January 29, 2012 When Church Happens

Bishop Larry Goodpaster preaching this morning at Sunrise.

Text: Mark 1:21-28

No transcript available.

January 22, 2012 This Year Will Be Different - Professionally

****The following is a draft of the message for Sunrise UMC on Jan. 22, 2012***

Who here has ever wished that they could change jobs or at least improve their current job situation?

[Allow response]

Most people at one time or another, do wish for some dramatic change in their employment.

In recent weeks, there has been a gecko on television who spouts an adage from his father saying, "Do something you love and you will never work a day in your life." Actually, the quote is from Confucius, the Chinese philosopher of the 5th century BCE. Yet, Forbes magazine stated a couple of years ago, "If you do what you love for a living, you’ll probably end up loving it a little bit less." I believe that there is probably a bit of truth to both of these assertions.

Last year, The Gallup Organization conducted a study on the Job Satisfaction of Americans. Here are some of the results:

- while 85% of employed Americans are satisfied, that's a 4% drop over the last 4 years

- of the 85%

- only 26% are very satisfied

- 41% are somewhat satisfied

- 18% are indifferent

All of these stats do reveal a bit of a decline in job satisfaction. So, why the drop? In a separate study, Americans disclose their growing dissatisfaction is a result of:

- less job security

- less benefits

- less pay

- more responsibility without pay

- more stressful working conditions

If the Gallup poll is not enough of an indicator of an increase in job dissatisfaction, then maybe the fact that both BountyJobs.com and Monster.com have both reported significant increase in activity over the last year. While the high unemployment rate did play a factor in the increase, a substantial percentage of the upsurge is derived from persons already gainfully employed.

Yet, another indication of employee frustration can be gleaned from another media product.

Who knows who Scott Adams is?

While you may not know Mr. Adams by name, many, if not most, will recognize him as the creator of: Dilbert - the caricature of modern office cubicle employee.

Through his profession of pen and ink, Scott Adams parodies the work life of many Americans, thus creating a cult-like following.

Several years ago, Adams posted on the Internet an invitation for his blog followers to describe their job in one sentence. Here are the top ten (in a Name That Job format)

- Show people how beautiful the Earth would be without them - Nature and Landscape Photographer

- Have people spend far more than they estimated - Building Inspector

- Clean up an animal that makes more money then me in a year - Assistant Horse Trainer

- Talk in other people’s sleep - College Professor

- Help people hate each other - Divorce Lawyer

- Copy and paste the Internet - Student

- Run away and call the police - Security Officer

- Be a human napkin - Stay at Home Mom

- Bring a little rain into the lives of flood victims - Auditor

- Make food that is as healthy before it goes in your body as when it comes back out - Fast Food Employee

Over the last few weeks, we have thought about, well, not New Year's resolutions per se, but yet a few areas in which we each could grow. We began by considering that this year will be different as we become more intentional with our spiritual lives. Last week, we looked at making this year different by improving our relationship with others.

Today, we will conclude by looking at our professional (and academic) lives. In each of these areas, we know that this year will be different because of our intentional inclusion of God in them.

Let's begin this time of discernment by saying aloud what our intention will be - in other words, the focus of this message - This Year Will Be Different - Professionally.

It may surprise some for me to include this area. But let's be clear on this, God wants to be in control of our whole life including our profession.

I want to invite you to look with me at a story of when Jesus took special interest in one man's profession. The story comes from The Gospel of Luke, chapter 5.

Luke 5.1-11

1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, 2 he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." 6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men." 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

[Prayer]

Often, people will look at the accounts of the Bible as good stories, or maybe even good ideals, but they don't see any relevance to them in their lives. But, I beg to differ. As we look at these stories, I invite you to consider that they are historical accounts of how God as interacted with people and not always godly or holy people. Most of the time, the people were common, ordinary folk like you and me living out common, ordinary lives. Today's is a perfect example.

First off, when did this story occur?

[Allow response]

- happened during an ordinary day

Who is one of the central characters?

[Allow response]

- Simon. This is before he a follower of Jesus. As Luke records it, we know of only one account prior to this that Jesus and Simon had interacted. In the previous chapter, Jesus visited Simon's house and healed his mother-in-law. (Some may say that just that incident may have turned Simon off of wanting to be in Jesus' fan club)

Yet, for whatever reason, of which we will probably never know, Jesus came to Simon, and invited him to change his job description. As Luke suggests, Simon is not called because of qualifications, character, or potential. God's call is unpredictable as it is unmerited

Now we need to note where this encounter occurred. Was it in the Temple? A mountaintop? In front of a burning bush? No, it was along the lakeshore, where fishing boats were beached, among a bunch of dirty fishermen, surrounded by smelly old bait. In other words, Jesus came to Simon at Simon's job, his workplace. In the midst of all the grime and tedious workings of that profession, God reached in, for Simon.

And God reached in at a time when Simon was not at his best. At this point, he may have felt like a failure, because here he was, a professional, experienced fishermen, who had failed to catch even one fish. So, he had quit for the day.

What follows appears to be rather uncharacteristic for Jesus as he performs miracles. He did not command the sea to be fruitful or fish to jump onto Simon's boat. Actually Jesus didn't do anything out of the ordinary. He simply said to Simon, "Put out into deep water and let down your nets."

Simon replies to the request with a "Been There, Done That and Didn't Even Get a T-Shirt to Show For It."

Yet, what Jesus implies is, "Yeah, you have. But not with me."

You see, that's the whole point of this story. It's the same boat, the same nets, the same routine - the only difference is Jesus is present - and that made all the difference.

Friends, that's also the point for you and me in our profession. If we truly want this year to be different, professionally, let's let Jesus be present.

Amen.

January 15, 2012 This Year Will Be Different - Relationally

****The following is a draft of the message for Sunrise UMC on Jan. 15. 2012****

Good morning Sunrise! Last Sunday, I made a statement that caused a bit of a stir, not a bad stir, just one that caused some wondering and scratching of the head. The statement was about one of the areas that I was going to work on this year to help me grow spiritually, that I plan to surround myself with more Godly peeps. I think the confusion came about that maybe some were misunderstanding the purpose as some would say, "I though we need to be more out with the "unchurched"? We are - that's our mission! But when it comes to growing spiritually, we (I) need to be around people who are going to help me to grow closer to God and will hold me accountable to deepening my faith - that's something only God-minded people will do for me. Fortunately, I have a lot of great Godly friends who will help me do that.

That's what friends do, isn't it? They sharpen us. But, while all who are our friends will help us, there are a certain few or maybe one who sticks out from all the rest - a best friend. Who has a best friend?

[Allow response]

What makes them better than the rest?

[Allow response]

A best friend is one who will sympathize with you when you are down. But then again, most friends will do that too. But a best friend is one who also wants the best for you. There's the difference - you can have friends who will help you when you're down, but a best friend is there when you succeed - even when they don't.

Now, let me put this in the proper vernacular for a Southern town like Winston - who has a "bestest" friend?

[Allow response]

What makes that person your "bestest" friend?

[Allow response]

Here, is a clip of when a friend becomes a 'bestest' friend.

(Clip from Lord of the Rings where Sam follows Frodo into the river and almost drowns)

The gospel writer, John puts it this way

John 15:13

This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.

Those kinds of friends are becoming rarer and rarer. With much of our world now being socially connected through mediums such as Facebook, Linkedin, and Twitter, the opportunity to have deep and abiding friendships are steadily declining.

Think about it this way, what would our video clip look like if it were put in context of today's world?

Sam: [TEXTING] Mr. Frodo, where r u going?

Frodo: [TEXTING] I am going away and u cant come with me. :-(

Sam: [TEXTING] Right! I am coming with u. ;-)

Frodo: [TEXTING] SAM! U CANT SWIM! :-0

Sam: [TEXTING] glub, glub, |-(

Loses something there, doesn't it?

Well today, we are going to look at a passage of scripture, actually a whole letter from a man who knew the importance of real relationships. This letter is from John and it is written to his friend Gaius. It is known as 3 John, which so happens to be the shortest book in the Bible.

3 John

1 The elder, To my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth. 2 Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. 3 It gave me great joy to have some brothers come and tell about your faithfulness to the truth and how you continue to walk in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 5 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth. 9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will have nothing to do with us. 10 So if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, gossiping maliciously about us. Not satisfied with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church. 11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone--and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true. 13 I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.

[Prayer]

3 John gives us a clue to who John the Elder is and his person. We know that he is one who highly values friendship. If we look at 2 John, we will note that it ends with very similar wording:

2 John

12 I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

John knows there something about being in the presence of someone else, something that cannot ever be conveyed with paper and ink, or across electronic transmission. Presence is a gift.

This is an area that I need to work on and will this year. I know that I need to be more fully in the presence. Here's how:

- ignore the text messages as much as possible. Though I may not be able to be physically present with the person (I hope we won't be texting while in the same room), a phone call is much more personal and meaningful.

- stop surfing the Internet when I am with those I love. They deserve my un divided attention.

- let those angry birds cool their temper without my help. Do they really need me to bust pigs when I could be present with my family?

What about you? What small things can you do to relationally improve? Talk with those around you for just a few moments.

Just by making some small conscious efforts to improve relationally will help ensure This Year Will Be Different.

January 8, 2012 This Year Will Be Different - Spiritually

***The Following is a draft of the message for Sunrise UMC on Jan. 8th, 2012***

Good morning Sunrise! Last Sunday, being New Year's Day, we started thinking about this deal about making resolutions for the 2012. While it appears not a lot of people here make a habit of participating in this age-old tradition, it does seem that we all hope for a good 2012. This is one of the reason's that we are spending the next couple of Sunday's looking at a few things we can do to make this year different.

During the week, someone sent me a list of the Top Ten New Year's Resolutions for 2012. Here they are in Letterman format:

 Start washing my hands after I use the restroom.

 Stop drinking orange juice after I just brushed my teeth.

 Stop licking frozen flag poles.

 Only get divorced and remarried once this year.

 Watch more movie remakes.

 Go back to school to avoid paying my student loans.

 Only eat white snow

 Keep it to myself that I have trouble with authority when I'm being interviewed.

 Spend less than $1825 for coffee at Starbucks this year.

 Claim all my pets as dependents on my taxes

The problem with making resolutions is that we lack "sticktoitness," in other words, we easily give up with trying to live into our ideals and dreams of changing certain areas of our lives. But, over the next three weeks, I am inviting you to join me to make three resolutions that I believe are crucial to making this year different and ones that we will be able to live into because they are Christ-centered and Spirit-filled.

Let's start off we joining together as we say:

This Year Will Be Different - Spiritually.

Pray with me.

Gracious God, who never changes, yet embraces change, open our hearts to witness you transformative power in our lives. Work in us and through us, so that this year will be a year of new beginnings for us, as we grow closer to you Lord. Amen.

It's sometimes hard to imagine that we have anything in common with the people we read about in the Bible because we know that we are far removed from them by time and distance. Yet, in relation to our focus today, we share a kindred spirit with a man who lived almost 3500 years ago, a man named Joshua.

You may remember that Joshua was Moses' protégé. It was Joshua who was tapped to be Moses successor and was the one that led the Hebrew wanderers, the offspring of those who were delivered out of Egyptian captivity into the Promised Land.

You would think that once the people began to settle into their new homeland that they would remember God and be grateful. At first, they probably were, but then a curious thing began to happen - they really settled in. They didn't want to seem like the outsiders or the new people anymore - they wanted to fit in. Their neighbors weren't followers of the one true God. Most of their neighbors were pantheists, so they believed in many gods. Topping their most revered gods was Baal, who was seen by many to be a god of fertility. So as the Hebrews began to acclimate in their new surroundings, they found themselves in the middle of a culture that worshipped fertility. Everywhere they looked and everything they did had some tie with fertility worship - as they

- sowed and harvest

- shopped

- built homes

- buried their dead

they were reminded of the need to their neighbors to worship Baal and their neighbors expected them to follow suit.

It probably didn't happen over night, but as they seasons changed and the exodus became more of a distant memory, the Hebrew transplants began to dabble a bit in Baal worship. They remembered that many of their ancestors had also worshipped Baal, so if it was good enough for granny, it can't be all that bad. Besides, what does it hurt to make an offering to another god - we all know which God is really in charge right? But over time, as they increase their patronage of Baal, their worship and allegiance to God waned.

Joshua, sensing the growing indifference towards God, reminds the people of all that God had done:

- leading Abraham throughout Canaan and giving him many descendants

- giving the hill country of Seir to Esau and leading Jacob to Egypt

- sending Moses and Aaron to rescue their forefathers from captivity by the Egyptians

- as the Egyptian pursued them, God parted the sea to provide safe passage and then drowned the Egyptians as they followed them

- as the Amorites fought against them, God destoryed them and the Hebrews took their land

- then as they crossed the Jordan, God gave Jericho and the lands of the Amorites, Perrizites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites all to them

So, Joshua reminded them of all God had done for them. He reminded them of from where they came and how it was God who brought them thus far.

Then as we read in Joshua 24:14 and 15, Joshua issues them this challenge and proclamation:

Joshua 24:14-15

14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

If we think about it for just a moment, we can begin to see that we really can relate to this. We too can fall into the same trap that the Hebrews found themselves in. You see, the great danger that threatens us, all the time, is that when we get our bearings from our culture, we lose our bearings with God.

(Video Clip from The Mighty Macs)

Too often, people find themselves trying live two different lives - a life that they know deep within the fabric of their being is the life God intends for them and a life that meshes with the expectations of the world. But just as we saw the coach in the clip say to the player, you can't do both. The question that begs to be asked, when we come to our time on earth to end, which life will we want to have lived? It's a question that we need to ask of ourselves. Joshua challenge is for us too, my brothers and sisters:

Joshua 24:15

15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Some may ask, "Why can't we do both? Why can't we be spiritual and cultural?" Simply put friends, God is counter-cultural.

As we think about it for a bit, we realize that what the world promotes most are things that feed a selfish appetite. While at first they seem rather innocuous, they lead us astray. Like a compass that is a little off a true bearing because of some aberrant magnetic field, in the long-run, you find yourself way off.

So, how can we keep oriented? What can we do to encounter God as often and as musch as we can? Take a few moments to discuss that with those sitting around you

[Allow discussion]

Now for me, which may or may not be some ways and means that you discussed, here is what I plan to do:

- Bible - be more intentional

- People - surround myself with God-minded people

- Worship - find various avenues

- Media - watch what I listen, watch and read

Again, these are my goals to increase my spirituality. They may not be right for you though. Each one of us needs to discern for him or herself how to best grow spiritually.

All of this will sound good but will be useless unless put into action. Need accountability. I have a small group of other pastors that I meet with weekly who will help hold me accountable. This is a crucial element that too many overlook. But for you, don't skip it - find someone to be an accountability partner.

So, some may till not be convinced of the need to become more spiritual though. Let me just share a personal testimony.

Over the last year, as you know, my world was rocked. 2011 was the year of death for my family. Not only did we experience the deaths of my parents, but also of several close friends and acquaintances that I have not mentioned.

Some have praised me for how I've held up. But to be brutally honest, I don't deserve that. Most of the year, I was spiritually devoid. My devotional life entered a vegetative state. My prayer life - almost non-existent, not because I didn't believe in God or even that I was mad at God - I simply didn't want to talk with anyone - not even God.

You see, I didn't hold myself up - God held me up because I had established long before a relationship that could take me through this year of darkness. It was what I call my "Stored-up Faith" that sustained me.

A few days ago, I heard someone sing an old and dearly-loved hymn. While I have grown up hearing it and singing it, I heard it afresh the other day. It was the third verse that struck accord with me, as it was sung in a minor key, which gave it a dark tone, but the words still afforded the comfort. Look with me now, as we begin to close out this time of reflection, at verse three of Amazing Grace:

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

I have already come;

'tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

[Prayer)