Sunday Sermon – God Gives! Do You Believe It?!

I’m in the process of preparing a sermon for this Sunday.  I really haven’t done much preaching as I used to be an attorney.  I’ve always taught, trained, and sang, but preaching… well, i remember doing a sermon when I was in youth group on youth Sunday about 20 years ago. 

Anyway, as I have been praying about what God would have me say, the message has been very simple.  God gives.  God gives?  That’s not profound enough.  God gives?!  That’s something every 5 year old who has been to Vacation Bible School knows.  I can’t go in and tell a congregation that God gives. 

Then God asked me this question:  Do you believe it?  (caveat for the concerned for the amount of material: i will likely not use all of the below)

13Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. 14Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

Do you believe it?

 7“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

 9“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

Do you believe it?

24Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25For whoever wants to save his life^[h] will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.

Do you believe it?

In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Do you believe it?

 28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Do you believe it?  (or are you plagued by anxiety and fear every day?)

11I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Do you believe it?

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
       34 “ For who has known the mind of the LORD?
      Or who has become His counselor?”^[i]
       35 “ Or who has first given to Him
      And it shall be repaid to him?”^[j]

36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Do you believe it?

 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service (your act of worship). 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. 4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:

DO YOU BELIEVE IT???  God keeps asking me when I will stop talking about faith and start living it.  When will I stop just having knowledge of Who He Is and start believing and living like I do.  When will I stop focusing on what I know or how smart I can be about Him and just start living like Jesus did:  Loving God and Loving Others.. 

Sometimes it seems that in spite of the fact that Jesus told us that loving God and loving others is the greatest commandment that our “faith” traditions teach us that the greatest commandments are things like:  Don’t curse, don’t drink, don’t hang out with those who do, don’t do liturgy, don’t let a woman usurp a man’s authority, don’t question any of these don’ts… 

Can you believe that?  Are we trading in Sarah for Hagar?  Are we trading faith for works?  Are we like the Galatians?  Even after all these years?