The short version is we’ve made it to the northern region of Ghana. A lot has happened regarding new wells, repaired wells, and medical equipment for the Tamale Hospital and Eye Clinic. The journey has been challenging, but we are getting things done.
Stephen Shipes and I arrived in Accra on Friday, March 27th. We left New York City an hour late and arrived in Ghana an hour early due to strong tail winds! I wish I could leave late and arrive early more often. We saw two schools in Accra. Both schools have a connection to employees of the Carter Center. The first school is called Lila’s Child Care Foundation.
Lila's school is helped by Jim Niquette, Director of the Carter Center, and several Rotary Clubs in the USA. Jim’s school takes street children who are breaking up rocks to make gravel or selling goods in the middle of the street and gets them prepared for elementary school. Jim will convince their parents that the children deserve an education instead of making less than $1 per day running between cars selling toilet paper, gum, bananas, and other wares.
The second school is Elohim Academy. Frank is one of the drivers for the Carter Center. Frank bought land and built a school in a very poor section of Accra. I was impressed with the high level of instruction at the school. Elohim Academy teaches elementary and middle school students. They hope to build more classrooms to teach high school students in the future. Frank took a mortgage loan to buy the land on his salary so that poor children can have a future. Frank told me that “We need to help. We can’t take money to heaven when we die. The children are our future.” Both schools need help and support.
The drive to Kumasi was harder than I ever remember. The road is in a constant need of repair. Accra and Kumasi have grown larger and the roads are worse with more potholes. It has been two years since I was in Kumasi. Kumasi is about 150 miles away, but it took a hard six hours of driving to get here.
I went to the Barker & Seibel School in the slums of Kumasi. I was impressed with a new principal, Vivian, who has moved home from England to help the school. She’s reduced the school size down to about 350 children. There’s a canteen and kitchen area now that is really nice. The kids were in school on Saturday to learn. I was able to teach Sunday School at a church in Adomkwarme and preach at Come Preach Christ Church in Amanfrom. The people are worshipping in a sanctuary which has lost its roof in a bad storm.
We drove to Sunyani on Monday morning. We met with the Sunyani Central Rotarians. We are excited about the new $72,000 Rotary matching grant to do work in the Brong Ahafo and Western Region of Ghana. We are hoping that it is approved soon by the Rotary Foundation trustees. We discussed a potential women’s center project. We also agreed that our hands are full. Child slavery in the fishing villages is not on our agenda even though Sunyani Central Rotary has a Rotarian who works for a charity that tries to give the kids working on the fishing boats a better life.
The Sunyani Rotary Club will celebrate improvements to a local school from a Rotary matching grant. We also discussed the buruli ulcer disease. It is a flesh eating disease. It is becoming more dangerous in southern portions of West Africa. We agreed that we would try to find support to reduce this disease with safe water projects in the future.
We met a borehole driller, Rev. David Donkor, with Living Water as well who may drill boreholes for our existing and future grant. He has a drill rig and crew that can drill deep boreholes if the rock is not too bad. He has a heart for providing clean water.
Jim Niquette, Stephen Shipes, and I had a lot of good conversations on the road. The most frequent topic was how to make the biggest difference in people’s lives with the smallest amount of money going to feed overhead of certain charities and governmental organizations. I will value the time spent with Jim Niquette of the Carter Center.
We arrived in Tamale, Ghana in time to meet John Nadolski of Living Water. He had a team from the USA celebrating work over the past year and looking for new places to drill boreholes or wells. It was a great conversation. We talked about micro-finance projects, schools, clinics, the Methodist Church in Ghana, guinea worm disease reduction, and so many things. John told us that everywhere he went someone knew me.
Stephen and I are staying with Dr. Jim Murphy during our stay in Tamale. We will be focusing our attention on the Tamale Teaching Hospital and Eye Clinic. One of the medical containers still needs to be emptied, organized, and distributed. The hospital and Tamale Rotarians kindly left me some work to do! The celebration will be on Friday at 10 AM to dedicate the medical equipment.
We want to get to Singa where a water system has been completed in the “Overseas area.” It takes seven hours just to go one direction to this remote area of Ghana. We hope to go on Saturday. I also hope to get to the Walewale area where we are building a church so we can preach there on Sunday. We’ll be in the Bolgatanga area next week for a few days to check on thirteen wells in that area.
Wish us well. We are wanting to make a difference at the hospital today.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Leaving for Ghana Today
I woke up early this morning to review my checklist for my trip. I enjoyed a great afternoon with my daughter, Jessica, on a shopping trip to Roanoke yesterday. We didn’t buy much, but the company was great. We bought a couple of books at Barnes & Noble. It is good to spend time with the family before leaving on a trip to West Africa.
I will leave home at 7:15 AM today (Thursday, March 26, 2009) for the Raleigh, NC airport. I will fly to JFK Airport in New York and leave on a direct Delta flight to Accra, Ghana. We will arrive in Ghana around 7:30 AM on Friday. My cousin, Stephen Shipes, is joining me on the trip. Jim Niquette, the Director of the Carter Center will pick me up at the airport in Accra and will travel with Stephen and I to Kumasi, Sunyani, and all the way to Tamale in the north of Ghana.
I’m going to the school Jim supports in Accra before we leave for Kumasi. I hope to see the Barker & Siebel School in Amanfrom near Kumasi on Saturday. Our mission teams helped to expand that school in 2005 to 2007.
This trip will celebrate new wells and repaired wells. We will also dedicate new medical equipment at the Tamale Teaching Hospital and Tamale Eye Clinic. We shipped two huge containers of medical equipment and supplies to Ghana.
I hope to have time to preach in Kumasi, the West Mamprusi District, and around Bolgatanga on this trip. There are several places to preach on Sunday in Kumasi. I’ll have my Rotary hat on part of the time and my Pastor’s hat on at other times.
I have a feeling that we will be starting work on many new ideas on this trip. I like several women’s centers in Sunyani and in Bolgatanga in the extreme north. Women’s centers help mothers pay for food and pay for tuition for school. The orphanages need food, too. I’m getting an urge to understand child slavery in the gold mines and the fishing villages. I don’t know how I can help yet, but I can try to understand.
I received an email from a German Rotary Club that wants to build a bio-fuel plant for a technical school on the border with Ivory Coast in a town called Bole. A Rotary Club in Federal Way, Washington wants to build solar powered mechanized water systems to pump water into three cities. We will try to understand these projects and see how we can work together.
I will leave home at 7:15 AM today (Thursday, March 26, 2009) for the Raleigh, NC airport. I will fly to JFK Airport in New York and leave on a direct Delta flight to Accra, Ghana. We will arrive in Ghana around 7:30 AM on Friday. My cousin, Stephen Shipes, is joining me on the trip. Jim Niquette, the Director of the Carter Center will pick me up at the airport in Accra and will travel with Stephen and I to Kumasi, Sunyani, and all the way to Tamale in the north of Ghana.
I’m going to the school Jim supports in Accra before we leave for Kumasi. I hope to see the Barker & Siebel School in Amanfrom near Kumasi on Saturday. Our mission teams helped to expand that school in 2005 to 2007.
This trip will celebrate new wells and repaired wells. We will also dedicate new medical equipment at the Tamale Teaching Hospital and Tamale Eye Clinic. We shipped two huge containers of medical equipment and supplies to Ghana.
I hope to have time to preach in Kumasi, the West Mamprusi District, and around Bolgatanga on this trip. There are several places to preach on Sunday in Kumasi. I’ll have my Rotary hat on part of the time and my Pastor’s hat on at other times.
I have a feeling that we will be starting work on many new ideas on this trip. I like several women’s centers in Sunyani and in Bolgatanga in the extreme north. Women’s centers help mothers pay for food and pay for tuition for school. The orphanages need food, too. I’m getting an urge to understand child slavery in the gold mines and the fishing villages. I don’t know how I can help yet, but I can try to understand.
I received an email from a German Rotary Club that wants to build a bio-fuel plant for a technical school on the border with Ivory Coast in a town called Bole. A Rotary Club in Federal Way, Washington wants to build solar powered mechanized water systems to pump water into three cities. We will try to understand these projects and see how we can work together.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Raising the Temple
There are many stories about Jesus. The story about Jesus in the temple where he overturned the tables of the money changers is very important. Jesus talked about his death and resurrection many times at the end of his ministry on this earth. We must understand Jesus Christ’s victory over death without seeing Jesus emerging from the tomb.
First, God told Moses in Leviticus to give various offerings to honor and thank God. There were burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace or communion offerings, and sin offerings. The offerings were initially made at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and after the temple was built the offerings were given at the entrance of the temple in Jerusalem. It was meant to honor God and God’s love for us. The offering also was in gratitude to all of the wonderful blessings that God had given to his people.
In addition, God outlined the different kind of offerings that could be made in the temple for different times in your life such after committing a sin or after the birth of a son. The offering was supposed to be without blemish and it should be the best that you could offer to God. The Jews were instructed that the offering needed to be the best grain or choice animal.
The Jewish leaders twisted the offering decrees that God gave to Moses by saying that the best animals were the ones being sold at the temple. It became very expensive to buy animals even doves for a burnt offering. The Jews who traveled a long distance to come to Jerusalem were not able to bring a lamb or a dove with them. The people who traveled a great distance or lived in the city were also usually very poor. They were the ones at the mercy of the money changers at the temple gates.
The whole process of giving thanks to God had been turned into something very different from that original decree in Leviticus outlining the different ways that offerings could be made to God. God had been forgotten. The profit motive had replaced the goal of giving thanks and honoring God. The actions were similar, but the intent to worship God was no longer part of the goals of Jewish leadership. We get into trouble when we are going through the motions. It is easy to think that the money that we’ve earned belongs to us. It is easy to believe that we don’t need to give our best to God, but God explained to Moses that we should give our best to God when we give our offerings.
Now, we understand the background of the business happening at the temple. There were a lot of faithful people coming to the temple to make their offerings to God. People were coming without the right animals for an offering. They had to pay a very high price to be able to honor God in the Jewish temple.
The time of year that Jesus went to the temple was Passover. Passover celebrates the time when God passed over the Hebrew households in Egypt during the final plague which was the death of the firstborn. The story is summarized in Exodus 12:26-27 “And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ You shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.”
Jesus referred to the temple as “my Father’s house in John 2:13-22. He firmly believed that the temple should be a place of worship, not a place for profit. He also firmly stated that he was the son of God. I’m not sure if the Jewish priests and elders were more upset about losing the business in the temple or having Jesus tell them that he was Jesus Christ.
The Jewish leaders asked Jesus if he was the son of God. They did not have the faith to believe that they were face to face with the Messiah. Blessed are those who believe without seeing. The Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to prove he was the Messiah by showing them signs, miracles, and wonders. We have to believe in God before we can see God’s signs, miracles, and wonders. Jesus is not a magician who is willing to do magic tricks to make us believe in him.
Jesus was talking about his future crucifixion and resurrection in three days.
Jesus also was explaining that our bodies are temples to God. God lives within each one of us. We are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to go to the temple to worship God anymore. We have a personal relationship with God because God gave us his only son. Even the disciples did not understand the crucifixion and resurrection until after Jesus rose from the grave on the third day. Jesus died on the cross so that we may be saved. God set the example on gifts when he gave Jesus as the offering so that we might live and have eternal life. Jesus was without blemish and he was the best that God could give us.
God was giving the world the very best he had to offer. He was giving his only son to the world as a sacrifice. Jesus Christ was holy and without sin. Jesus Christ was going to be the lamb at the altar to be the sin offering for the world. The body and blood of Jesus Christ was taking the place of all of the offerings that was outlined in Leviticus. We don’t have to sacrifice a lamb or a dove on our alter, because “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Jesus told them that if they destroyed the temple that he would raise it again in three days. The Jewish leaders thought he was talking about the physical Jewish temple, but Jesus was talking about his body instead. The leaders knew that it took forty-six years to build the Jewish temple. The leaders were thinking with their mind and logic and not with their faith to understand what Jesus was trying to tell them. The leaders were trying to understand the Messiah using physical things that they understood like the Jewish temple. We need to believe before we see God with our eyes. We need to believe God by seeing with our heart and with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
We are weak without God’s strength. We also don’t have wisdom and knowledge without God. The scripture in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 makes this plain to us. It warns those who trust intelligence instead of God. “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” The wisdom of this world tells us that there is no God and that man can create life. The wisdom of this world tells us that if we can’t touch it, see it, and prove it in an experiment, then it doesn’t exist. If we don’t understand the meaning of the cross, then we will perish. God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. Two of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is wisdom and knowledge. God also gives us the ability to discern truth and his love in our lives.
In order to see and understand God, we must not rely on ourselves, the wisdom or truths of the world. If we don’t give our best to God in our offerings, we are losing an opportunity to serve God with our whole heart. God wants us to trust his wisdom. If we walk this world alone, we are weak. If we walk this world with God, we are strong. If we rely on God’s wisdom, then we are truly wise.
Resurrection is victory over death. Jesus had to talk about his death and resurrection many times at the end of his ministry on this earth. The disciples and even those that loved him did not fully understand by hearing about his death and resurrection. They had to see to fully understand what Jesus was saying.
We must understand without seeing Jesus emerging from the tomb. The way we understand God’s greatest gift is to pray, sing praises to God, and worship together. We also must ask God for wisdom, knowledge, and discernment to understand how something so wonderful that happened over 2,000 years ago impacts our lives today. Amen!
First, God told Moses in Leviticus to give various offerings to honor and thank God. There were burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace or communion offerings, and sin offerings. The offerings were initially made at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and after the temple was built the offerings were given at the entrance of the temple in Jerusalem. It was meant to honor God and God’s love for us. The offering also was in gratitude to all of the wonderful blessings that God had given to his people.
In addition, God outlined the different kind of offerings that could be made in the temple for different times in your life such after committing a sin or after the birth of a son. The offering was supposed to be without blemish and it should be the best that you could offer to God. The Jews were instructed that the offering needed to be the best grain or choice animal.
The Jewish leaders twisted the offering decrees that God gave to Moses by saying that the best animals were the ones being sold at the temple. It became very expensive to buy animals even doves for a burnt offering. The Jews who traveled a long distance to come to Jerusalem were not able to bring a lamb or a dove with them. The people who traveled a great distance or lived in the city were also usually very poor. They were the ones at the mercy of the money changers at the temple gates.
The whole process of giving thanks to God had been turned into something very different from that original decree in Leviticus outlining the different ways that offerings could be made to God. God had been forgotten. The profit motive had replaced the goal of giving thanks and honoring God. The actions were similar, but the intent to worship God was no longer part of the goals of Jewish leadership. We get into trouble when we are going through the motions. It is easy to think that the money that we’ve earned belongs to us. It is easy to believe that we don’t need to give our best to God, but God explained to Moses that we should give our best to God when we give our offerings.
Now, we understand the background of the business happening at the temple. There were a lot of faithful people coming to the temple to make their offerings to God. People were coming without the right animals for an offering. They had to pay a very high price to be able to honor God in the Jewish temple.
The time of year that Jesus went to the temple was Passover. Passover celebrates the time when God passed over the Hebrew households in Egypt during the final plague which was the death of the firstborn. The story is summarized in Exodus 12:26-27 “And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this observance?’ You shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.”
Jesus referred to the temple as “my Father’s house in John 2:13-22. He firmly believed that the temple should be a place of worship, not a place for profit. He also firmly stated that he was the son of God. I’m not sure if the Jewish priests and elders were more upset about losing the business in the temple or having Jesus tell them that he was Jesus Christ.
The Jewish leaders asked Jesus if he was the son of God. They did not have the faith to believe that they were face to face with the Messiah. Blessed are those who believe without seeing. The Jewish leaders wanted Jesus to prove he was the Messiah by showing them signs, miracles, and wonders. We have to believe in God before we can see God’s signs, miracles, and wonders. Jesus is not a magician who is willing to do magic tricks to make us believe in him.
Jesus was talking about his future crucifixion and resurrection in three days.
Jesus also was explaining that our bodies are temples to God. God lives within each one of us. We are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to go to the temple to worship God anymore. We have a personal relationship with God because God gave us his only son. Even the disciples did not understand the crucifixion and resurrection until after Jesus rose from the grave on the third day. Jesus died on the cross so that we may be saved. God set the example on gifts when he gave Jesus as the offering so that we might live and have eternal life. Jesus was without blemish and he was the best that God could give us.
God was giving the world the very best he had to offer. He was giving his only son to the world as a sacrifice. Jesus Christ was holy and without sin. Jesus Christ was going to be the lamb at the altar to be the sin offering for the world. The body and blood of Jesus Christ was taking the place of all of the offerings that was outlined in Leviticus. We don’t have to sacrifice a lamb or a dove on our alter, because “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
Jesus told them that if they destroyed the temple that he would raise it again in three days. The Jewish leaders thought he was talking about the physical Jewish temple, but Jesus was talking about his body instead. The leaders knew that it took forty-six years to build the Jewish temple. The leaders were thinking with their mind and logic and not with their faith to understand what Jesus was trying to tell them. The leaders were trying to understand the Messiah using physical things that they understood like the Jewish temple. We need to believe before we see God with our eyes. We need to believe God by seeing with our heart and with the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
We are weak without God’s strength. We also don’t have wisdom and knowledge without God. The scripture in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 makes this plain to us. It warns those who trust intelligence instead of God. “Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” The wisdom of this world tells us that there is no God and that man can create life. The wisdom of this world tells us that if we can’t touch it, see it, and prove it in an experiment, then it doesn’t exist. If we don’t understand the meaning of the cross, then we will perish. God has made the wisdom of the world foolish. Two of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is wisdom and knowledge. God also gives us the ability to discern truth and his love in our lives.
In order to see and understand God, we must not rely on ourselves, the wisdom or truths of the world. If we don’t give our best to God in our offerings, we are losing an opportunity to serve God with our whole heart. God wants us to trust his wisdom. If we walk this world alone, we are weak. If we walk this world with God, we are strong. If we rely on God’s wisdom, then we are truly wise.
Resurrection is victory over death. Jesus had to talk about his death and resurrection many times at the end of his ministry on this earth. The disciples and even those that loved him did not fully understand by hearing about his death and resurrection. They had to see to fully understand what Jesus was saying.
We must understand without seeing Jesus emerging from the tomb. The way we understand God’s greatest gift is to pray, sing praises to God, and worship together. We also must ask God for wisdom, knowledge, and discernment to understand how something so wonderful that happened over 2,000 years ago impacts our lives today. Amen!
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Faith of Abraham
There’s a lot of talk about faith in the Bible. Abraham is used as a model of having faith. God asked Abraham to leave his home in Haran in modern day Iraq. God promised to make Abraham a father of many nations if Abraham would go where God sent him. Are we willing to go where God sends us, today?
Genesis 12:1-4 (NRSV) tells us: “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curse you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
It is hard to leave your home and your family. It is harder still to go to a new place where we don’t even know the name of the town or the country. God didn’t give Abraham any details except the fact that he would become father of a great nation. It was hard to believe because Abraham was close to hundred years old. They were an old couple who had never been able to have children.
In Romans 4:13-17 (NIV) the scripture says “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”
“16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”
These verses tell us that Abraham believed in God. He also knew that God if life. He knows that God gives life even to the dead. Life to the dead is called resurrection. We are preparing to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. Calling things that are not as though they were is essential part of having faith. It is seeing with the eyes of God instead of seeing with human eyes.
I’ve been preaching about thanking God in advance before God answers our prayers. Abraham and Sarah prayed to God for children. There’s power in believing that God can answer our prayers. There’s even more power in having total faith in God. Total faith in God is liberating. Total faith in God frees us from our fear and doubt. Fear and doubt are the enemy of faith.
Let’s continue with Romans 4:18-21 (NIV) “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
One of the best thoughts is in verse Romans 4:18 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.” We have faith when we believe the impossible is likely. What does “Against all hope” mean? To hope is to wish for something. “Against all hope” is not being able to wish that something will happen. There’s just no hope that something will happen when it’s against all hope. The scripture says that Abraham still believed. We must be willing to still believe even when everyone around us says that it is not possible.
There are so many logical reasons why things can’t happen. For Abraham, he belonged in a nursing home for old couples. Abraham and Sarah were not newlyweds expecting their first child. They were very old. God told them that they would have children. It was against all hope that after over eighty years of trying to have children that the old couple could have kids now. They wished for kids, but any medical doctor would’ve told them that it was impossible.
All of Sarah’s friends who had children and grandchildren would’ve told her that she was unable to bear children. Sarah’s friends meant well, but they did not have any hope for Sarah. The promise comes by faith and faith comes by grace. Grace comes by the gift of Jesus Christ into our lives. Grace is God’s favor in our lives. Favor allows us to do things that logically should not happen.
What is favor as defined by Wal-Mart? Favor in Wal-Mart is a cashier seeing you waiting in a long line and she opens up a new line just so you can enter it. As she is scanning the items, she notices that one item doesn’t ring up the sale price and automatically credits you for the sale price.
We found favor on my return trip from Ghana last November. We did early check-in the day before, but we arrived at the airport when the officials said that the airplane was full. A man came up to us and told us that he was looking for us. He told us to come with him. He checked our bags and rushed us through security. There was no logical reason for us to make the flight back home, but somehow we were welcomed onto the plane.
Another example of grace would be getting caught for speeding through the Franklin Heights neighborhood. The police officer asks for your driver’s license and registration. The police officer asks “Did you know that you were going 56 miles per hour in the 35 mile per hour zone?” You realize that you’ve been caught going a little too fast one time too many. Thoughts of a big speeding ticket and perhaps driving school start to float through your head.
The police officer says that your ticket has already been paid in full. He also tells you that the speeding ticket will not go on your record. You ask the police officer who paid your speeding ticket. He tells you that Jesus Christ paid in full over two thousand years ago so that your speeding ticket today would be paid in full. It is at that moment that you realize that you deserved that speeding ticket and to be honest several others going through the speed trap in Boones Mill. At that moment, when your own driving record is wiped clean, you’ve realized that you’ve just experienced the definition of grace. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Grace is the power of God in our lives. Grace is represented in the scripture: “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.”
Hebrews 11:8-10 (NIV) says: 8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
This world should be treated like a foreign land. Our real home should in heaven. We should live “in tents” on this earth as well. We will receive our inheritance if we obey God and go where we don’t know where we are going.
Hebrews 11:11-16 continues “11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.”
“13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
Hebrews 11:10 is describing that God is promising a Promised Land and city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. That city is in Heaven. Abraham was never quite comfortable in the Promised Land because he was waiting the promise of Heaven. The heirs of the same promise allude to the ultimate gift of eternal life.
There are a lot of definitions of being faithful. One is calling things that are not as though they were. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith this way: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Abraham was hopeful for a new home and children. He couldn’t see pictures of the land that God promised him and he couldn’t see his future children. Abraham was certain that if he followed the path that God laid out for him that he would reach his future home and even his wife, Sarah, would have children, even though Sarah was very old.
Abraham did not live long enough to see his descendents become as plentiful as the stars in the sky. Abraham did not see all of the ways that God would bless his descendants. Abraham still had faith even though he did not see all of the promises. In addition, God will not reveal to us every answer to our prayers. Just because we do not see God working in our lives we can’t lose faith.
God has already answered our prayers. We just have to have the faith to see the unseen before it is seen. Let’s start out today on a path to a place we do not know. If someone asks us where we are going, tell them that God is our God and we are God’s people. God will lead us on our journey. We have the faith to believe that God will be with us on our faith journey that starts the moment that we walk out the church doors today. Amen!
Genesis 12:1-4 (NRSV) tells us: “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curse you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
It is hard to leave your home and your family. It is harder still to go to a new place where we don’t even know the name of the town or the country. God didn’t give Abraham any details except the fact that he would become father of a great nation. It was hard to believe because Abraham was close to hundred years old. They were an old couple who had never been able to have children.
In Romans 4:13-17 (NIV) the scripture says “It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, 15because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”
“16Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”
These verses tell us that Abraham believed in God. He also knew that God if life. He knows that God gives life even to the dead. Life to the dead is called resurrection. We are preparing to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter. Calling things that are not as though they were is essential part of having faith. It is seeing with the eyes of God instead of seeing with human eyes.
I’ve been preaching about thanking God in advance before God answers our prayers. Abraham and Sarah prayed to God for children. There’s power in believing that God can answer our prayers. There’s even more power in having total faith in God. Total faith in God is liberating. Total faith in God frees us from our fear and doubt. Fear and doubt are the enemy of faith.
Let’s continue with Romans 4:18-21 (NIV) “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 19Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah's womb was also dead. 20Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.
One of the best thoughts is in verse Romans 4:18 “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.” We have faith when we believe the impossible is likely. What does “Against all hope” mean? To hope is to wish for something. “Against all hope” is not being able to wish that something will happen. There’s just no hope that something will happen when it’s against all hope. The scripture says that Abraham still believed. We must be willing to still believe even when everyone around us says that it is not possible.
There are so many logical reasons why things can’t happen. For Abraham, he belonged in a nursing home for old couples. Abraham and Sarah were not newlyweds expecting their first child. They were very old. God told them that they would have children. It was against all hope that after over eighty years of trying to have children that the old couple could have kids now. They wished for kids, but any medical doctor would’ve told them that it was impossible.
All of Sarah’s friends who had children and grandchildren would’ve told her that she was unable to bear children. Sarah’s friends meant well, but they did not have any hope for Sarah. The promise comes by faith and faith comes by grace. Grace comes by the gift of Jesus Christ into our lives. Grace is God’s favor in our lives. Favor allows us to do things that logically should not happen.
What is favor as defined by Wal-Mart? Favor in Wal-Mart is a cashier seeing you waiting in a long line and she opens up a new line just so you can enter it. As she is scanning the items, she notices that one item doesn’t ring up the sale price and automatically credits you for the sale price.
We found favor on my return trip from Ghana last November. We did early check-in the day before, but we arrived at the airport when the officials said that the airplane was full. A man came up to us and told us that he was looking for us. He told us to come with him. He checked our bags and rushed us through security. There was no logical reason for us to make the flight back home, but somehow we were welcomed onto the plane.
Another example of grace would be getting caught for speeding through the Franklin Heights neighborhood. The police officer asks for your driver’s license and registration. The police officer asks “Did you know that you were going 56 miles per hour in the 35 mile per hour zone?” You realize that you’ve been caught going a little too fast one time too many. Thoughts of a big speeding ticket and perhaps driving school start to float through your head.
The police officer says that your ticket has already been paid in full. He also tells you that the speeding ticket will not go on your record. You ask the police officer who paid your speeding ticket. He tells you that Jesus Christ paid in full over two thousand years ago so that your speeding ticket today would be paid in full. It is at that moment that you realize that you deserved that speeding ticket and to be honest several others going through the speed trap in Boones Mill. At that moment, when your own driving record is wiped clean, you’ve realized that you’ve just experienced the definition of grace. Grace is getting what you don’t deserve. Grace is the power of God in our lives. Grace is represented in the scripture: “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.”
Hebrews 11:8-10 (NIV) says: 8By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
This world should be treated like a foreign land. Our real home should in heaven. We should live “in tents” on this earth as well. We will receive our inheritance if we obey God and go where we don’t know where we are going.
Hebrews 11:11-16 continues “11By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.”
“13All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. 14People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
Hebrews 11:10 is describing that God is promising a Promised Land and city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. That city is in Heaven. Abraham was never quite comfortable in the Promised Land because he was waiting the promise of Heaven. The heirs of the same promise allude to the ultimate gift of eternal life.
There are a lot of definitions of being faithful. One is calling things that are not as though they were. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith this way: Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Abraham was hopeful for a new home and children. He couldn’t see pictures of the land that God promised him and he couldn’t see his future children. Abraham was certain that if he followed the path that God laid out for him that he would reach his future home and even his wife, Sarah, would have children, even though Sarah was very old.
Abraham did not live long enough to see his descendents become as plentiful as the stars in the sky. Abraham did not see all of the ways that God would bless his descendants. Abraham still had faith even though he did not see all of the promises. In addition, God will not reveal to us every answer to our prayers. Just because we do not see God working in our lives we can’t lose faith.
God has already answered our prayers. We just have to have the faith to see the unseen before it is seen. Let’s start out today on a path to a place we do not know. If someone asks us where we are going, tell them that God is our God and we are God’s people. God will lead us on our journey. We have the faith to believe that God will be with us on our faith journey that starts the moment that we walk out the church doors today. Amen!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Keeping Promises
We have a lot to celebrate today. Jesus came into this world to build a bridge between people and God. Jesus is the link that connects us as humans to God.
God also made a covenant with Noah. It is appropriate that it is raining as I write this sermon. A covenant is a promise or a contract between two parties. God made a covenant with Noah after the great flood that he would never use water again to destroy the evil in the world. The sign of that covenant is a rainbow. God and his people are reminded of that covenant every time that we see a colorful rainbow.
The story of God’s covenant with Noah is told in Genesis 9:8-17 (NIV). It says: Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you -- the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you -- every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
Over many generations, people moved away from God and toward sin and things of this world. God called Noah into action. Noah was faithful to God’s call. Noah built the ark. The ark saved eight people in all, through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves us. Baptism does not remove dirt from our body but the pledge of a right relationship with God. God saved Noah and his family from the great flood. Noah started over with his family and the animals from the ark. They were thankful for God’s protection, but people forgot about God and lost their ties to God over the generations again.
The next time, God choose to send his only begotten son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus came into this world not to condemn but to redeem this world. Jesus built a bridge between us and God. Jesus is the link that connects us to God.
In Mark 1:1-8, is says: The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way-- "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
John the Baptist preached a message of repentance. Many people came to him to be baptized with water. Now, water was being used to cleanse the sins. Baptism wasn’t used to wash away dirt and grime, the baptism of water was used to wash away sin and evil in their lives. John the Baptist also prepared the way for Jesus Christ in our lives.
Jesus asked John the Baptist to baptize him. At first, John the Baptist thought it should be Jesus baptizing John the Baptist. Jesus was setting the example for us. The picture right after Jesus is baptized is so clear to me in my mind’s eye. I see the sky opening up. I see the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus. The Holy Spirit looks like a white dove. The picture has sprays of water coming off of Jesus as Jesus comes up out of the water. John the Baptist is still holding onto the shoulder of Jesus. Out of sight, we hear a booming voice. The voice belongs to God. God tells Jesus and the whole world that Jesus is his son. God tells us that he loves Jesus. God is well pleased with Jesus.
Let’s read the scripture in Mark 1:9-11, At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven saying: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
The scene of Jesus being baptized shows the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the trinity. How many times is trinity mentioned in the Bible? The word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible.
The father is represented by God’s voice speaking from the heavens with power and might. The son is represented by Jesus in human form being baptized. The Holy Spirit is seen descending and landing upon Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the power of God within each one of us. We say that we believe in the father, son, and Holy Ghost in the Apostle’s Creed. John the Baptist was able to touch and feel Jesus as he baptized him. Jesus is God in human form. The Holy Spirit is God in a spiritual form which can be with everyone who calls upon the power of God. God the father is the God who we think about in the Old Testament.
The baptism of Jesus is one of the few places in the Bible where the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit are in one scripture at the same time. The idea of one God in three persons is difficult to understand. That is why I like to be able to visualize the baptism of Jesus so that I can understand what is happening.
Baptism is a transforming event in our lives. Our physical body dies and a spiritual body comes alive. The best teacher about baptism is Jesus. A mighty teacher came to Jesus to understand how baptism impacts our eternal lives. We’ll move onto John 3 right now.
John 3:1-3 says “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." ”
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
Jesus is a great teacher. He taught us by example in Mark 1 when he was baptized to show us the way. He also taught us by explaining how to be born again. Jesus told us: "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' Let’s renew our relationship with Jesus Christ as we celebrate communion today.
God also made a covenant with Noah. It is appropriate that it is raining as I write this sermon. A covenant is a promise or a contract between two parties. God made a covenant with Noah after the great flood that he would never use water again to destroy the evil in the world. The sign of that covenant is a rainbow. God and his people are reminded of that covenant every time that we see a colorful rainbow.
The story of God’s covenant with Noah is told in Genesis 9:8-17 (NIV). It says: Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you -- the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you -- every living creature on earth. I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth." And God said, "This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."
Over many generations, people moved away from God and toward sin and things of this world. God called Noah into action. Noah was faithful to God’s call. Noah built the ark. The ark saved eight people in all, through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves us. Baptism does not remove dirt from our body but the pledge of a right relationship with God. God saved Noah and his family from the great flood. Noah started over with his family and the animals from the ark. They were thankful for God’s protection, but people forgot about God and lost their ties to God over the generations again.
The next time, God choose to send his only begotten son so that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Jesus came into this world not to condemn but to redeem this world. Jesus built a bridge between us and God. Jesus is the link that connects us to God.
In Mark 1:1-8, is says: The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way-- "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.' "And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."
John the Baptist preached a message of repentance. Many people came to him to be baptized with water. Now, water was being used to cleanse the sins. Baptism wasn’t used to wash away dirt and grime, the baptism of water was used to wash away sin and evil in their lives. John the Baptist also prepared the way for Jesus Christ in our lives.
Jesus asked John the Baptist to baptize him. At first, John the Baptist thought it should be Jesus baptizing John the Baptist. Jesus was setting the example for us. The picture right after Jesus is baptized is so clear to me in my mind’s eye. I see the sky opening up. I see the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus. The Holy Spirit looks like a white dove. The picture has sprays of water coming off of Jesus as Jesus comes up out of the water. John the Baptist is still holding onto the shoulder of Jesus. Out of sight, we hear a booming voice. The voice belongs to God. God tells Jesus and the whole world that Jesus is his son. God tells us that he loves Jesus. God is well pleased with Jesus.
Let’s read the scripture in Mark 1:9-11, At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven saying: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."
The scene of Jesus being baptized shows the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the trinity. How many times is trinity mentioned in the Bible? The word “trinity” does not appear in the Bible.
The father is represented by God’s voice speaking from the heavens with power and might. The son is represented by Jesus in human form being baptized. The Holy Spirit is seen descending and landing upon Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the power of God within each one of us. We say that we believe in the father, son, and Holy Ghost in the Apostle’s Creed. John the Baptist was able to touch and feel Jesus as he baptized him. Jesus is God in human form. The Holy Spirit is God in a spiritual form which can be with everyone who calls upon the power of God. God the father is the God who we think about in the Old Testament.
The baptism of Jesus is one of the few places in the Bible where the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit are in one scripture at the same time. The idea of one God in three persons is difficult to understand. That is why I like to be able to visualize the baptism of Jesus so that I can understand what is happening.
Baptism is a transforming event in our lives. Our physical body dies and a spiritual body comes alive. The best teacher about baptism is Jesus. A mighty teacher came to Jesus to understand how baptism impacts our eternal lives. We’ll move onto John 3 right now.
John 3:1-3 says “Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."
3In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." ”
4"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"
5Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
9"How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10"You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."
Jesus is a great teacher. He taught us by example in Mark 1 when he was baptized to show us the way. He also taught us by explaining how to be born again. Jesus told us: "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' Let’s renew our relationship with Jesus Christ as we celebrate communion today.
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