Calvary United Methodist Church April 6, 2014 GOD WILL MAKE A WAY Rev. R. Jeffrey Fisher Children s Sermon Genesis 1:12; Matthew 13:23 I d like to invite the children to come forward at this time for the children s message. Good morning! Good to have you hear this morning! The folks in this slide this morning are doing something. What are they doing? They are playing ball. And they are sharing that ball, aren t they? There is one ball and three people, so they have to learn to share a little bit. And a part of the message today is sharing. We have a lot of things in life that we can share and I m sure that you already do that if you live in a home with other people because we have to do that. In God s Kingdom sharing is a very important part. We share not only God s love with one another but we share God s Word with one another, because if I tell you good news, Zachary, you can tell your brother, you would tell Tory and it can just go on and on and on because we have good things to share. Now, I don t know what all you share around you house. Do you share ice cream? No, I wouldn t either. Sometimes people share their food, but for other people that doesn t go over so big.
Sometimes we share our toys. Sometimes we share books that we like to read together because it is fun to do stuff with other people and when we have games and puzzles it is more fun a lot of times to do something with a friend, to share our time together than it is alone. Sometimes we even share things. Like this past week it was raining a great deal, in case you didn t notice, we get to share things like umbrellas. But of the important things I want to remember today that we share is God s Word. It is the Good News. It is telling people that we love them. It is telling people that even though we have made mistakes, they are going to be okay. It is a reminder to other people that we love them and it is an important thing that we do on behalf of God. I want to share some scriptures with you this morning. I was looking in Proverbs because we talk with the use of our mouth and inside the mouth is the tongue. And we can make choices of what we are going to say. Have you ever said something you wished you didn t? How about out there? We open our mouth and put our foot in it sometimes, we say, but I want to look at some of these scriptures and it says here: Keep you tongue from evil and your lips from telling lies. Sometimes, at least when I was a little boy if I didn t want to get into trouble I would fib. That sounds so much better than lying, doesn t it? Because Mom and Dad wanted to know where I was and they told me not to do something and maybe I did it or I did something I wasn t supposed to do. And it says here in God s Word that if we do that we are going to get in trouble. He says: A gentle response can diffuse anger, but a sharp tongue kindles fire. Have you ever been in an argument with anyone? Yes? And what
happens as you argue? Does it get louder? And louder? And louder? Oh, my goodness! We have all been there too, right? And it would be a lot nicer, basically just saying if you just talk to one another you can probably work things out than just yelling at one another. Smart people know how to hold their tongue, their grander is to forgive and forget. Here is another one of those great lessons. Not only are we learning to listen, but when someone hurts us, we ve all been hurt, right? Someone promises to come and play and they don t or they promise to give you something and yet we are to, according to God, forgive people so we have another opportunity to do things with them. Watch your words and hold your tongue. You will save yourself a lot of grief. Have you ever said no to your parents? Do you get a lot of grief when you do that? Yeh. Some people out there, spouses and friends, you get grief when you say no, don t you? Sometimes. In other words, if you know you shouldn t do something, you should probably just zip it instead of getting into trouble and doing the wrong thing. I said I will watch my ways and keep my tongue from sin. I will put a muzzle Have you ever seen a dog with a thing over his mouth? Now that is probably so they don t bite you, but it is also to keep the noise down too, probably. Sometimes the words in the scripture try to tell us things that we would understand that we muzzle our mouth so that we don t say things that we shouldn t say. May your tongue sing for joy for all your commands are righteous. This is turning it around from the bad things to say what you can do with your tongue is a good thing. You can tell someone they really look nice today. You can tell someone thank you for what they did for you, if someone helped you at school with a problem or someone helped you around home. You can thank someone for the food you get to eat. Using our tongue and our mouth for righteous things is praising God and praising other people as well. Truthful lips endure forever but lying tongue has only a moment.
So people don t like to hear us say things that aren t true, that is not a good habit to get into. Our tongue has the power of life and death. That sounds pretty strong, doesn t it? Because we can either lift somebody up because you can make them feel good, right? When people tell you you are great at dance and you are great in your sport, you are great in your academic things, it feels really nice, but when someone says You look really stupid eke, that doesn t feel really nice, does it? So the words that come off of our tongue have the ability to do a lot of good things. My tongue will proclaim your righteousness and praise all day long. Of all the things God wants us to do with our tongue, it is to praise God. It is to thank God that you are awake, that you have life, that you have food, that you have shelter, that you have clothing, that you have family, that you have friends, for all the things we have, we give God thanks. Now, there is a second part of this message dealing with spring and it talks about the multiplication of things. I want you to hear these words: Earth produced green seed-bearing plants, all varieties, and fruitbearing trees of all sorts. God saw that it was good. But the seed falling on the good soil refers to someone who hears the word and takes the news, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.
Have you ever planted anything? What have you planted? And have they grown? And have they made what? The seed comes up, the plant and then a flower comes on? And did it grow? Not yet, but it is trying, I bet. Well, I was amazed this year when I saw someone planting little wee grains. You ve seen grains of rice or wheat or oats or these little seeds, even grass seed, they are so small. If I had one handful of seed and I planted it, sometimes I can harvest as much as fourteen or fifteen handfuls. That is great multiplication, isn t it? Because those seeds that we plant turn into little shoots and the shoots come up and they produce grains like this is wheat and on the top of the wheat instead of one kernel there are a lot of kernels, aren t there? And then the fields can be filled with so much wheat or grain of some kind that they have to use big machines to harvest it. When we look at what we can do with God s Word, one or two people could go and tell good news and our churches can be full and you can tell people great things about God. We can go from this little handful of seed to a whole house full of people because when we put our hands together, when we put the Word of God together, the word that is on our tongue, we can do great things. So, I hope this week that you will try to remember to use your mouth for good things, positive things, uplifting things that will praise God. Thank you for coming up this morning.
Message Ezekiel 37:11,14 God desires to make a way in our life when we think there is no way. We ve been in those places in our own life where it feels like we re up against the wall, that we can t move from where we are at and sometimes where we are at isn t where we want to be. Today I am going to be speaking about the Prophet Ezekiel and how he found himself not where he wanted to be but able to be used by God even where he was placed. He found himself in the middle of a valley of dry bones and when I think of bones I think of cemeteries and I have often found cemeteries to be very interesting through the years. If you had a chance in the spring to go down to Arlington Cemetery it is not only beautiful but it is a living testimony of men and women s lives and the stories they have to tell. We could go to Gettysburg or many other places. This particular cemetery I have often taken youth to up in the Boston area when we ve gone to Heifer Project. Three signers of the Declaration of Independence are in there. Sam Adams is there. Paul Revere is there and Ben Franklin s family. Living testimony of people who shaped the future. That wasn t quite the walk into the past the Ezekiel was facing. Ezekiel was in Israel in a time when they had been disobedient to God. God had taken them out of slavery in Egypt, if you remember those old stories, because of their disobedience and he gave them life again but within so many years they again became disobedient. And because of that they were again conquered because they were not a God-fearing people. And they began to suffer. In the midst of this Judea was broken up and they were separated and he found himself in this vision placed in this field and God was basically saying to Ezekiel Look at this, do you think the people can ever have new life again? Their life is torn emotionally, physically, spiritually. They are numb and I don t know if they can really have any life. And He was placing this vision inside this Prophet Ezekiel that he might come to the people to give them a good word and that word would be one that says My Spirit, the Spirit of God will come from
the four winds and will fill your life if you will but open your life and let that Spirit back in. God wanted to send his best and this is what he spoke to Ezekiel: Then God said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. List to what they are saying: Our bones are dried up, our hope is gone, there s nothing left of us. I ll breathe my life into you and you ll live. Those are the words that we long to hear and I confess as one who stands here to share these words today it is easier to talk about than to do in our life, but God wants us to have new life, to rid ourselves of the burdens and the pains and the sufferings of the past, that we can life today and tomorrow and the future filled with the life breath of Almighty God. Just a little more background of what Ezekiel was facing. The people of Israel had been worshipping for 400 years now in Solomon s Temple and if you have never read that, go back to the first book of Kings, chapter 6. It is the most elaborate building you could have ever imagined. They worshipped there for 400 years and now Neberkanezer, King Neberkanezer, brought his troops in and they destroyed it. They laid this temple, which would have been the center of their civilization at that time, of the holy people, they laid it to waste. They destroyed it. And they took these people captive again who generations before had been captive and they placed them in Babylon which is now day Iraq. And they placed them there and one of the Psalmists wrote and said: By the Rivers of Babylon we sat there and wept. Have you ever been displaced in your life? Your family has moved. Your relationships have broken. Imagine yourself picked up and moved to somewhere where you did not know the people and now you are even a captive and you sat and you weep and you think there is not hope, there is no future. My life will never improve. And into this situation this Prophet Ezekiel comes. His father had been a priest. And they are sitting along this river and there is not doubt in my own
When I would be standing as Ezekiel in that place I would be thinking What hopelessness because it didn t say it was like a battlefield where there were bodies. You could always hope that you could give life or CPR or something to save someone. They were dry bones. They weren t even pulled together. It was like an old graveyard of dry bones. If there was ever a picture of impossibility it is God speaking to Ezekiel and Ezekiel looking at this and saying How can I bring new life to the people of Israel? They ve lost everything again and, You, God, think I have a word to tell them? And God says Yes, I have a word to tell them. I have a word of hope that they will not need to stay along that river, for when they will soften their hearts, when they will turn to me with all of their heart and their mind and their soul, I, their God will bless them. I will bring healing to the land, I will bring healing to their lives. And so many times for us the brokenness in our lives isn t always because of our wrongdoing. It might be the parts of nature around us. But the brokenness is still there and God is saying, I will bring healing if you will allow it, if you will open up your life to that possibility. They had to hear these words again from Deuteronomy: Love the Lord thy God. Walk in His ways and keep His commandments and his statutes and His judgments that you may live and multiply and the Lord thy God shall bless thee and the land where you shall go. The people of Israel, who were now captives in the land of Babylon, had dreams and aspirations. What were they, I don t know. What are your dreams and aspirations? As a little child, we often ask children What do you want to be when you grow up? Where do you want to go? What do you want to do? What kind of relationships do you want to be in? What will your family look like? And then life happens and some of our dreams and some of our aspirations either get watered down or they get beat so long that we give up and God said Don t let that happen! I am the God of new opportunities, new chances, new beginnings, new life. Do not allow yourselves to be crushed because I will give you new life.
mind he is probably looking at them saying Where is my future? I dreamed about being a priest in this wonderful temple. I was sharing God s Holy Word with all these people. Maybe he even had that dream to become the chief priest of the temple because he wanted to be so holy as a righteous Man of God, but it was all taken away. We often think sometimes when our dreams are crushed that we are out of God s plan, but sometimes it is not so. God will use us wherever we are if we will allow ourselves to be available to God. This man was about 25 years old when he was taken into captivity and he was there for these multiple years. When the Word of God had to certainly be crushing to him as Ezekiel was, as a lot of prophets, sort of a crazy guy, one who wanted to express to others their need to turn, turn back to the God that they might be faithful, but instead he could only imagine in his own mind the destruction of the temple that he once longed to be in. And then one day the scripture records as he was standing there wondering what would be his future, the heavens opened up, the Word of God came to Ezekiel and the Word of God to Ezekiel was basically I m going to set you into this valley of dry bones. I can t imagine what that was like. What was your worst night of darkness? Your darkest, the darkest moment of your life? Can you recall some of them? The loss of a loved one; loss of a dream; your hope in the future; perhaps the thought of retirement if I was a part of many of those where schemes have stolen their retirement and realized then that you ll have to work the rest of your life. I look at these earthquakes and I look the mudslide in Washington, the loss of a whole town. Everybody you knew is gone. And in the midst of that darkest hour, Ezekiel is placed in there, in this field, and he is placed in that field and God says no matter how dark you might think it is, I am your God and when the heavens open up, I will give you what you need. I will give you what you need to speak to these people of Israel who are now captives that they might find new life and they will not have to sit and weep by the River of Babylon because I am your God and I will make all things new. It is hard to preach that word to people who have lost everything. And when we have lost everything we begin to examine our own lives and wonder why have we lost everything.
In my thinking, when April comes, it is trout season. And growing up as a little boy I would go up into Licking Creek Valley and in that valley it s a small stream and there are beautiful Hemlocks and a lot of small waterfalls and if I want to have a peaceful experience, I find one of those big mounds of green moss, lay down on it, look up at the sunshine coming through the Hemlocks and I am at peace. I don t know what peace looks like for you, but I can lay there so long until my mind starts working and then I start thinking and when I start thinking I often rehearse time and time again the mistakes I have made in life. Do you ever rehearse your mistakes and say Why did I do this because that affected this and if I wouldn t have done that We rehearse our failures and God reminds us that we should ditch that stuff, that He doesn t carry it, so why are we carrying it? And when I start to rehearse the problems and the difficulties and the mistakes and the errors and the waves that have created suffering in my own life, I then kind of get to that stream that is a rocky spot and not a peaceful spot and if I stay there long enough, the stream dries up. You know what I mean? It is like Oh, God, I don t know if I can get up in the morning. I don t know if I can go on. Is there any real reason to think that life is going to be better tomorrow than today? That is what happens when we dry up when the Spirit of God is not in us. It just shrivels up and into that specific setting, God speaks to Ezekiel and He says Son of Man, do you think these bones can live? And Ezekiel says to Him, Lord, only You know the answer to that. And the Lord resounds with a positive Yes! These bones can live. Yes, you can have new life. If you are oppressed I am here to set you free. If you think you are a failure and life isn t going to be any better, I am here to renew you. If you think that there is no hope, I want to tell you that bones can come back to life because I am the God of all possibilities. In Christ, all things are possible if you will come to me. And Ezekiel had that word to take back to God s people. God will make a way. I don t have the answers for that, I just know in my own life when I ve looked, I can see it. Now always in the moment of my difficulties in the moment of my sadness or my loss, but if I am willing to move from where I am, God will make a way for me to go someplace else, to a healthier place, a place where there is peace and where
there is freedom if I choose to trust God and trust God s Word, because people today, like people back then, have hopes and dreams. What are yours today? For a healthier relationship? Is it for a new home? Is it to retire? Is it to have family? Is it to have more friends? I don t know what your dreams and aspirations are. Finishing school and looking to a career? Whatever it might be, God says All things are possible when you place your trust in Me, when you walk that path of righteousness and try to seek Me with your whole heart and your whole soul and all of your mind. There were a couple of things that Ezekiel was reminding the people that they needed to do and the first thing was to trust in God s Word. God s Word, the Holy Word is what is the guide for our life. It is the Bible. I don t understand everything in it, but when I seek it I find truth. I find truth for what God would have me live in my life. And especially the things as I shared with the children that we need to love one another. If we can do that alone, we have accomplished a great thing: to rid the world of hatred, to live in peace and contentment and to love one another. And besides depending on God s Word, He had this other thing. He said I will send the Spirit, the four winds from the north, east, south and west and they will fill these bones up and they will come back to life. I know God wants to send the Spirit in us, into you and into me, to give us new life in whatever dark hour we might find our self in and you might be in a dark hour now or you might be on top of the world, but wherever you are, God wants to be a part of it if we will allow it. When I look around in the spring I am always amazed to find life where we never expected it. When I go up through the Lewistown narrows, you ll see those fields of rocks and sometimes you even see stark cliffs and there is a tree growing out. Life can come out of darkness, life can come out of our dried up shriveled up lives that have been hurt and pounded and oppressed and crushed so many times.
God says Don t give up. There are new possibilities before you if you will allow it. God is telling us today, I will make a way; I will make a way for you. Just as He used Ezekiel, he uses all of us today to share good news for others that God will lift us up, fill us with God s Spirit to make a new day. Let us pray: Lord Jesus, we thank you and praise you that you would fill us with new life and new possibilities. Lift us up wherever we are today, Lord. If we have been crushed and broken and especially, Lord, as we face these coming weeks, we are reminded that our Savior, Jesus Christ, experienced that. And yet You have brought healing to us. Bind up our wounds. Send your healing balm upon us that we might experience new life. We ask in Thy son s holy name. Amen