Blessing of Family

I love the words from a song: “You gave me your love Lord and a fine family. Thank you Lord, for your blessings on me.” There’s one thing that is near and dear to our hearts. The gift of a family is one of the greatest blessings that God can give us. Today, we are discussing how two different people learned that they would become parents: Zechariah and the Virgin Mary. Both of them learned about their future sons from the Angel Gabriel.
The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold
The story of the parents of John the Baptist is a good one. Zechariah and Elizabeth had prayed their entire lives for children that had never come. For this couple it was the dream of a family. Elizabeth and Zachariah prayed to God to give them a child. Zachariah was priest in the Jewish temple.
They stayed faithful to God, but it was still painful not to have any children. They thought that children were a blessing from God. Each year they prayed for children and each year they still did not hear the laughter of children in their home. Here’s their story. It is told in Luke 1:5-25;
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.
Moses determined that the tribe of Aaron would serve as the priests. Zechariah belonged to the tribe of Aaron. Zechariah was well regarded as a priest. There were 24 different groups of priests. Each group were assigned a different time to serve in the temple. Zechariah’s group was called Abijah.
The priests were responsible for maintaining the temple, teaching, and preaching. The Jewish temple was split into different sections. The outer section of the temple was entered through the Gate Beautiful. The women were only allowed into the outer court called the “Court of Women.” The priests were allowed to go into the inner rooms of the temple. Zechariah was selected to go into the “Alter of Incense” which is right before the Holy of Holies which is behind the Veil.
11Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13But the angel said to him: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.[b] 16Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." 18Zechariah asked the angel, "How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years."
Zechariah was a very religious man, but he still had a hard time believing the angel sent by God to tell him that he was becoming a father. Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth, were extremely old. He was using his logic and not his faith. His logic told him that it was impossible for an old couple to have children. His faith should have won out especially when he was in the inner temple talking to an angel.
The angel answered, "I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time." Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24After this, Zechariah’s wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25"The Lord has done this for me," she said. "In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people."
Elizabeth wasn’t sure what people would say so she stayed in seclusion. Elizabeth was the cousin of the Virgin Mary.
Luke 1:26-38 The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.
Gabriel was the same angel who gave the news to Zechariah about his son, John, the Baptist. Mary was very young. She was engaged to be married to Joseph. Gabriel told her that she was highly favored. What does that mean? God’s favor is discussed throughout the Bible. God’s favor is the gift of God’s grace. If you are highly favored by God the impossible becomes possible. If you are favored by God, then God will bless you and protect you. If we study God’s Word, walk in His Ways, and share the love of Jesus Christ with others, we can also have God’s favor.
God’s favor is available to all of us. God’s favor allows things that are impossible to be possible.
31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
35The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God." 38"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
Mary didn’t understand the concept of “immaculate conception.” Her reaction was of trust and faith. She said, “I am the Lord’s servant.” That shows her faith even if she didn’t understand how it would all happen. She said, “May it be to me as you have said.” Mary’s faith was evident at a very young age. She wasn’t a priest like Zechariah, but she was a faithful servant of God who was willing to trust God with her life and future. It was very risky to have a child outside of marriage. She was engaged, but at no time did she stop to ask about these issues. She just said “May it be to me as you have said.” She had faith in God before she could see the results.
Both Zechariah and the Virgin Mary found out in a very unusual way that they would become parents. I didn’t hear about becoming a father in the same way as they did. There’s a lot we can learn from the Virgin Mary. She trusted God with her life and her future family. She had faith that God would take care of her if she put her faith and trust in God. Zechariah was also a faithful servant who obeyed God’s commandments. God choose them to be parents of the man who would prepare the way and for the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
God has also given us a family to teach and train in the ways of God. Our families are gifts from God as well. We need to be thankful that God has provided us with family, friends, our church, and Jesus Christ.

Who is Welcome at the Thanksgiving Table?

There’s always a lot of work to do to get ready for our Thanksgiving feast. I remember holidays at my grandparents when I was growing up. Mom is one of nine children. We had at least fifteen cousins. Grandma would also invite friends and distant relatives to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with the family. We also thought of neighbors and those who may be alone for the holiday. It was a lot of work to cook for that many people for Grandma, my aunts, and my Mom. Everyone would have a job to help get the food on the table.
We all got together to eat at a really long table on the back porch of Grandma’s house. Over time, we had to eat all over the house. A lot of the men would find an excuse to eat and watch a football game. Grandma always cooked more food than we needed just in case there was one more person who came to join us at the Thanksgiving feast.
Jesus tells us in a parable of the great banquet in Luke 14:15-23. "A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, 'Come, for everything is now ready.' "But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, 'I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.' "Another said, 'I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I'm on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.' "Still another said, 'I just got married, so I can't come.' "The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.' "'Sir,' the servant said, 'what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.' "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.’
Jesus wants us to go out to the streets and bring in the people that are not obvious to invite to our table. He wants us to go out to the back roads and country lanes in Ferrum, Rocky Mount, and Callaway and make them come in so that New Hope will be full. In fact, the people who were on the first invitation list made excuses why they couldn’t come to the Thanksgiving Banquet. Jesus said that we should invite those who are the least, the lost, and the unloved.

I was inspired by a friend of mine. His name is Gary Ellis. He realized that there were a lot of people who wouldn’t have a thanksgiving dinner this year because money is tight in Franklin County. He started talking to friends to get contributions. He talked to Kroger to negotiate a good price for 500 turkeys. He saw a need to feed families this year. He saw the need and found a way to welcome people who would have been forgotten at the banquet table.
Jesus reached out during his entire time to those that were forgotten. He loved the smelly fishermen. He ate with the despised tax collectors. He ministered to the invisible children. Jesus told the apostles: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” This is from Luke 18:16
There’s a lesson here this Thanksgiving season that we should not hinder people from coming to God’s banquet table. In fact, we need to search out those that need God’s spiritual food.
Okay, so who should we invite to God’s banquet table here at New Hope United Methodist Church? Let’s look for some ideas from the faith chapter, Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11 tells how people changed when they stepped out on faith. The tough point is we cannot recognize the people God will use. They don’t look or act anything like the “mighty men and women of faith” that they become.
So who are the people that God invited to his banquet table in Hebrews 11? The first is an elderly couple who wasn’t sure that God would give them a child so they took things in their own hands. That couple was Abraham and Sarah. Two men committed murder. The two men were David and Moses. God used Moses for the first time years after he murdered the Egyptian overseer. David was faithful before and after he had a man killed in battle. A prostitute, Rahab, protected the men spying on Jericho. Sampson was a prideful man. Paul killed and persecuted many Christians before God blinded him to get his attention. Jesus told stories about the woman at the well who committed adultery. Jesus told about a woman with a bad reputation who washed his feet with her tears and dried his feet with her hair.

Jesus fought the Sadducees and Pharisees because they only wanted to welcome the wealthy and the powerful. I love Hebrews 11 because it gives me hope that God can use even me. Jesus fought to invite EVERYONE to his banquet table. God turned murderers, adulterers and prostitutes into amazing men and women of faith. We tell stories about the faith of Moses and the faith of the boy shepherd who became King David. We tell stories about Sampson’s strength and we love the Apostle Paul.
If God can use these men and women, why can’t we have faith in them, too? Hebrews 11:1 says “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” We need to love the same people that Jesus loves.
God is the judge. We are not the judge and jury. We need to look at people through the eyes of faith instead of the eyes of doubt. We need to see what is possible in people before it is seen in those people. We need to have faith and love people with the love of Jesus Christ. We must welcome them into our church, our lives, and our Thanksgiving banquet table.
The Bible has wonderful stories of people who were transformed. God can take us and transform us today as well. We need to have faith in our church family that God can use each and every one of us.
I visited Gwin Phillips this week. She saw God using me as a pastor before I saw it for myself. Many times, children will strive to live up to the words spoken about them.
If Moses came to our church would he be welcomed? If a single Mom brought a baby to church she found floating in the Blackwater River, would we welcome her or call social services? If a Jewish boy educated in a Muslim school came from Egypt would we welcome him? If a young man came to church who tried to get a slave overseer to stop whipping a slave, but instead killed the slave overseer. Would we welcome that murderer to our banquet table? Would we say what people said in Exodus 2:14 “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?”
If Moses hid in our church because Pharaoh’s men were trying to find him and kill him because he was a murderer, would we hide Moses and protect him or turn Moses over to Pharaoh?
If Moses had spent the summer in the mountain pastures and smelled like dirty sheep and cattle, would we tell him to come in or would we tell him to go home, take a bath, get new clothes, and come back to church next week?
If Moses came to our church to talk about a bush that burned but never burned up, would we ask him about God or would we call the hospital to ask for a psychiatrist. If Moses came to us to tell us that he wanted our help to free the Jewish slaves in Egypt, would we believe him and go with him on his journey. God hates the sin, but loves the sinner. God’s grace is sufficient.
We need to be willing to welcome Moses into our church, our lives, and our banquet table BEFORE he becomes the man of God who brought the Jewish people out of Egypt, BEOFRE he performed so many miracles in the name of God, and before he inspired the Jewish people to turn toward God. It is our job to see people with the eyes of faith and love. We need to see the potential in people to be used by God before that potential is visible and realized.
We need to speak about a person’s potential to them and to others BEFORE it happens so that the potential in that person can be realized. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
God is asking us to impress our faith on the children of God. In Matthew 18:2-4, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself life this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.”
It is our duty “to search for the strays, care for the injured, strengthen the weak,” and to welcome all of God’s children to our Thanksgiving banquet table. We are God’s people and we will enter his arms with thanksgiving this year and every year. Amen! (paraphrase of Ezekiel 34:16 and Psalm 100)

Why Do We Serve God?

Matthew 7:13 says “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many may enter through it.” There are a lot of reasons why people take the wide and easier path in life. Here’s a few possible reasons:

• W need rest on Sunday
• I had to go to church as a child and now I want to choose my own path.
• We are too busy earning a living, watching football games, and kids to do anything elseGod is not popular anymore. People make fun of religious fanatics.
• I’m a good person who doesn’t need to waste time in church to learn what is right.
• I’m not important enough for God to care about so why should I care about Him?
• This is the 21st Century and it is time to take a new course.
• Need to believe in things that are real that can be proved by science or the TV newsI’ll start thinking about God after He proves to me that He exists.

The Bible instructs us to serve our Lord with joy, gladness, and our whole heart. (1 Chronicles 28:9) We need to acknowledge God, and serve him with devotion and with a willing mind. God searches our hearts and understands our motives. If we seek God, we will be able to find God.
Now, why do we serve God? The Bible is full of examples of people who choose God when it wasn’t easy. A good story is of Daniel and his friends when they were taken into slavery by the Babylonians. They were taken away from their home, their family, and their friends. Daniel was young enough to be trained and to learn the Babylonian ways, wisdom, and gods. Daniel and his friends were even given new names to go with their new lives, but they decided to serve only God. Daniel had a strong prayer life and the support of faithful friends.

God saved Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the fiery furnace. (Daniel 3:28 NIV) Then King Nebuchadnezzar said, "Praise be to the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent his angel and rescued his servants! They trusted in him and defied the king's command and were willing to give up their lives rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

It is a wonderful story to tell our children. It is also a strong example how childlike faith can serve us as adults, too. Deuteronomy 11:13-15 says “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today--to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul-- then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.”

A lawyer asked Jesus: “What must I do to inherit eternal life? The lawyer realized that the answer was “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all of your mind and love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:25-27) Jesus told him that he answered correctly and Jesus said, “Do this and you will live.”
Part of the search for Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior requires us to understand the spiritual gifts that God has given us to better serve Him. There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, teaching, preaching, gifts of healing, encouragement, and so much more. All of these gifts are the work of the Holy Spirit and he gives them to each one of us just as he determines.

There’s so much we can’t do on our own. We start growing in our relationship with God when we admit that we are not enough on our own. I love the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Corinthians where God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:8b-10)

It’s okay to admit to God that we are afraid and that we need him to lead us. Jesus knows the way when we are lost. God picks us up. God fills us with the Holy Spirit and enables us to do so much in the name of Jesus Christ, that it is hard for us to imagine that it could’ve been possible. The impossible becomes possible when we let God into our lives.

I was afraid to go to Tamale, Ghana in February 2007 because I was afraid of the Muslims and the stories that I had heard about a chief and his elders who were beheaded in 2000. The central mosque is in the middle of town. The city is about 80% Muslim. We are taught to be afraid of people who are different from ourselves on the evening news reports. We hear about terrorists who kill in the name of Allah. I was afraid to meet these people, but I asked God to protect and watch over me. Now, I realize that so much love would not have been shared, if I had allowed my fear to overcome my faith.

There’s power in God’s word. We have to open up the Bible and start learning about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ died on the cross so that we could live life abundantly here on earth and have eternal life. God gave his only son for us on cross. We were also given the gift of the Holy Spirit so that God would be with us every day as our helper, our redeemer, and our strength.

Today’s scripture reading from Matthew 25 tells us how to serve God. Each servant is given five talents, two talents, or one talent of money. The talents represent any kind of resource we are given such as our time, our gifts, our love, or our money. The first servant who was given five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more talents. The first servant was not afraid to serve God. He served with joy, gladness, and his whole heart. The first servant thought that if he tried to serve God that God would help him accomplish his goal. He was right. The second servant doubled his two talents so that they become four talents.

The third servant who received one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. The third servant is like the person who hides God’s love under a bushel basket and doesn’t share God’s love and light to the rest of the world. The third servant was afraid of trying to serve God so he decided not even to make an attempt.

The master asked the servant with one talent how he had done. The servant blamed his lack of trying on the statement the master is a hard man. He told the master that he was afraid and hid the master’s talent in the ground. We will be judged whether we shared God’s love with our fellow man. There’s no limit to God’s love, compassion, and grace. It is definitely a sin to hide God and not share God’s spiritual gifts, love, and talents with others.

It is my hope that God will one day tell us “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness.” My hope is that others will see the love of Jesus Christ in me as I am serving them.

As we serve God by helping those in need, we learn the secrets of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We also experience the grace of Jesus Christ in our lives. We don’t serve God to earn our way into Heaven. We serve God out of gratitude that he has blessed our lives with love, family, and friends. Jesus showed his love to us by teaching, preaching, healing the sick, and caring for the least and the lost. Jesus showed us how to serve God by setting the example. Let’s learn how to love directly from Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior.

Listening to God's Call

Hannah prayed to God for a son. She could not have kids, but she believed if nswered. She promised to dedicate her son to God if He would answer her prayer. Samuel was born.
It is good to be here at New Hope UMC.
How many times have we heard God calling us and not notice? Do we recognize his voice? Do we recognize the many ways in which God talks to us? God talks to us directly, through scripture, through praise songs and music, through nature, through friends and family, through our church, and through the Holy Spirit working in our lives.
The Bible gives us a story about a young man named Samuel who did not realize that God was calling him until he was told that if God calls you to say “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” It was easier for Samuel to believe that someone he knew was calling him instead of God. 1 Samuel 3:19 said “The Lord was with Samuel as he grew up, and Samuel let none of God’s words fall to the ground.”
We all grow in our faith at a different pace. Samuel learned to listen and to answer God.
In 1999, I read the scripture from Luke 12:48b which said “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” I thanked God for my wife, Susan, and our four kids. I asked God what he expected in return, but God took four years to answer my question.
I noticed that Mom’s brother, Uncle B ill Barker, had become a much stronger pastor after he had gone to West Africa on a mission trip. I asked him if I could go. He asked me if I was serious and I said yes. Uncle Bill took me on my first mission trip to Africa in 2003. It was on that first trip that I learned that if I prayed the way Hannah prayed that God would answer my prayers. It was the children who taught me how to pray because they kept coming back for prayers. The kids kept coming back to be blessed. It was during that first trip that we baptized eighty-one at the riverside from two villages. It was during that first trip that I prayed and felt God’s presence.
We preached in a village where they had never heard about God. Imagine giving out Bibles that had just been translated into the local Mampruli language for the first time. We gave to the chief, elders, and the parents. The first thing they did was to give the Bibles to the children. I asked them why. They said the greatest gift that you could ever give your child was a Bible. Wow!
I went to Africa to tell people there about God. Instead, they taught me about walking in faith. We grew an elementary school, middle, and high school from 200 to 700 children. I fell in love with the children of the school. I really respected the school cook who cooked food for all of those children. She is called Sister Dora. We worked with an independent church in the slums of Kumasi called Come Preach Christ Church.


Imagine being able to teach about God’s love, faith, peace, salvation, and power of prayer around the world. Imagine seeing God’s love. Imagine praying for a mother and grandmother. Man sees the Love of Jesus Christ. Imagine taking food to 35 villages last year. Imagine seeing the village of Nabari celebrate three new wells on Thursday and a new church on Saturday. I feel God’s call to serve the least and the lost around the world. I also feel God’s call to preach God’s word here at home.

What can you imagine?