elders, dealing with rebellious people, teaching sound doctrine, teaching others about doing what is good, and avoiding foolish controversies. Lastly, for Philemon Paul was trying to teach him how to be a Christian slave owner. In many ways that is a conflict in terms, but because slavery was still legal, Philemon was grappling with what this meant. Especially since he found out that his slave had stolen from him and run away. Paul was sending the slave back, but giving guidance in how Philemon should respond to his slave.
I don’t know about you, but I have had many mentors in my life. Glen Perry was my first mentor helping me grow in my Christian faith right after I became a Christian. Paul Jensen was another, who helped instruct me in leadership skills while I was in college. Father Harris was still another, who was like a father to me in many ways. He was a person I could go to for advice, and talk to in ways I could never talk to my dad.
EX. I remember one time when I was a Junior High Director. I was having my first “Parents Night” for the parents of my Junior Highers. The night of the event I started to panic. I was a single 25-year-old, and I was going to talk to these parents about parenting. Feeling this fear, I called Father Harris. He calmed me down reminding me that parents are only parents of Junior highers for 2 years, whereas, I had been working with Junior Highers for many years now. I indeed had more experience in relating to Juinor Highers!
I am grateful for the mentoring opportunities God gives me today to help others grow in their faith and living out the call God has for their life. And I am equally grateful for the people God puts in my life who still mentor me.

Conclusion: We have a choice. We can let others teach us, or we can think we know it all and have to do it on our own. The more you open up your heart to learn, the more you will find that God teaches you in so many ways. You don’t have to be in school to have teachers who can teach you important lessons. You don’t have to be a in formal training to be a disciple. You do have to be willing to learn. You do have to put yourself in a place to be mentored. You do have to open yourself to God’s Spirit so that you can be led by God. I pray that through this series, you have a better understanding of how God teaches us through God’s plan, through times of waiting, through failures and successes, and through other people. Le t us give thanks to God for the many ways He helps us to learn; hopefully this day and every day. Amen.

THE HOLY ALPHABET
Colossians 1:9-20
Thanksgiving Service, 11/25/08

Beginning Reading- The last few months I have been praying for everyone in our church by working through the alphabet. Whether it is your first name or last name, you are remembered in my prayers. But there is another way to use the alphabet, and that is a poem that reminds us to be thankful. It is called “The Holy Alphabet.” You will find this reading in the outline in your bulletin….READ.
Although this poem is nice to read, and has many good thoughts that might have stood out to us as I read it, I would like to take a little time to break it down into 6 stanzas, and analyze a little deeper what it is saying to us!

I. A – D: (Colossians 1:12)-
Although things are not perfect, Because of trial or pain,
Continue in thanksgiving, Do not begin to blame.
This is how the poem starts. I think we all know that life is not perfect, and will never be. But that doesn’t mean that life isn’t good. Life doesn’t have to be perfect to be good. The important thing in life is to learn how to be thankful for the things we do have. All too often we get in the blame mode. But what that really does is sap our joy and bring us down; it keeps us from being able to enjoy what we do have.
Example- I’m sure most of you are familiar with the Lakers;
the professional basketball team (my favorite team!). For a number
of years they had had some incredible results, especially when
Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant played there together. They went
to the finals 4 times, winning three of them. Shaq and Kobe are two of the best
basketball players in the world. But there was a problem; they
didn’t like to share the glory. And so whenever they were upset
with each other or if something went wrong, they would blame
the other! This blame drove them and the team apart. Shaq was
subsequently traded to the Miami Heat (and later to the Phoenix Suns),
and the Lakers had a whole new look with Kobe. They were not as good as
they had been (although now they seem to be on top again; last year they went to the finals and lost to the Boston Celtics, and this year they are unbeaten so far!).
But as we look at the relationship between Shaq and Kobe, we realize that blame is never the way to go in life. We often try to blame our circumstances, or our inability to have certain opportunities, or we even try to blame others for our struggles and disappointments in life. But instead of blaming, we need to Learn to be thankful. As
Colossians 1:12 says: “giving thanks to the Father, who
has enabled you to share in the inheritance….”

II. E – H: (Colossians 1:16-18)-
We continue: Even when the times are hard, Fierce winds are bound to blow;
God is forever able, Hold on to what you know.
It is amazing to me when I talk to people, and hear about their lives. People live
incredibly complicated lives. Fierce winds do blow. Some people have lives that are very troublesome. Others have lives with great responsibility. Still others have lives with heavy demands. People are not sure what to do or what to believe or where to turn. That is why it is important to keep things in perspective. As we are told in
Colossians 1:16-18, “For in Christ all things in heaven and on
earth were created….all things have been created through Him
and for Him. He Himself is before all things, and in Him all things
hold together. He is the head of the church…”
We must understand that God, through the Son, created all things. And because of this God is able to watch over us. This is what we know, and if we hold on to this, this gives us foundation to keep us strong in difficult times. This helps to keep us centered, because we are focused on God and not our problems.
I want you to think for a moment of some difficult times: maybe it was (or is) financial, or with your health, or a conflict in the family. The possibilities are endless.
But the problem is that we dwell on these thoughts too much. We let them overwhelm us and cause us to worry and to be anxious over them. We make them bigger than they need to be and let them consume us. We think of them as “fierce winds” that can’t be overcome…But what makes everything better is knowing that the Lord of creation is able to get you through!

III. I – L: (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)-
The poem continues…Imagine life without His love, Joy would cease to be,
Keep thanking Him for all the things, Love imparts to thee.
Whether you realize it or not, the love of God is what keeps this world going. The love of God keeps God from destroying the world again as He did in the time of the flood. The love of God is what led God to come in human form, in Jesus Christ, so that He might die for our sins and open the door to forgiveness and eternal life. The love of God is what allows God to forgive us time and time again when we sin. The love of God is unconditional, not loving us for who we are or what we do, but loving us because we are God’s children. It is so important to be loved unconditionally! It is so important to know that God does love us deeply, and this love is here to stay. As we are told in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Story of Vietnam Soldier (e-mail from Jane Smith)
We need to learn to love like God does. There is tremendous power in love. Be thankful in the ways you are loved by God, and by the people God puts in your life to love you, and seek to find ways to love others unconditionally; not for who they are, or what they can do for you, or by what they look like. But because we all need to be loved!

IV. M – P: (Colossians 1:20)-
Moving to M through P, our poem continues…..Move out of “Camp Complaining,” No weapon that is known, On earth can yield the power, Praise can do alone.”
Why is it so easy to complain? What is it that complaining brings to our lives? I guess it goes back to blaming and passing the buck. It is easier to complain than to take responsibility or to seek to take care of our own problems. Somehow we think that feeling pity for ourselves gives us purpose. But all complaining does it take our focus away from what God can do through us, and takes our focus away from all the good in our lives.
You have heard the saying: “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” It is a trite saying, but there is some wisdom to it. Those people who are most successful in life are the ones who don’t let their troubles bring them down; they don’t let their troubles defeat them. They look for ways to overcome their problems.
The truth is, there is power in praise. As we give praise to God for His presence and strength in our lives, we build up our outlook, and we trust God more. We then put ourselves in a place where we can be victorious.
Remember what Colossians 1:20 says- “and through Him (Jesus)/ God was
pleased to reconcile to Himself all things…”
In Christ, even our troubles can be reconciled, taken care of, removed.

V. Q – T: (Matthew 6:34; 1 Thessalonians 5:18)-
Q through T then says: Quit looking at the future, Redeem the time at hand,
Start every day with worship, To “thank” is a command.
You might have heard the minister who asked one little girl, “Do you pray before meals.” To which the little girl responded: “Oh no, we don’t need to, my mommy is a good cook.”
Too often in life, we forget to say thank you to God, because we tend to go
to God when things are bad, not when they are good, and so our inclination isn’t to say thank you for the bad things in life. But another reason we forget to say thank you, is because we are busy thinking about the future, and forgetting to appreciate the present. God desires for us to not only focus on the present, as we are told in Matthew 6:34- “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” But we are to be thankful for all that today brings…
1 Thessalonians 5:18- “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God.” We are not to presume what our life should be, but be thankful for this day that God gives us, whatever it might bring.

VI. U – Z: (Philippians 3:14; Revelation 21:3 -4)-
And we finish the poem with U through Z….Until we see Him coming, Victorious in the sky, We’ll run the race with gratitude, Xalting God most high. Yes, there’ll be good times and yes some will be bad, but…Zion waits in glory…where none are ever sad!
Even though I just talked about not looking to the future, we do have to remember the hope that the future brings. Scripture is clear to us, that at some point, Jesus Christ will come again. When He comes, He will come on the clouds in the sky, for all to see. His second coming will be for the purpose of moving us into the new era, where the earth will be no more, and those who believe will live eternally in His loving presence. Those who don’t believe, will live eternally apart from Love itself.
Where is the thanksgiving in this? That those of us who believe, should be thankful for our eternal salvation. Those who don’t believe can be thankful that all have the opportunity to believe if they so choose. And we can be thankful that we have opportunities to tell those who don’t believe how they can believe!
So, we are to run the race with gratitude. As the apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:14- “I press on to the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” What is the prize? Eternally living with God in heaven. Having access to the inheritance of my Eternal Father. And knowing that in glory, we will never have to again deal with the pain of this life.
As we are told in Revelation 21:3-4, “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: ‘See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them; He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

Conclusion: Let us be thankful to God for all things and at all times, for God is forever with us, working in and through us. And remember, the next time you are stressed or feeling overwhelmed, the shortest distance between a problem and a solution is the distance between your knees and the floor. The one who kneels to the Lord, can stand up to anything. Amen.

“Learning Through Waiting”
Learning from Life Series: 11/9/08
Genesis 29:16-20

Introduction: One of the tensions we live with, is our desire to have things when we want them, and yet so often having to wait. Technology has caused us to have a lack of patience, and to expect things to happen more quickly. You can cook a meal with a microwave a lot faster than you can in the oven. You can telephone or e-mail someone a lot faster than it would take to drive to their house. You can get your food a lot faster at a fast-food restaurant than you can at a nice sit down restaurant. We really have become spoiled when it comes to waiting.
If you haven’t been to Disneyland in a while, you might not be familiar with “fast passes.” What fast-passes are is a ticket that lets you cut in line. You heard me right, it lets you cut in line. There are many rides at Disneyland (usually the rides that have the longest wait) where you can take your ticket to a machine and get what is called a fast-pass. This pass lets you come back to the ride during a certain time (say 4:15 – 5:15 pm), and you can walk through the fast-pass line, which is always a shorter line. In essence, you are by-passing all those who are in line, to go to the front of the line and have a much shorter wait.
This morning, as we continue our series in Learning from Life, I want to talk about how sometimes there is a benefit to waiting; sometimes God has a plan for our waiting. As the saying goes: “Good things comes to those who wait.” And so I would like to use the WAIT (w..a..i..t..) to talk about what God teaches us through our waiting.

I. Will of God- (2 Peter 3:8; Ecclesiastes 3:1)
The first point I want to talk about is the “WILL” of God. As we talked
about last week, God has a plan, a will, for our lives. We can even know God’s will for our lives. But God’s will doesn’t come quickly; it is something we need to seek out, and wait for God to reveal it to us.
God’s will is muli-faceted. First there is the INTENTIONAL WILL of God; or God’s intentions for His people and His creation.
1. We were created in the image of God to be in relationship with God.
2. We were given charge over the creation to care for it.
3. We were created to be in relationship with each and to love each other. When this doesn’t happen, we are called to be reconciled to each other.
4. We were created to do good works so that others would be blessed and God would be glorified.
Being in relationship with God is not something that happens quickly, it is a daily experience, and one that is to last our lifetime and beyond. Caring for this creation is something that takes great care, concern and time. We are always to be evaluating what needs to be done, and what needs to be done better. This call from God is to be handled for as long as this earth exists.
If you know anything about relationships, you understand that they take a great amount of time, energy, and patience as well. Relationship can’t be rushed. In those times when we try to rush through our relationships, problems usually are created, and the relationships are broken. We then have to move to reconciliation, which again takes time, energy, and patience. And God calls us to go good works. Every one of us is capable of doing good works. We just have to be open and ready to do them when the opportunities come. This, then, is God’s intentional will for our lives.
But God also has a CIRCUMSTANTIAL WILL for our lives. God’s circumstantial will is God’s will in the midst of specific circumstances. As we live our life, we will encounter many circumstances that can be challenging, where we need to try and understand what God would have us to do in them. We need to ask: What is God’s will in this circumstance? It could be an opportunity for a new job, it could be the need to break off a relationship, it could be a problem in the family.
When these circumstances arise, we often want to get through them quickly; we want to bring a quick resolution. But often times these circumstances are there to challenge us, and grow us, and an important part of the circumstance is our just going through the experience. God isn’t concerned with the time frame, but the result. As 2 Peter 3:8 tells us, “But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.” And Ecclesiastes 3:1 reminds us, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”
Waiting on God is an important part of understanding our life, our place in this world, and God’s intentions for us. When we try to rush through life, when we lack patience, we will miss much of what God wants us to know and experience.

II. Anger Can Be Avoided- (Proverbs 13:3, 29:20; Jonah 4:2; James 1:19-20)
Along with us needing to wait to experience and understand the will of God,
waiting can also help us with our anger.
ILLUSTRATION: In a Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, Calvin, a five-year-old boy comes up to his dad and says: “Dad, your polls took a big dive this week. Your overall performance rating was especially low.” At this point Calvin hands his dad a clipboard and then says: “See? Right about yesterday your popularity went down the tubes.” At this point his dad gets very upset and yells: “CALVIN, YOU DIDN’T GET DESSERT YESTERDAY BECAUSE YOU FLOODED THE HOUSE!” To which Calvin responds as he walks away: “I’d suggest a new line of work, ‘dad.’”
Children can test our patience and cause us to get angry. Our job can bring us much frustration and anger. So can our neighbors, our family, the traffic as we drive, lack of money, and on and on I could go. There are many things that we can get angry over, and so we need to learn how to “WAIT” when this anger comes upon us.
James 1:19-20 tells us: “…Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God’s righteousness.” How often do we react in anger, and say things that just make the situation worse? How often do we fail to really listen, and our anger causes us to say hurtful things? The book of Proverbs is full of reminders of this; Proverbs 13:3 says, “He who guards his mouth preserves his life; he who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.” And Proverbs 29:20 says, “Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”
Many of us would do well to listen more and speak less. Much of our anger could be done away with if we learn to wait before we speak or act. Much of our anger could be more constructive if we take time to seek God before we respond.
And we see the example of God in His waiting. In the book of Jonah, we see that the Ninevites are a sinful people; their wickedness is evident before God. But instead of God coming to a rash judgment against them, God wants to send Jonah to speak a message of repentance in hope that they will turn from their wickedness and turn to God. The book goes on to tell the story of how Jonah doesn’t want to speak to them and tries to run away from this call. Finally, Jonah is convinced by God to go, and the Ninevites hear God’s message through Jonah and give themselves to God. In Jonah 4:2, Jonah acknowledges God’s example of waiting as he says: “…you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”
Oh how we could learn from God by being slow to anger and ready to relent! Communication in general can be difficult. For example, here are the actual statements of people trying to make car insurance claims:
One lady says: “I was on the way to the doctor’s with rear end trouble when my universal joint gave way, causing me to have an accident.” Another person writes: “As I approached the intersection, a stop sign suddenly appeared in a place where no stop sign had ever appeared before. I was unable to stop in time to avoid the accident.” And still another: “In my attempt to kill a fly I drove into a telephone poll.”
It is hard enough to communicate well, it is especially difficult when we are angry. When we find ourselves dealing with anger, we should stop, and WAIT for a time, to get our bearings, and then speak. This is good advice!

III. Investment Reward- (Genesis 29:16-20, 16:1-4a)
Right now is not a good time for investments. But the truth is, whether it is in
the current economy, or in a better economy, it is always good practice to wait on your investments. A lack of patience, when it comes to investing, can lead us to try the “get rich quick” scheme. And this scheme rarely pays off. Usually “get rich quick” schemes only pay off for those who are taking the money from the people who are trying to get rich quick. Without patience, you and your money will soon be parted.
Our scripture reading this morning tells us of a story of patience; one who was willing to WAIT for his reward. It is the story of Jacob. Jacob meets Rachel, and falls in love with her; love at first sight. But then he has to deal with her father, Laban. Jacob offers to serve Laban, since Jacob is a relative of his. Laban doesn’t want to have Jacob serve him for nothing, so he asks Jacob in Genesis 29:15, “Because you are my kinsman, should you therefore serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your wages be?” We are then told in verse 18: “Jacob loved Rachel; so he said, ‘I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.” Laban agrees to this, and Jacob serves Laban for seven years. We then read in verse 20: “So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.” Ahhhhhhh, so romantic.
It seemed to Jabob just a few days! Why? Because Jacob’s love for Rachel was so great that he was willing to wait so that they could be together. The reward was worth the wait.
But sometimes we get impatient, and we don’t want to wait. What happens then? We try to make it happen ourselves. We see an example of this with Abraham. God had promised him that he would be the father of many nations. But the years were going by and Sarah wasn’t getting pregnant. They wondered how Abraham could be the father of many nations if he wasn’t even the father of one child. So Abraham and Sarah got impatient and didn’t want to wait anymore. We pick up the story in Genesis 16:1-4a, “Now Sarah, Abraham's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abraham, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." Abraham agreed to what Sarah said. 3 So after Abraham had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarah his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived…”
End of the story, right? All things worked out for the best, right? NOT AT ALL! Sarah ends up having contempt toward Hagar. God tells Abraham this is not how it is to be, and Abraham goes through many struggles because of his impatience! The reward was not what Abraham and Sarah wanted, nor what God had intended. In the end Abraham and Sarah do have a son, Isaac, and Isaac carries on the line of Abraham and a wonderful leader of his family and his people.
If Abraham and Sarah would have waited, they would have saved themselves much grief.

IV. Understanding Time- (
Ultimately it is about understanding the time we have. If we can give up control over our time to God, if we can trust the time that God gives to us, then we can be better at waiting.
ILLUS.- There is a wonderful story called “The Keeper of the Spring.” It is the story of a quiet forest dweller who lived high above an Austrian village along the eastern slope of the Alps. The old gentleman had been hired many years earlier by a young town councilman to clear away the debris from the pools of water up in the mountain crevices that fed the lovely spring flowing through their town. With faithful, silent regularity, he patrolled the hills, removed the leaves and branches, and wiped away the silt that would otherwise have choked and contaminated the fresh flow of water. The village in time became a popular attraction for vacationers. Graceful swans floated along the crystal clear spring, the mill wheels turned day and night, farmlands were naturally irrigated, and the view from restaurants was picturesque... Years passed. One evening the town council met for its semiannual meeting. As they reviewed the budget, one man's eye caught the salary figure being paid the obscure keeper of the spring. Said the keeper of the purse, "Who is the old man? Why do we keep him on year after year? No one ever sees him. For all we know, the strange ranger of the hills is doing us no good. He isn't necessary any longer." By a unanimous vote, they dispensed with the old man's services…For several weeks, nothing changed…But when early autumn came and the trees began to shed their leaves, the leaves and small branches fell into the pools, hindering the rushing flow of sparkling water. One afternoon someone noticed a slight yellowish-brown tint in the spring. A few days later, the water was much darker. Within another week, a slimy film covered sections of the water along the banks, and a foul odor was soon detected. The mill wheels moved more slowly, some finally ground to a halt. Swans left, as did the tourists. Disease and sickness reached deeply into the village…Quickly, the embarrassed council called a special meeting. Realizing their gross error in judgment, they rehired the old keeper of the spring, and within a few weeks, the veritable river of life began to clear up. The wheels started to turn, and new life returned to this town in the Alps.
I think our time is like this keeper of the spring. The keeper of the spring seemed unimportant. He wasn’t flashy or prominent. He just took care of the basics of what was important. So, with our time, we must not take it for granted, or get too caught up in the details. We need to not try and make things happen. Instead we should just monitor it daily; wait and enjoy the simple blessings of what God calls us to do each day.
God has given us so much time each day. He wants us to monitor the time. He wants us to enjoy the beauty of each minute. He wants us to wait for His leading. He wants us to organize our time in a way that is most useful for the life that He has called us to.

Conclusion: ECCLESIASTES 8:6a tells us, “For there is a proper time and procedure for every matter…” Let us not presume that we know what is best, or what we are to do. God has ordained time, and sometimes the most important thing that we can do is to wait. We need to let God lead us, not trying to force our hand. If we are patient, at peace, trusting God, we will use our time wisely, and be all the more blessed in our lives. In James 4:14-15 we read: “Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.’” Where are you anxious? Do you have an important decision to make? Is there a sense of urgency in some area of your life? Give this all to the Lord, and let yourself wait on the Lord. The prophet Isaiah gives us this charge in Isaiah 30:18, “Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” AMEN