Faith – More Important than Life

 An announcement:

During Lent, I am posting online a study of the Gospel of John. Each day, there will be a link to a Youtube video about a different chapter of this most important Gospel, the Book of the Bible that points the clearest to whom Jesus was and what He did that tells us that He was the true Son of God. I hope you’ll join me in these and forward them to your friends. You’ll be able to find the links on the Cedar Grove Facebook page and through the prayer emails. And the study videos will remain online, so you can still catch up.

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Since Lent began ten days ago on Ash Wednesday, Saundra and I began re-watching many of Marvel Comics Avengers movies, since they are all available for streaming on Disney+. We are still near the beginning, watching the Ironman and Thor movies. All of these movies are tied together, which is one reason they each had sales of hundreds of millions, sometimes billions of dollars.

The movies lead up to a great climatic battle between good and evil, Avengers: Infinity War. Without giving away much, let me just say that at one point, an evil supervillain can just snap his fingers and watch people turn to dust before our eyes. It is an on-screen reminder that from dust we came and to dust we shall return, the reminder that I repeat every Ash Wednesday service as I place ashes on everyone’s forehead. “From dust you have come and to dust you shall return.” Our only hope is the power over death that Jesus Christ brings.

Today’s Gospel reading speaks of a couple of events that occurred in the days just before Jesus and his three favorite disciples climbed Mt Hermon to see Jesus transfigured with His true glory, glowing and speaking with Moses and Elijah. In our reading, Jesus and His team were visiting the villages around Caesarea Philippi, a Roman-founded town at the foot of Mt Hermon in northern Israel, at the base of what we today call the Golan Heights.

Jesus asked the disciples, “Who do people say I am?” The disciples replied with various responses: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the other prophets.

“But who do you say I am”. Jesus pressed the disciples.

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah”.  And Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him. But at this point, Jesus changed His attitude and spoke much more openly about the things that were to come, for if the disciples now understood that Jesus was the Messiah, then He could take them into his confidence much more.

Jesus did not often call Himself the Son of God. Instead, he used a reference from the Old Testament, and called Himself the “Son of Man”, a title often used in the Book of Ezekiel, and particularly in Daniel 7:13-14:

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

Clearly, this “Son of Man” is a very important person in Daniel’s vision – and remained a person of fascination for the Jewish people at the time of Jesus. When Jesus adopts this title when speaking of Himself, He is implicitly claiming to be King of the earth, the Messiah, eternally King, second only to God – the Ancient of Days. It was a very provocative claim.

After the Messiah declaration by Simon Peter, Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by everyone in authority, killed, and rise again after three days. He spoke so plainly that Peter took Him aside and rebuked Him.

What did Peter say? Matthew 16 tells us a bit more than Mark. Matthew wrote that Peter said, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!”

The gist of Peter’s rebuke is that Jesus has gone off his rocker by talking about his future death. And then Jesus gets angry. And His anger tells us something very important about life, about faith, and about the proper perspective of a Christian believer.

Jesus turned around and looked at His disciples. He sternly rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Satan. Literally, “Deceiver”. Jesus called his leading disciple a liar, the devil himself. Why?

Because Peter was thinking only about human concerns – Peter’s friend and teacher was expecting to suffer, be rejected, and killed. To Peter, this was a terrible idea, even if it was true – especially if it was true. Peter had temporarily lost his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Peter had decided that Jesus’ life was more important than the faith that Jesus was the Son of God. Peter, the man who just a day earlier had recognized that Jesus was the Messiah, “the son of the living God”, had forgotten Who he was talking to. Just like we do so often in our prayers.

We forget that Jesus is not just a nice idea, a nice figure from the past, a man who founded a religion. We lose track of the fact that Jesus still lives, that Jesus commands the armies of Heaven, that He sits beside God. It slips our mind that if it were not for His deep love for us, Jesus and Father could simply dust us out of existence with a snap of the fingers, not only removing us from physical existence, but destroying our soul, even removing our memory from everyone who had ever known us. We would never even have been as far as the Universe is concerned.

But Jesus sternly chews out Peter, bringing Him back to the reality that here, standing in front of Peter, is God in the flesh. But does Peter learn? Well, in six days, Peter climbs the mountain with Jesus, sees Jesus in his robes glowing brighter than anyone could beach them, talking to Moses and Elijah – and Peter offers to build the three of them little shelters, shrines, equating them with each other. God Himself shows up, yelling at Peter out of a cloud, “This is my Son whom I love. Listen to Him!”

Peter was a bit slow at times. But aren’t we all?

Years ago for most of us, we accepted the Jesus was the Son of God. We were baptized. And yet, we struggle with the fear of a virus that’s making the rounds, a virus which can kill our body, yes. But haven’t we forgotten that death is not the worst thing that can happen to us, just as Peter forgot that day when Jesus was laying out what would happen over the next few months? For Jesus wanted to let us know that our faith in Him was more important than life itself. Jesus wanted us to know that the end of an earthly life is not as important as the faith that Jesus will give us eternal life. Jesus wanted us to remember God’s perspective rather than live with our short-sighted human perspective on life.

God’s concerns are not so much with us, the people who already believe and are trying to follow Jesus. God’s concerns are with those who do not believe, who believe they are in control of their lives, who think they can handle anything that comes along. God is interested in those who have not yet sought God’s protection, who boldly think that they can take anything the world can throw at them, who blindly believe they can even handle life after death by themselves because they have bought into a lie that they are in control of what happens to them when they die.

Do you know how to bring a body back to life? Jesus does.

Do you know how to defeat death? Jesus does.

Do you know how to gain entry to God’s presence and escape the evil that awaits those who refuse God’s protection? Jesus does, and Jesus will protect you if you will become His follower.

After Jesus had chewed out Peter for focusing too much on earthly concerns, he call the crowd and his disciples to him and said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Just as a soldier joining the army decides to give up his own choices, his own way of living, his own decisions, a follower of Jesus also denies his or her own choices, picks up their cross – the burdens that you bear – and follows Jesus. That takes more faith in Jesus than in this life and our own ability.

Jesus went on to say that “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”

The Greek word translated as life in this passage can also be translated as soul. Jesus is saying that if you work diligently to keep your life going, but stay away from Jesus, you will ultimately lose your life and soul. We must develop a faith in Jesus that is far more important than this life around us. He tries to make us think by asking these questions: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forget their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

So many people are like the two prisoners, Fred and John, who were sentenced to the same cell in jail for a night because they had been in a bar fight. One of the beds has a mattress that was about three inches thicker than the other. This was apparent when they were both put into the cell at the same time. Being selfish and prone to anger, they began to fight again to see who would get the thicker mattress. But they were equally matched, so all day long and all night they fought. Finally, around 5 am, the noise from their cell stopped. When the guards checked on them at 6 am to let them out, Fred was dead and John had a broken neck, barely alive. He was then tried for murder and convicted. What good had it done John to gain the thicker mattress, the only thing of value in the cell, when he lost his freedom and ability to move for the rest of his life? If he had given Fred the mattress without a fight, John would now have been free, free to sleep on his own mattress, a mattress of his own choosing. But John and Fred lost perspective, and now Fred was dead and John would spend a lifetime in a tiny cell, sleeping on a thin mattress that the prison provided.

Too often, Jesus says, we have lost our perspective. We think that the things of this world are the things that are real. We think this world is real and eternity is imagined. We think the next few years are important and forget following Christ is how we find a good life for the next million years, indeed longer. Jesus asks: What good is it for us to gain the whole world, to become the richest, the most powerful, the most famous, the greatest of all time, the Tom Brady – if we lose our eternal soul in doing so? Our faith in Jesus must become more important than our life.

But yet everyday I read news stories about people fighting and dying over a few thousand dollars and a couple teaspoons of drugs. I see stories of men and women divorcing over who will be in charge. Sometimes they fight and die over who will sleep together.

On Facebook, I see all sorts of time wasted over which musicians are good and which are bad. I see fighting over politicians and political ideas. I hear men wasting time discussing whether Ford, Chevy, Dodge, or Toyota trucks are best. And I see a tremendous amount of time spent these days arguing over things of the past: Statues, books, movies, songs.

But if we follow Jesus’ perspective, there are only two things worth fighting for. “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Jesus and the Gospel are worth spending our lives upon – not politics, not sports, not our homes, not money, not even teaching, unless we are teaching people about Jesus and the Gospel.

Let me tell you a story. A while back, there was a person who had committed a series of crimes which were discovered. This person decided to take their own life by laying down in front of a train. But some godly people found out that this person was depressed and likely to do something like this, so they began to search for this person, chasing the train, arriving with the emergency squad literally at the instant the train rolled over the person, severing both legs. With quick work and the prayers of those who had initiated the search, the person lived. Until two years later, when the person took a handful of pills and followed it with a large amount of alcohol. This time, the rescuers were too late. For this person really wanted to lay down in front of that train.

I wish I could give a better ending to that story. But it is a true story and in real life, the endings aren’t always good. For most people in this world are determined to focus upon this world, on the short term and not think about the next, which requires great faith in Jesus. Some are so discouraged that they lay down in front of the train – but most people, even if discouraged, don’t. We strive for a better life.

But the day comes for each of us, that we are driving across the tracks and the train arrives. Sometimes unexpectedly. Sometimes we’ve seen that train coming for years, but can’t avoid it. Perhaps we look forward to that day – and perhaps we don’t. But sooner or later, for all of us the train arrives. That is why our faith and focus must be with the promises of Jesus rather than looking short-sightedly upon today or next month.

When your train arrives, will you have spent your time on the eternal things preparing for your eternal life, having faith in Jesus – or on the short-term things of this life?

When God talked with Abram, in our first reading, Abram was 99 years old. He had no children. Yet God promises that Abram – which means “exalted father”  - will become the father of many, “more than the stars Abram can count” and changes the man’s name to Abraham, which means “father of many”. But when did this happen? Many years later with God’s timing, not Abraham’s timing.

Eventually, Abraham has two sons – Ishmael and Isaac. That’s all. Just two sons. Isaac has two sons – Esau and Jacob. Where is God’s promise of many descendants? It is from Jacob, though, who is renamed Israel, that the twelve sons are born who become twelve tribes who eventually number 600,000 people some 400 years later arrive.

Sarah, Abraham’s wife, pushed things, though. Ten years after Abram received the promise, she felt things were taking too long, so she pushed forward her maid Hagar to Abraham, who then produced Ishmael – and made life miserable for Sarah. It was several years later that Isaac was born from Sarah. And it was 400 years later before the 600,000 strong nation of Israel left Egypt for the Promised Land.

God always has a longer term perspective than we do. We always want quick answers. We are usually more concerned with what is happening over the next week or month than with the long term. We think that this life is more important than our faith in God.

Today, we see COVID cases decreasing rapidly.  As of Tuesday the 23^rd of February, Wood County had 105 new cases over the previous 7 days, and 217 active cases, the lowest amount since October. And so we are now wondering if and when we should open back up. At the current rate of decrease, the county caseload is falling by a third every week, which means we’d be down to around 20 or 30 cases by the end of March.

Of course, in our context, what does “open back up” mean?

After all, we have been open since last June. We wear masks, we sit spaced apart, we have the shower curtains in front of the singers, we open the sliding doors for ventilation if we have more than a handful of people or if it is warm enough. If there are few enough people, we sing behind the masks. We have many people watching and listening online and on V96.9 FM. What would we do differently?

We had meetings and dinners last summer and early fall downstairs with the doors open for ventilation.

We need to hear from those of you who are currently staying at home. What needs to happen before you’ll feel comfortable coming back to in-person worship? Are you simply waiting temperatures to warm back up so you’ll be more comfortable with our sliding glass doors open? What would you like to see for Palm Sunday and Easter worship? Let us know. Are you waiting to be vaccinated, or waiting until Dr Fauci says masks aren’t needed next fall? We are open – when will you return?

It would be foolish now to drop the masks, to allow hugs, to snuggle together and sing loudly, spewing potentially deadly virus into our community. But we can still come together and greet each other. Safely.

A year ago, we had to spend time looking at the dangers of having our close, friendly in-person meetings and adopt a perspective that said for a time, we’ll just have to figure out a new way to have church. We did – and we’ve been very successful. Many people watch us online each week – and even more listen to us on V96.9 FM every Sunday morning. And now, we’re even having a Bible study online. We are doing what we can do for Jesus and the Gospel.

But now, we have to look once again at our perspective. For God could be ready to drive out this virus – or God could fire up the pandemic again and give us another year of distance and masks. God makes that decision. We must still remain prudent, cautious, and careful until the virus fizzles out.

Each of us has to look at our personal situation.  And each of us has to respect others enough to ensure our friends are comfortable with us.

Fact: Some of us are still at high risk for COVID infection, and at high risk of serious illness if we are infected. Are you older, overweight, diabetic, have lung issues, other issues? Get vaccinated and stay home until after you are vaccinated twice. Continue to watch on Facebook or listen on V96.9 FM

Fact: Some of us are young and healthy. Some of us have already been vaccinated. Some have had COVID already. If you are healthy, consider coming back to church – but wear your mask to protect others. Remember when you get here, though, that everyone doesn’t want hugged, yet.

Fact: Some of us have had close calls – or our family has suffered from the virus. Like the person whose foot was run over by a speeding car, you’ll probably want to look both ways, figuratively speaking, before you venture out to church or anywhere else. Take your time. We love you and want to see you again, but take your time to feel safe again.

When you decide to join us – each of you at your own speed – we ask that you get permission from others before you approach closely. That’s how we show respect and love for others. After all, if you just had a bad sunburn, you probably wouldn’t want your buddies giving you a slap on the back, would you? Let’s take it nice and easy for a while with each other as we get used to each other again.

But most importantly, we need to keep our mind on the things of God rather than the things of man. With this, Jesus was teaching that our faith in Him is more important than this life we are living.

This virus has become the world’s great distraction. But, like God, let us use it to bring glory to Jesus, God’s Son.  Let us remember to each pray for a dozen or more friends who have not yet met Jesus. Let’s remember to speak to friends each week by phone so they will not be alone. Let’s remember to share our weekly sermons and the Bible study with our Facebook friends and others close to us, so they will begin to worship with us also.

COVID will be with us a while longer. It might be a month or two – it might be for years. But it should not define our lives. Yet, it may lead us to give our lives for what is important – Jesus and the Gospel.

Let us keep our minds on eternal souls, on God’s priorities, on bring people Jesus and the Good News of Christ. Each day, read and study scripture, pray for yourself and a dozen or more friends, and look during the day toward how you can spread the news of Jesus and the Gospel. Let your faith in Jesus become more important than your mortal life upon this earth. Amen.

Tell me About the Spirit

An announcement:

During Lent, and beginning Sunday, February 21, I will be posting online a study of the Gospel of John. Each day, there will be a link to a Youtube video about a different chapter of this most important Gospel, the Book of the Bible that points the clearest to whom Jesus was and what He did that tells us that He was the true Son of God. I hope you’ll join me in these and forward them to your friends. You’ll be able to find the links on the Cedar Grove Facebook page and through the prayer emails.
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One of the things which makes the study of the Bible so interesting is comparison of the Old Testament, which was written between 1600 BC and 400 BC, with the New Testament, which was written between 35 and 95 AD. So many of the Old Testament stories set up events in the New Testament. For example, here today we have the end of the story of Noah and the Ark being set against Jesus’ baptism.

Most adult Americans, whether or not they have ever been to church, know the outlines of the Noah story. God saw that the men and women of the earth were doing terrible evil, and God decided to make a new start. Noah was told by God to build an ark, a huge boat. Noah did so. The Ark was twice the size of the American World War II Aircraft carrier Yorktown. God sent to Noah to be loaded into the Ark breeding pairs of every kind of animal and seven of every edible animal type.

Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives entered the Ark. Two things then happened, according to Chapter 7 of the Book of Genesis: The rain fell for forty days and forty nights… and the waters of the deep burst forth, flooding the land. Eventually, God blew a wind across the water to make it recede. But the flood stayed for a year, slowly dropping, before Noah could leave the Ark.

And shortly after Noah and his family and the animals left the Ark, God made a covenant, a sort of contract with Noah and all the animals – and with us. He said the rainbow would be the sign that God would not destroy the entire world by flood ever again.

To me, the most interesting part of the Flood story is not whether it literally covered the entire world or not or how. The most interesting part is the way that God used water to cleanse the earth of the evil that had infected humans. It is interesting because in Jesus’ day, a man named John the Baptist, more accurately John the Baptizer, the man who was Jesus’ cousin, began to baptize people to cleanse them of their sins. John apparently dunked people in the River Jordan, the principle river that flows from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea in the Holy Land.

Do you see the connection between the great Flood and baptism? Both were used to cleanse first the land and then individual humans from sin, from disobedience to God.

There is another connection. In the ancient languages of Hebrew and Greek, the words ruach (in Hebrew) and pneuma (in Greek) do triple duty. The same words can be translated as breath, wind, or spirit. So when God blew a wind across the Flood waters, it could just as easily be translated that God blew his breath or God’s Spirit across the Flood waters.

In the same way, during Christian baptism, we pray for God’s Spirit to enter the person being baptized and we lay our hands on the person. We are essentially asking God’s breath to enter the person, God’s Spirit to enter the person.

And interesting changes happen when we receive God’s breath…

In our reading from Mark’s Gospel, as Jesus comes up out of the baptismal water, “he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.” A voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” At once the Spirit sent Him into the wilderness.

God’s breath fell on Jesus and sent Him into the wilderness.

In regular Christian thought, ordinary Christianity which is agreed upon by over 95% of Christian leaders, our God is rather complex. Whereas Jews maintain that God is a single God and Moslems argue that Allah is a single God, Christians have a more complex viewpoint.

From the early years of Christianity, Christians leaders have worked out that there are three persons or persona of God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Yet, these three persona are all composed of the same “God-substance”. One substance with three personas. We sometimes refer to God as the Trinity, a Tri-unity. This can be hard to get our minds around.

So is God the Father God? Yes.

Is God the Son, Jesus Christ God? Yes.

Is God the Holy Spirit God? Yes.

Can they speak to each other? Yes, for they are separate personalities bound in a common substance.

Let me give you a few analogies, none of which convey things perfectly.

Do you remember hearing or reading about people who have multiple personality disorder? They are a single body, a single brain, yet there are multiple personalities within that brain.

Have you looked at your computer or smart phone recently? It has a phone personality, a calculator personality, and a Facebook personality. Each can be turned on, (or be alive) at the same time, but they all reside within the same phone.

Have you considered liquid water, steam, and ice? All are made of the same substance – H20 water – and yet all are different. Steam can be invisible, yet has the power to move a locomotive, water can destroy a mountain and create a river delta. Ice we can get our hands on and hold onto.

In the same way, the Holy Spirit is invisible yet has great power, God the Father creates and destroys, and Jesus could be touched and held onto.

Standard Christian theology says that the Father, Son, and Spirit are always in agreement, that they are normally in perfect communication, and that they have all existed since before the Beginning. In fact, they were all present and necessary for Creation to occur. How?

In Genesis 1, God creates through God’s Word. And the spirit/breath/wind of God was hovering over the deep. In John’s Gospel chapter 1, John explains that all creation occurred through the Word. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus Christ, the Word (or Message) of God. The Word of God still creates new realities, even today, especially when working through someone possessed of the Holy Spirit.

When Adam, the first man, was formed, God breathed life into him. God gave Adam his breath, his spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon the elders of Israel in the wilderness and they prophesied. The Holy Spirit would come upon Samson and gave him his power and ability in battle. The day after Saul was anointed king of Israel, the Holy Spirit came upon him and he prophesied. And Jesus’ ministry was activated when God gave His Spirit, His breath to Jesus. The Spirit sent Jesus into the wilderness. A message had been delivered to Jesus and Jesus reacted to the message by going into the desert wilderness for a time of testing, engaging Satan in three arguments about the meaning of scripture.

Many people have noted that the recently baptized will encounter a time of testing. It is though the arrival of the Holy Spirit in a new believer holds up a red flag which gets the attention of Satan. The morning after I believed, I was laid off from my job. Others have reported sickness in their families or the sudden onset of financial problems or other issues to deal with. It is almost as though we are invisible to Satan before the Spirit arrives, and then suddenly Satan can see us.

Did you notice that even Jesus had to deal with a difficult time? There are some preachers and lay people who argue that all the difficult times we deal with are caused by our sins. They argue that if we were truly following Jesus, we would have a life of pleasantness all the time, a life of ease, a life which was like a permanent vacation. Yet Jesus was sinless – and he was sent into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to deal with forty days without food, to have arguments with Satan over scripture, to need to be ministered to by angels because the stress was so rough. Jesus was sinless, yet he was later arrested, beaten, whipped, and tortured before being executed. How much more might we suffer?

No, our sufferings are not an indicator of sin in our lives. For there are sufferings which are directly due to sin – and sufferings which are due to confronting the world about the world’s sins. Just as a gang of boys will torture a child who stands up against their rituals in an attempt to get the child to conform, the world will torture a man or woman who stands up against their traditions.

When we lived in Atlanta, after several issues with the local school, and support from a couple of family friends, we decided to home-school our children. We were asked about “socialization”, about academic achievement, about them missing rituals such as high school sports and graduation and proms. Our oldest home-schooled daughter played on a nationally ranked homeschool basketball team, traveling all over GA, AL, and TN. Our three younger children swam with the Marietta YMCA team, our son making Zones.

One son became an RA at Marietta College and won speaking awards, as well as became a Methodist certified lay speaker before he graduated from high school. He scored a perfect 800 on his SAT verbal – twice – and won a 50% scholarship at Marietta College and then a full tuition and board scholarship to Fudan University in Shanghai, China. He’s currently finishing up his Ph.D. and teaching online classes for Texas A&M. The other son became a Methodist pastor at age 19, now with three churches between Rainelle and Hinton. Our youngest daughter is security manager for a superstore in Fairbanks, AK. Our older homeschooled daughter graduated from Liberty University and is a happy, stay-at-home mother of three, married to an Army Captain. Yet we had to suffer years of questions because we weren’t doing things the normal way. Becoming a Christian will lead to that as the Holy Spirit becomes your guide much more than the common culture.

Most thoughtful Christian leaders maintain that the Bible was written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? What does that mean? It means that the Holy Spirit guided, but did not dictate the content that each of the authors provided. It is similar to the way the Holy Spirit speaks to each of us – guiding us but rarely pushing us. We have to recognize that the Spirit is providing guidance from God, and, like all guidance and advice given to us, we need to listen to that Spirit.

The Holy Spirit normally comes to us during the baptism ceremony as, after the water is applied, the pastor lays hands upon us and prays for the Holy Spirit to enter us. It is at that point that we normally can begin to hear the Spirit – but it is very easy to cover up the Voice of the Holy Spirit, to dismiss the Spirit’s quiet voice as just more self-talk, to listen more strongly to the voice of the culture rather than the whisper of the Spirit.

Last spring, for the March 1 sermon, the Spirit told me that we would be going into a lockdown. And so I told my congregation to stock up a 60 day supply of food and medicine, of water. I did not mention toilet paper! I also told them that the virus had nothing to do with Corona beer!

The next week I used the example of Robert Schuller’s parking lot church in the late 1950’s to illustrate the rise and fall of a ministry where the people were more focused upon the pastor than on Jesus. I thought I was using this as an illustration about the rise and fall of Schuller's ministry. But a good portion of the sermon introduction was focused upon how Schuller stood on top of the snack bar with loudspeakers blaring at the parking lot to start up his church. Little did I realize that the next week we would all be shut down by COVID and then that we would be doing parking lot ministry by early June. But the Holy Spirit had led me to warn my congregation of the shut-down, and had led me to Schuller’s parking lot ministry as a viable ministry alternative.

Today, the Holy Spirit is telling me that we need to be preparing for a full return to the church on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. New cases in Wood County are falling at a rapid rate, dropping almost a third each week. We are now back down to where we were in mid-October. At this rate of drop, we should be back down to 20 new cases per week in the county by Easter.

The Holy Spirit has been compared to God’s Internet. The Spirit – God’s breath – seems to provide communication not only between God and God’s people, but can also communicate between believers. Let me give you an example.

About ten years ago when we were living in Lowell, OH, Saundra and I went to see the George Clooney film The Men who Stare at Goats, a really strange film about a supposed CIA group who practiced trying to look at goats – and ultimately people – and making their hearts stop. After the film, we stopped at Giant Eagle and Saundra ran in to get some ice cream. She got me my favorite, mint chocolate, and I think some Moose Tracks for herself. Unfortunately, in her rush, she got me sugar-free mint chocolate. We each had a bowl of our favorite and then went to bed.

About 45 minutes later, I awoke and knew instantly that something was wrong. I quietly got out of bed, closed the door, and snuck downstairs to the bathroom, closing that door also, and then began to be sick. This was one of those nights where I sat down beside the toilet and stared deeply into it every 20 minutes or so. In between, I would drift in and out of sleep, dreaming about goats all over the place. About 4 in the morning, I began to realize that I was getting very dehydrated. Yet I was so weak I couldn’t stand and I couldn’t speak above a whisper. So I prayed for God to wake Saundra and send her to help me. About 30 seconds later, Saundra knocked at the door. The Spirit had awoken her from a deep sleep, she realized I was not in bed, and she also realized I’d been gone a while, and then she began searching for me.

She got me some water and helped me to the couch. We later remembered that our son would get very sick when he had anything with NutraSweet, and we found online that when a new patient shows up with signs of Multiple Sclerosis, the doctors ask the patient to stop any artificial sweeteners, because NutraSweet apparently can mimic MS symptoms in some people. In some people, it appears NutraSweet is active in the brain. It makes me see goats...

But we were most amazed about this episode that the Holy Spirit had tapped Saundra on the shoulder just when I needed her, sending her a spiritual text message to wake up!

So if you are a baptized believer, I urge you to begin trying to listen to that soft voice that speaks in the back of your mind, giving you advice. You will know it because the Spirit tells you things you cannot normally know, gives you advice which is often opposite to the world’s advice, warns you of unknown danger and encourages you to go on through apparent danger. The Spirit will never lead you wrong, but without practice it can be difficult to distinguish the voice of the Spirit from the other voices in our minds.

An older woman in Saundra’s church was feeling poorly one Sunday morning. She had gotten dressed and was ready to walk out the door, when she heard Saundra’s voice in her head saying she needed to just go back to bed and rest today. She did. The next day she went to the doctor and tested positive for COVID. Her listening to the Spirit, who had sounded like Saundra that Sunday morning, that listen and obedience to the voice prevented an outbreak at Saundra’s church. The woman recovered quickly.

The Spirit can also assure us and provide healing powers. One morning, Fred, a member of one of my churches was desperately sick in the hospital ICU. His son-in-law stepped forward and we all laid hands on him as a substitute for praying for Fred. People began taking turns praying. I remember the Spirit telling me that Fred would be fine. I prayed with unusual confidence that Fred be healed. That afternoon, we visited Fred and his vital signs improved suddenly while we were there. Later that evening, he awoke and lived another couple years.

A friend of mine, backed up by his very sober wife, told stories of looking at people with rheumatoid arthritis, of hearing the Spirit tell him to pray over the person, and these people receiving complete, sudden healing from the rheumatoid arthritis. This happened about a dozen times. It never failed – and he was never able to heal anyone of anything else, nor able to heal unless the Spirit spoke first. It was a very focused gift. He's with the Lord now.

The Book of Acts in the New Testament is filled with examples of the Holy Spirit’s work with people. I suggest you read it, especially if it has been some time since you’ve read the book.

Some Christian groups insist that the Holy Spirit has not acted since the days of the Apostles. Other groups insist that if the Holy Spirit is not acting in spectacular ways in your life, you are not a true Christian. I believe that the Holy Spirit acts in different ways with different people, that the Spirit is there, ready to speak with us if we learn to listen. But what the Spirit tells us is different because we are each different. One may hear a message of calm assurance; another may hear a bold command to speak or act; still a third may hear a gentle whisper saying, “Go this way, not that way.”; and another may be told, “buy that young man lunch and tell him that he will be great one day.”

Yet while the Holy Spirit will often speak against the culture, the Spirit will never contradict the Word of God, whether the words of Jesus or the Bible as a whole. Plus, the Spirit seems to prefer to work with those who are humble, not working so well when the focus becomes the televangelist in a white suit and the miracles that are performed on a stage.

For the Spirit seeks to raise all to the knowledge that God loves them, but does not seek to harm people by giving them the idea that they are equal to God.

If you have never experienced the Holy Spirit, then do not feel alone. Many of our churches have been afraid to spend time speaking of the Spirit, for the Spirit is not under our control. Become a baptized believer in Jesus the Son of God, and Jesus will make sure you receive the Holy Spirit. Then, it is up to you ask and listen, as the boy Samuel did, the boy who became one of the greatest prophets of ancient Israel.

Samuel lay asleep when he heard the voice of Eli, the high priest. He went to Eli. Yet Eli had not spoken. This repeated several times. Finally Eli told Samuel what to say. The next time Samuel heard the voice saying “Samuel, Samuel”, the boy said, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” And God the Holy Spirit spoke to Samuel. Later, Samuel led Israel, and anointed both Saul and then David as kings of Israel. All this is told in the Books of I Samuel and II Samuel.

Prayer

Let us pray:

Speak, Lord. For your servants are listening…

God of the Universe, lead us to speak on Your behalf. Lead us to accomplish Your mission in this world. Give us people to speak to, the words to say, and fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we may speak with gentleness and grace, leading people to Your Son, Jesus, sharing His guidance, praying to Him, looking expectantly to eternal life, worshiping our God, and being assured of the Truth. This we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Benediction

Heavenly Father, bless us and guide us each one, that one day you may say about us, “These are my daughters and sons, whom I love, in them I am well pleased. “

Go and serve the Lord! Amen ! 

Closing Song:  Victory in Jesus

No Really! Who is Jesus?

A couple of brief announcements:

First, we will be having an Ash Wednesday service on Wednesday, Feb 17th at 4 pm – weather permitting. And yes, we’ve figured out how to give you Ashes safely. Remember to wear a mask.

Our second announcement is this:

During Lent, and beginning Sunday, February 21, I will be posting online a study of the Gospel of John. Each day, there will be a link to a YouTube video about a different chapter of this most important Gospel, the Book of the Bible that points the clearest to whom Jesus was and what He did that tells us that He was the true Son of God. I hope you’ll join me in these and forward them to your friends. You’ll be able to find the links on the Cedar Grove Facebook page and through the prayer emails.

Why do we listen to scripture and sermons and sing hymns in church? The reason is very simple: Becoming a Christian is a journey, not a single event. Declaring that we will follow Jesus is just the first step on the journey, a recognition that Jesus is worthy of being followed. The weekly service and weekly Bible studies are the ways that we allow God to transform us from who we have been into someone who will be stronger, more likeable, more caring, and more capable, someone who will be able to change the world around us into a world that is more like God wants. God could change the world with a snap of His fingers – but for some reason God appears to believe that gradually changing people is the most important part of changing the world for the better. And so each week, we pray for God to transform us into a new creation.

Some Old Testament History

As part of that, I’d like to start this morning with a bit of a review of the history of ancient Israel. A while after Noah and the flood, a man named Abram was born. He grew up and God spoke to Abram, asking him to leave his home in what is modern day Iraq and walk to the land we know as Israel. Abram did this. God told Abram that he would be the father of a great nation, with more descendants than the number of stars Abram could see in the sky. God also changed Abram’s name to Abraham.

Abraham’s grandson, who was originally named Jacob but who was renamed Israel by God, eventually took his twelve sons, his household and servants and went to Egypt to escape a famine in the Holy Land. His family stayed there 400 years and multiplied into twelve tribes, one for each son. This is found in the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible.

Eventually, the 600,000 members of his family left Egypt, led by Moses in the Book of Exodus. The Israelites escaped across the Red Sea and stayed in the desert forty years. Moses finally dies, but his body cannot be found. The twelves tribes are eventually being led by Joshua, Moses’ hand-picked successor, into the area of modern Israel, Jordan, and the West Bank, where the twelve tribes of Israel conquered the land. They settled down, ruled by short term leaders known as judges – people such as Deborah, Gideon, and Samson lived during this time.

A couple hundred years later a king – Saul, was chosen to lead the Israelites, as told in the First Book of Samuel. Saul led for several decades, but was later replaced by David – the grown man who had killed the giant Goliath as a teenager. David’s kingdom grew to extend well into modern-day Syria by the time of his natural death. David’s son Solomon, recognized for wisdom, became king.

After Solomon’s death, there was a civil war. The northern ten tribes became known as the Kingdom of Israel; the southern tribes of Judea and Benjamin became known as Judea, centered in Jerusalem. After some time, the king of Israel was Ahab and his wife was the daughter of the high priest of Ba-al from Lebanon, who brought many priests of the Ba-al cult into Israel. And one day a man named Elijah walked into Ahab’s palace and declared that there would be no rain until Elijah said so because the king and his family were leading the country to worship a false god. And for 3 ½ years, there was no rain.

Finally, Elijah challenged Ahab and the priests of Ba-al to a duel on top of Mount Carmel. Each side would build an altar and put a bull on it for sacrifice. Each side would pray to their god to light the fire of the altar. 700 priests of Ba-al were on one side, and Elijah was on the other side. Tens of thousands of ordinary people were watching. The priests of Ba-al prayed and danced and cut themselves and shrieked for hours – to no effect. Elijah prayed to God and fire fell from heaven, igniting the altar. Elijah took advantage of the situation to have the priests of Ba-al killed by the crowd, which upset Ahab and Jezebel. Elijah had to run into the wilderness.

Our Old Testament reading today picks up after Elijah has returned and taken on Elisha as his apprentice prophet. The two of them take a journey, crossing the Jordan River to the east, where Elijah is taken up into heaven, leaving Elisha to continue as replacement prophet.

Almost a thousand years later, Jesus and his twelve disciples have been walking around northern Israel. They travel to the north of the Sea of Galilee, the large freshwater lake in northern Israel, following the Jordan River north. Eventually, they come to Caesarea Philippi, a town at the foot of Mount Hermon, which forms a large part of what we call today the “Golan Heights”, a 9200 foot high mountain cluster.

In ancient times, particularly at the time of Elijah and Ahab, people were known for climbing to high places and building small shelters as small temples for various gods and goddesses. Remains of these small shelters can still be found on Mount Hermon.

After waiting six days at the foot of the mountain, just as God had Moses wait six days before coming up to Sinai, Jesus led Simon Peter, John, and James up onto Mt Hermon. They travel up the mountain, passing the small shelters dedicated to the gods and goddesses of old. It is a long, hard climb, but then again, isn’t everything that is worth great value?

After all, we know that it takes four hard, grueling years of campaigning to become elected President after years of working in other jobs.

We now know that Tom Brady gets up every morning at 5:30 AM, works out for 3 hours on his own, eats very carefully, spends the afternoon working out with the team, studies plays and the opponents for 3-4 hours, spends time with his family and goes to bed at 8:30 pm. That’s what it takes to become the greatest quarterback of all time.

It took years of working late into the night for Bill Gates to develop MS-DOS, the predecessor of Windows. That’s what it took to grow Microsoft into the greatest software company of all time.

It took extreme organization for Suzannah Wesley to raise 23 children and spend time with each one every day. It took tremendous planning for her to teach her youngest sons Greek and Hebrew before they were six years old, her youngest sons who were John and Charles Wesley, who would go on to found the Methodist movement.

It took Thomas Edison almost 10,000 failed attempts before he developed the first commercial lightbulb, trying all sorts of combinations of materials in an attempt to get the right combination that would last more than a couple of hours before burning out. That’s what it took to become known as the greatest inventor.

It is hard work climbing the mountain to see God.

Peter, James, and John followed Jesus up the mountain. And the oxygen at the top is much less than the oxygen at the surface, especially when you consider that the fishermen were used to working almost 800 feet BELOW sea level on the surface of the Sea of Galilee. It must have been a terribly exhausting climb as they reached 9000 ft above sea level, ten times the climb of Seneca Rocks, 8 times the height of the Empire State building, 20 times the height of the Washington Monument. Have you ever walked up the steps of the Washington Monument?

And they passed all those little shelters to the fake gods and goddesses of the past, walking past them as they climbed to the top where they were all alone with Jesus. Imagine that you are there…

The wind blows cold. You can see far to the south the 6 x 13 mile lake that is Galilee. The sun is bright, there aren’t any birds at this level, the winter’s snow is still on the ground, it reflects the sun so brightly, it is cold, our robes are dingy yellow compared to the snow, but…look at Jesus! He changed right before our eyes!

His robe is now dazzling white, whiter than the snow, whiter than the clouds, whiter than anyone could possibly bleach them, they seem to glow. And there are two other men, old men with long white beards, standing with Him, talking to Him, they are Elijah and Moses, the two men whose bodies were not left to be buried, the two men who spoke for God, the two men who were deemed the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. They were talking to Jesus, the rabbi, the teacher whom we had followed across half of Israel and whom we had followed up the mountain.

Imagine! We had walked with the man, we had talked with Him, we had eaten food with Him every day. We had met His mother, we had seen his brothers, we had shared bread with Him – and here He was, talking with Elijah and Moses, the two most important holy men our country had ever known!

And then Peter spoke up. Some people get quite when they are nervous; others babble. Peter was a babbler. “Rabbi”, he said, “It is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters – one for you, on for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Peter wanted to honor them with three little shelters like the pagans had honored their gods. He thought he was paying them a compliment as he babbled on.

A cloud moved across the top of the mountain and it also glowed. A tremendous Voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” And we hit the ground, for God had just spoken to us and even Peter shut up!

When we looked up, only Jesus remained with us…

And as we walked down the mountain, Jesus told us not to tell anyone what we had seen until He rose from the dead. And we kept the matter to ourselves, trying to figure out what “rising from the dead” meant. It would be months before we found out it meant exactly what it sounds like.

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The effect upon the three disciples was deep. After all, imagine that you suddenly found your high school English Literature teacher was actually Earnest Hemingway’s son, or your high school physics teacher was Albert Einstein’s daughter. Imagine your swim coach’s mother was an Olympic champion or your driving instructor won Daytona last year. Imagine your friend invites you over to join him and his uncle for dinner, and his uncle turns out to be Dr Charles Stanley. Would you listen closer to any of them as they taught you?

That day on the mountain, the disciples got confirmation that Jesus was indeed God’s Son. They were told that God loved Jesus, that Jesus was God’s beloved Son, and they were ordered to LISTEN TO HIM. And if they were told to listen to him, then we should also listen to him. (We should note that a similar declaration was not given about Elijah and Moses, for Jesus is by far the most important, as the Son of God.)

The disciples were shaken. They had recognized that Jesus was speaking on behalf of God, a prophet, perhaps almost as important as Moses or Elijah. He was a deep teacher, better than any they had run into, even better than John the Baptizer. Peter had even declared a few days earlier that Jesus was the Anointed One, the Messiah. But the events on the mountain made it clear that Jesus was far more important than Moses or Elijah. And so witnessing the transfiguration of Jesus resulted in the transformation of the disciples.

No longer could they simply act like students listening and following around to a particularly good preacher – they now knew they were following God’s Son, and they had heard God’s Voice tell them to listen to Him. It made a difference to them; It should make a difference to us.

No longer could they simply decide from time to time to take a vacation from the travels; no longer could they decide to skip a teaching time; no longer could they hang back in the crowd and just talk with each other while Jesus was talking… For, you see, they had recognized that Jesus’ words were truly from God Himself, and that meant their eternal souls were dependent upon every word that Jesus said.

And finally, it meant that when Jesus was resurrected and then returned to Heaven, these disciples would continue to spread Jesus’ teachings throughout the world. James became a leader of the church in Jerusalem until he was beheaded by King Herod. Peter traveled around the Holy Land and then to Babylon in Iraq with Mark, and then to Rome until he was crucified upside down by the Emperor Nero because, Peter said, he was not worthy to be crucified in the same way Jesus was. And John traveled to Ephesus in western Turkey, a Greek town at that time, where he wrote his Gospel and then was exiled to the island of Patmos off the Turkish coast, where he saw the visions that he wrote down as the Revelation of St John, the final book in the Bible that tells of the return of Jesus in the future. Each of these men became fully convinced that Jesus was indeed the Son of God and that day on the mountain was a huge part of that convincing.

Forget what you may have heard about Christian belief being focused upon a set of do’s and don’ts. No, traditional Christianity has held for almost 2000 years that Jesus was sent to earth by God as the walking, talking, breathing, eating representative of God, as God’s Son, the Prince of the Universe to explain where we had gone wrong in making following the moral law to the letter more important than doing good, than loving God and each other.

Jesus came to speak on behalf of God – and was the highest form of ambassador from God – the Son of the King of the Universe, the One who was present at the Creation, through whom everything that was made was made. The words and deeds of Jesus Christ are the most important story ever recorded – and you can find those words and deeds in the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And if you are new to Christianity, you will be shocked by what you find there.

You will not find a tremendous list of do’s and don’ts. Instead, you will find a man who kept pointing people back to God – and telling people to show love for each other. You will find a man who was focused upon helping the outcasts of society – and the common people. He hung out with prostitutes, with tax collectors, with Roman soldiers, with lepers. You will find a man who healed many – and who helped beggars move back into regular society. And you will find a man who cared deeply for wealthy people who were hooked by their worldly wealth and were unable to walk away from their wealth so they could live again and find spiritual wealth.

If you are listening now to me, I’d like you to consider taking some of this time we’ve been given – this time COVID has given us – and use this time to begin reading your Bible. If you don’t have one, google the online Bible at biblegateway.com. Read the gospels of Mark and of John, which will do you the most good. They were written by Mark, who spent much time with Peter – and by John. Peter and Mark, two men who saw Jesus transfigured upon that mountaintop and heard the Voice of God telling them that God loved Jesus, who was His Son, and for us to listen to Him.

Check us out at cedargroveunitedmethodist.org online and on Facebook, and in person. We’ll be ready to help you understand the depth and breadth and height of God’s love for you. We’ll be ready to help you learn to be transformed as you learn about the transfiguration of Jesus.

Prayer

Let us pray:

God of the Universe, lead us to speak on Your behalf. Lead us to accomplish Your mission in this world. Give us people to speak to, the words to say, and fill us with Your Holy Spirit so we may speak with gentleness and grace, leading people to Your Son, Jesus, sharing His guidance, praying to Him, looking expectantly to eternal life, worshiping our God, and being assured of the Truth. This we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Benediction

Heavenly Father, bless us and guide us each one, that one day you may say about us, “These are my daughters and sons, whom I love, in them I am well pleased. “

Go and serve the Lord! Amen !

Who is Jesus?

Years ago, Saundra and I spent about a year living near Niagara Falls, NY. Near the falls, there is an Native American Indian building which is part museum, part educational center, and part craft sales store. There, I learned that the Iroquois, the large federation of Native Americans who once dominated the Northeast had a creation story. In this story, there was originally sky and water. A woman fell from the sky into the water and two swans came to her rescue. They weren’t strong enough to hold her up, but a Great Turtle offered to hold her. Other creatures brought dirt from the bottom of the sea and put it on the back of the Great Turtle, which created the land we know as North America.

The Japanese have a similar myth. A series of gods and goddesses arise from the blob that is earth. Eventually a pair begin to have children, each of which is one of the islands of Japan.

In Australian aborigine creation myths, particular landmarks are often created from the body of different animals. All of creation occurred in the “Dreamtime”, a time far before history began, which gives a vague timeline to creation. It was “long ago” That’s all the Australian stories say.

These creation myths around the world are quite common, often claiming that parts of the world are actually the bodies of specific gods, goddesses, or animals. And of course, there are scientific explanations for why the world is the way the world is today. And many people do not look toward Christianity because they have been taught that science and Christianity are completely at odds. I and many other Christians disagree. In fact, when all the facts are discovered and when we interpret the Bible understanding how and why it was written the way it was, it is likely that we will not find anything in disagreement, for both Christianity and science are attempting to find and discover Truth – and there can be only one Truth. Our disagreements are generally a matter of interpretation of the facts and the text. So if you or a friend or relative have been avoiding following Christ because of these issues, listen up – perhaps today you’ll find something that will help you or your friend or relative understand the beauty and Truth of Christianity better. You may already have settled things in your mind – if so, consider this and how it may help your friends and relatives who are still searching.

In the Book of Genesis, we find a particular story. As I read this, I’d like you to notice the poetic repetition – and notice the order of creation. I’d like you to consider how the order of creation in the Genesis story matches up to the way scientists believe creation happened. And I’ll make some comments along the way.

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

We have God the creator, the “I am that I am”, the creative principle itself causing creation. There is no need for a creator for God, because God is the creative principle as seen in the name God gave Moses at the burning bush. God is creation itself.

2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

There is a related player who appears, the Spirit of God, which may equally be translated as the ‘wind” or “breath” of God from the ancient Hebrew. The breath of God was hovering over the water.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

Notice that God spoke and creation happened. In the first chapter of the Gospel of John, John tells us that all that was created was created through the Word of God, who is Jesus Christ. Notice as we go on all is created by God’s speech. After this, we’ll talk about how speech can create reality.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Did you notice the poetry? “And God said”…It was so…And God saw it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the blank day.

Earth, heaven, the deep, then a general light called day and a general darkness called night, then the sky; then dry land and seas; then plants and trees. Next the sun and moon and stars become visible, then fish and birds. Next are the animals and humans. It is in the order that scientists claim – and this was written down approximately 1600 BC, 3600 years ago, well before scientific research had begun.

Some people object that the creation story doesn’t talk about a Big Bang or such. I look at the biblical creation story and compare it to the other creation stories around the world and I am simply amazed at how accurate Genesis chapter one is.

In fact, the only thing I really need to do to match up Genesis Chapter One with current science is to take the days of creation as long periods of indefinite time and it matches just fine. And since Genesis Chapter One was written in a poetic style, it is not hard for me to read it as the six or seven time periods. After all, Moses was not trying to write a science text for biology majors, Moses was trying to help us understand that God caused things to be created in a specific order, that we have a purpose in life, that we did not simply happen. You and I have a purpose in this Universe.

God speaks – and realities are created. How? Walk up to a random man in your neighborhood, someone you do not know, and say, “I just threw a brick through your front window!” You will quickly create a reality – It may involve you running from the police. Tell a woman politely that she is beautiful and it will create another reality – she will probably feel good toward you unless you look like a creep. Tell neighborhood children to leave your property alone and look scary when you do it and those children will not become your friends. On the other hand, take nicely to them, and they may become your friends. Even when humans speak, realities are created – how much will happen when God speaks?

Jesus understood this. Remember that His student John later wrote that Jesus was the Word of God. And after Jesus had called His first disciples, He taught in a synagogue, a Jewish religious meeting place. He spoke and began to change our reality. Leaving the synagogue, this rabbi, this teacher went with his four disciples to Simon Peter’s home, where Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever. Jesus went to her, and helped her up, probably saying a few words at the time. Her fever left her and she began to wait on them, probably preparing a late lunch. Word spread.

That evening after sunset, the people of the village brought the sick to Jesus; Jesus healed many of them. They also brought people who were demon-possessed – that’s what the Gospel of Mark says. He drove out the demons.

It is clear from reading the Gospel of Mark that Mark and the people of the time believed in demon-possession. Most Americans of the twenty-first century don’t, but I have met missionaries who have worked in Haiti and Jamaica. My friends the college-educated missionaries left their nice comfortable homes here in America and spent a decade or two in Haiti or Jamaica, and now believe in demon -possession. And it is not epilepsy – it appears as though it were an extreme form of mental illness. Perhaps a mental illness, perhaps truly possession by an evil spirit. Terrible dreams, nightmares, odd behavior. According to Mark, Jesus drove out these demons.

After the evening of healing, Jesus got up before dawn and went to a quiet place to pray. Simon and the others finally woke up and hunted all over for him, finally finding him. Jesus told them He wanted to go to nearby village to preach there, also. And so he traveled throughout the region of Galilee in northern Israel, preaching in the synagogues and, according to Mark, driving out demons.

Who is this guy Jesus? That is the question that Mark poses for us to begin to answer. Some of the answers are known, but are incomplete or puzzling.

We know Jesus lived in Israel from about 4 BC to 33 AD. He was raised by a carpenter named Joseph and his mother was named Mary. As an adult he had several siblings, full or half-brothers. As a twelve-year old, he was known for a deep knowledge of the Hebrew Bible, what we call the Old Testament today. And at the time our detailed story begins, he was about 30 years old and still single.

But let’s take a look at the world He lived in, 2000 years ago in Israel.

Just like today, Israel of Jesus’ time was mainly settled by Jews. But there were also many Greeks who lived in the area and some Arabs. The Romans ruled the land through a puppet king named Herod who was building a beautiful temple for God from the taxes he collected. So it is important to understand what the Jews of the time thought about God.

To the Jews, God was the all-powerful creator of the Universe. God’s name, when asked by Moses at the burning bush was YAHWEH – I Am that I am”, which speaks completely of the existence and self-creation of God. God was the one who spoke the world into existence. The prophet Isaiah wrote in the Old Testament about God (Isaiah 40:21-31):

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not considered the foundations of the earth?
God is enthroned above the circle of the earth;
its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like thin cloth
and spreads them out like a tent to live in.
He reduces princes to nothing
and makes judges of the earth irrational.

Isaiah wrote much more about God about 700 years before Jesus.

Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary; there is no limit to His understanding.
He gives strength to the weary and strengthens the powerless.
Youths may faint and grow weary, and young men stumble and fall,
but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.

This passage was central to Jewish life – good people understood that Yahweh God was the creator, all powerful, all understanding, and who gave strength to those who trusted in Him. Jesus emphasized this in His ministry. God must be the center of all we do.

It was recognized that God was served by angels – a word which means “messengers”, and that there were some of the angels who had rebelled against God. These rebels were known as demons, some of whom could take control of a man or woman or child, tormenting the victim.

You know, I have found it interesting that some people who believe there is no God are quite likely to believe in demons and devils and ghosts and evil spirit. What is it about our souls that leads us to believe in and sometimes choose to follow evil supernatural creatures – yet keeps us from believing in and following the good Creator of all? Is it because we have heard the call of these demons? Is it because we have heard the call of the demons pulling us back to the alcohol, the painkillers, the drugs that make us feel good for a while, yet slowly destroy our lives?

Perhaps it is our desire for independence that leads us to reject God and yet accept the evil supernatural. And that desire for independence is driven by our deep disappointment when we found that the adult or adults we trusted, we looked up to, we put our faith in were just people like ourselves. Do you remember the day when your trusted adult became a person?

Do you remember when you were very young? Mom, Dad, Grandma, or Grandpa were huge people, they were giants! You looked up just to see their stomach! They put you on their knees and rocked you or carried you and tucked you in at night. They were your source of love, of warmth, of food, of safety. When you were scared, you turned to your Mom or Dad or Grandmother or Grandfather. And they protected you, every day, took care of you every day… until the day they couldn’t protect you.

For you had gone to school, or you met the bullies or you were made fun of by the other kids or you stubbed your toe or a dog chased you. The teacher was angry at you or the bus driver. Or something awful happened to you or something awful happened to your protector, and that day you realized that you’d have to find a new protector. And so you began to rebel, to pull away, to become independent.

And we looked around to find another protector or another person to trust, another source of love – and sometimes we did, and other times we found out that we were the protector, we were the trustworthy one, we were the source of love for others. And so we began to trust in ourselves more than in others.

And so we became skeptics, not believing that there was One out there who truly would always protect us, who would always be trustworthy, who would always love us no matter what we had done wrong. But every person we’d ever met put conditions on their love for us, so it became very hard, almost impossible to believe that there was a God who loves us no matter what we do, if we will only turn to God, accept that God is there, believe that God will be there for us.

For you see, we had begun to feel that our worth was only in what we did for others, whether paid work or simply service. We felt – many still feel, that no one can love us unless we do something in return for that other one. And there is nothing wrong with serving others, nothing wrong, much is good with service.

But God doesn’t need us to do anything. God already has everything. God simply wants us to learn from and follow God’s Son, the One God sent to earth to deliver this message and heal us – Jesus Christ.

This is the character of the God who said, “Let there be light” and light sprung forth. This is the character of the God who created all things, including us. This is the character of the God who created the whole Universe for us – not because God needed us, but because God thought a world like ours would be good for us. Because God loves us – you and me. Consider that the next time you see a beautiful sunrise or sunset, a tree covered with snow, an ice cycle, a bird flying in the sky. This was all created by God for us. Remember?

God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. God loves His creation – and we are part of that creation.

God loves us. God loved us so much that God sent the Son, the Word of God, Jesus Christ to die for us. Amen?

Now listen to this song: