Staying in Love

I give thanks every day for you! I was touched with your open arms when I came as a new pastor. You touched me with your love. You inspire me how you are growing in your faith. You share the love of Jesus Christ openly and with grace. I see you following Jesus Christ. I hear your testimony how God’s love is changing you. I see God’s blessings flowing from your wonderful testimony of God’s love.

People think the Bible is dull, dry, and boring. If that is the case, they haven’t read the Songs of Solomon. The Songs of Solomon teaches us about love. It teaches us about love between a husband and a wife. The Songs of Solomon teaches us how to write a love letter. Today’s love letter is to King Solomon from his wife. Do we write love letters to our girlfriends, boyfriends, or spouses anymore? Do we tell the people that we love them in a special and creative way? Do we just resort to finding a greeting card that almost says what we want to say to those that we love?

I confess that I don’t write Susan love letters anymore. I don’t know if I even did it when we were dating. I just assume that she knows how I feel about her. I also confess that I buy the American Greetings card to express my love for her. I haven’t found a special and creative way to tell her that I love her. I’m promising myself that I will say “I love you” to Susan in a special way right after I write this sermon.

The Song of Solomon 2:8-13 scriptures says “Listen! My lover! Look! Here he comes leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice. My lover spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”

This letter is written about King Solomon by his wife when they were very old. She was graciously remembering when Solomon was a young man. She called him a young stag. Today, she would probably call him a young buck or strong lion. She remembered that he could overcome any obstacle to reach her. Solomon was like an Old Testament superman. He could leap across mountains and bound over hills to reach her. Solomon could probably have stopped a speeding bullet if bullets had been invented when this book of the Bible was written. The simple request for Solomon’s wife to arise and come with him is powerful. Do we tell the ones that we love that we want them to come with us?

Solomon tells her that all of their problems are gone like the dreary rains. He explains that all of their problems of their lives have been replaced with flowers. If winter does not come, we cannot enjoy the spring. If the cold soaking rains do not come, the ground cannot open up to allow the flower seeds to sprout and bloom. Have we appreciated the challenges in our lives? Did we realize that we are stronger because we’ve endured those challenges? Solomon’s wife is celebrating the memory of when their love was young and all they thought about doing was to sing. I’d love to be able to serenade Susan, but my voice isn’t sweet enough to serenade her by myself. I’d need music playing behind me that I could sing along. There’s a song called “Sing” that Karen Carpenter sang when I was a kid. The words went:

“Sing, sing a song. Sing out loud. Sing out strong. Sing of good things not bad. Sing of happy not sad. Sing, sing a song. Make it simple to last your whole life long. Don't worry that it's not good enough for anyone else to hear. Just sing, sing a song. Let the world sing along. Sing of love there could be. Sing for you and for me.”

Karen Carpenter’s song always gave me encouragement. The song said “don’t worry about it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear. Just sing, sing a song.” I love to sing praises to God. I enjoy singing the songs that pop into my head without worrying about my voice being good enough. I just sing songs. We need to be willing to write love letters as well.

Did you realize that most of our hymns are actually love songs? Our hymns teach us about God’s love for us and also teach us about our love for God. Everything in this life boils down to love. We learn how to love our family from the way God loves his only son, Jesus Christ. We learn about how to love our parents from the love that Jesus gave to his father in heaven.

We are able to love because we were loved first by God. We learn to love our brothers and sisters. We learn to love strangers. We will learn to love in a new way when we meet that special someone who becomes our partner for our journey through this world.

Love has a way to overlook any flaw in our voices or our personality. It is when we forget “that we are in love” that the flaws in our special someone becomes visible. Somehow, we forget to see our husband or wife through the eyes of love.

Do you ever take the hand of your loved one to walk through the woods and listen to the birds singing and the crickets chirping? Do you wait for the sunset to look at God’s beauty together? Do you wait for the lightning bugs to glow in the early evening light? Or do you sit there worrying about the mosquitoes instead? Do you look into the eyes of your special someone and remember the first time you gazed into those eyes? Or do you look at the wrinkles around the eyes or the graying hair at the temples?

The flowers have a wonderful fragrance if we stop long enough to smell them with our loved ones. The first fruits are so sweet and tasty if we stop long enough to take a bite. Are you willing take the time to pick the fruit and taste the sweet and juicy peach?

King Solomon’s wife had a gift. She remembered King Solomon through the eyes of love. He had flaws. He had a lot of flaws. Did she mention those in her love letter? No. Did she complain about leaving his socks on the bedroom floor? No. Did she complain about anything? No. Her letter celebrated his strength, kindness, and love for her without any of the memories about a fight about money or disciplining the kids. She remembered his loving words to her. She remembered that King Solomon wanted her with him. Here are the verses: “Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land. The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me.”

He is telling her that he thinks that she is a flower that blooms in the spring after the early rains. He thinks that she bears good fruit and that she is the beautiful one. He wants her by his side.

I think we forget to tell the ones that we love that they bear good fruit. We tell them that our kids are dumb and lazy. That is a lie! We complain about the small stuff in life that doesn’t matter. Our kids are blessings from God. God has given us people in our lives to love and cherish. It is our duty to tell those people that we are thankful that God has blessed us with their presence in our lives.

Those people may be in our lives for a brief season. We can still write love letters about how they touched our lives and our hearts. We can also write love letters to our parents to tell them that we are thankful that they loved us before we knew about God’s love. We can write to the people in our lives today to tell them that they are special.

I give thanks every day for you! I was touched with your open arms when I came to you. You touched me with your love. You inspire me how you are growing in your faith. You share the love of Jesus Christ openly and with grace. The Hall Family recently experienced the tragedy of losing their home, but they did not lose love. You loved them as if they were your own family. I’ve seen you forgive and turn your pain over to God. I’ve seen you ask God for prayers. I’ve seen how you’ve reacted when you’ve been touched by God. I am in awe that you dream of God’s love and are willing to share that love with others.

I give thanks that you encourage, strengthen, and love all of God’s children. I give thanks that you raise your voices to God. I give thanks that you lift up those that are discouraged. I give thanks that I can see God in your face. I give thanks that you love with your whole heart. I give thanks that you love to get dirty to build an addition to our church. I give thanks that I have learned to love, to share, to encourage, and to sing praises to God right here with you.

I love you. I cherish your smile. I remember your faithfulness. I thank God that I have the opportunity to call you my friend. I thank God that I am learning about God’s grace through your example and your love. I remember to love God with all my heart, all my soul, all my strength, and all of my mind and to love my neighbor as myself.

I will also remember that Susan is the love of my life and that she was a gift from God to me to be my companion as I journey through this world to serve God in a special and powerful way. I will remember that our children our God’s first fruit. Our family is a gift that I will cherish today and everyday from this day forward. I promise to write praises to God for all of those that I love.

I vow to write love letters again. I vow to sing a love song and let the whole world sing along. Last week, one of the young girls asked to sing “Jesus Loves Me.” It was the faith of a little child that reminded us that Jesus loves us.

I promise that I will be the one asking to sing love songs about God in the future. I promise to remember to cherish love of all kinds and especially the love of my wife, the mother of our children, and the woman who enables me to be the man who can serve God. Without my wife, I would not be the man in front of you today. Susan taught me to give to God first. Susan taught me to find joy in every situation. Susan was the answer to my prayer to God when I told him that I was ready for my companion in this journey we call life. I thank God that I am a man blessed with Susan and my kids, our God, and our church. I thank God for men and women who are unified in their faith and abundant love. Amen!

Give God Thirty Days

I’m here today to ask a simple question. Can you give God a chance? Can you give God thirty days of your life? There are times in our lives when we just have to step out on faith. It is hard to do. The world says that we must also understand why and how everything happens to us. The logic of this world says that life must be fair.

Let us accept on faith that there is a God. We can spend all of our lives trying to use logic to explain away God or we can just believe that God exists and that God is our God. We can also believe that we are children of God. We can also choose to serve God for thirty days.

The minds of this world claim that we must have a nice and neat answer to how the universe was created. The logic of this world says that we must know the day and hour that the world was created. We can spend all of our time searching for the exact moment that the universe was created or we can just believe that God created us and the beauty that we see all around us. Mankind has been searching for the answer of how this world was created for a long time. The Bible provides an answer that God spoke it into existence and that creation was good. Let us accept creation on faith.

I was challenged with a lot of tough questions several weeks ago. I had a conversation about God with someone who asked a lot of hard questions about God. They were challenging questions. He was using those questions as justification for avoiding building a strong relationship with God. I wasn’t sure that I had all of the answers. In fact, I didn’t. God provided the answers through me. God provided the scriptures to back up the answers. God is an amazing God if we just listen.

I am inspired when people are touched by God. God surprises me a lot. I love it when God does the unexpected. I share my love of God with a lot of people. Not everyone is ready to hear about God or God’s love. I believe in planting seeds and seeing what comes up. My favorite gardening style is to let God blow the flower seeds and plant the seeds where he wants the flowers to grow. In the spring, I strain to look at the leaves of the new plants to try to guess what flower will grow from that small seed planted by God in the dead of winter.

I also strain to look into the hearts of people to see God growing stronger in their garden of life. The faith journey is different for different people. For some, the journey is short. For others, the journey takes a long time. For most of us, we will spend our entire lives on the journey to get closer to God. We will have spiritual growth spurts along the way and then we will have periods where it seems like we are making no progress at all. The journey may require a lot of prayers from our loved ones to God asking that we receive God’s anointing, favor, and blessing. In fact, someone else may have planted the seed of faith that sprouted when I watered the seed with God’s word.

There’s a story in the Bible in Matthew 13:1-23 about seeds falling on different kinds of soil. That soil is really descriptions for our hearts. [Read Matthew 13:1-23] We must prepare our hearts to be fertile ground for God’s word. If our hearts are full of stones or weeds, then we must change and build a place for God to grow within us. We need to build spiritual roots that are deep and strong so that we will stand firm when the storms come in our life. We also need to withstand the thorns and weeds in our life which try to chock our joy and our relationship with God.

My job is to know about God and to share the good news about him as your pastor. God is the one who helps me with the words and with the spiritual guidance. I’m just the guy willing to open his mouth and to let God’s words flow out. The amazing thing is that I can’t guess who has the fertile heart where God’s words will grow and flourish. I just go around planting seeds. It is so much fun. I don’t know what kind of ground that I’m sowing on when I sow God’s word. I just share God. Did you catch that? I just share God. It is that simple.

Recently, I shared God with a guy at a time when I hadn’t planned on sharing God. God just provided the situation to happen. Just sharing God provided joy for me and the guy receiving God. Two hours seemed like two minutes for both of us. We didn’t know what was happening we just talked like we were talking about a baseball game. The difference was that we were asking and answering questions about God.

Satan has placed a lot of reasons in our heart why we should not be in relationship with God. All of Satan’s reasons are lies. One of reasons may be that you lost your job because God was mad at you. One of reasons may be that you are sick because God wanted you to be sick. One of reasons may be that you aren’t happy because it pleases God. It is all a lie. Don’t listen to Satan. Listen to God.

I’m here today to ask a simple question. Can you give God a chance? Can you give God thirty days? Here’s what I’m asking you to do for God:

1. Speak with faith for thirty days. Don’t speak any negative about yourself or anyone else for thirty days.

2. See with the eyes of faith for thirty days. Look at what God wants you to see for thirty days.

3. Avoid cursing, teasing, and joking at someone else’s expense for thirty days.

4. Avoid any negative comments about yourself, your health, your friends, or anyone you love for thirty days.

5. Avoid giving anyone a hard time about anything for thirty days. Anyone means your wife, your children, and your friends.

6. Give yourself over to God completely for thirty days.

7. Tell your family and friends and even strangers that you love them for thirty days.

8. Open the Bible for thirty days. Read any scripture that you find. Imagine yourself in the Bible story or scripture.

9. Share the love of Jesus Christ for thirty days.

10. Do something unexpected for someone for thirty days.

[Go through each of the main points above in more detail.]
1. Speaking with faith for thirty days means speaking the unseen before it is visible. Speak with boldness that the impossible is possible. Stop saying “My son is lazy.” Start saying “I thank God for my son who is faithful, loving, smart, and hard working.” Stop saying that “My health is declining.” Start saying “I thank God that I’m getting better every day.” Speak only positive things about yourself or anyone else for thirty days.

2. See with the eyes of faith for thirty days. Look at what God wants you to see for thirty days. God has a plan for you. Open your eyes to the potential that is in you that God has given you. Open your eyes to see work in a new light. Open your eyes to see your spouse or children the way that God sees them. Open your eyes to see a sunset like it is the first time after you regained your sight. What would it be like to see God’s beauty for the first time? What would it be like to see your child’s face for the first time? What would it be like to see the smile on your loved one’s face for the first time? Let God guide you to see the mysteries of the gospel for the first time.

3. Avoid cursing, teasing, and joking at someone else’s expense for thirty days. We are snared by our tongue. Our spoken word has so much power over us. Scriptures warn us about the danger of the spoken word used in the wrong way. Scriptures also explain the power of the spoken word to confirm blessings in our lives. Joking at someone’s expense is really easy, but the hurt stays long after the laughing ceases. Don’t do it. Don’t tease. Don’t curse. Think about what you are about to say before it comes out of your mouth. Only let the positive and spiritual words be spoken out of your mouth. Don’t say “You are trouble.” Don’t say “You are a pain in my side.” Don’t say “You will not account to anything in this life.”

4. Avoid any negative comments about yourself, your health, your friends, or anyone you love for thirty days. This goes along with the third point. Only speak words that are loving, encouraging, and uplifting for thirty days. Don’t say that my back is getting worse. Tell your loved one how special they are to be in your life.

5. Avoid giving anyone a hard time about anything for thirty days. Anyone means your wife,
your children, and your friends. Don’t say it if you don’t mean it. Don’t say it in anger. Say your words in love. Say your words in joy.

6. Give yourself over to God completely for thirty days. Pray to God and say “God, you are my God and I am yours. Guide my steps in the way that you want me to go.”

7. Tell your family and friends and even strangers that you love them for thirty days. This is probably the hardest of all. It gets easier once we say “I love you” for the first time. It is fun to see the reaction of friends or strangers when you tell them that you love them. It is tough to see the reaction of family who haven’t heard those three words for too long. At first, a wall begins to fall that separates the two of you. A place of joy and love replaces the wall that separated the two of you.

8. Open the Bible for thirty days. Read any scripture that you find. Imagine yourself in the Bible story or scripture.

9. Share the love of Jesus Christ for thirty days.

10. Do something unexpected for someone for thirty days.

These points tie very nicely into Ephesians 4:25-5:2. The main goal is not to give the devil a foothold into your life. We were given the advice not to let the sun go down while you are still angry when we got married. It is still good advice. The scripture is asking us not to let bad language come out of our mouths. The spoken word is very powerful. The spoken word can bless our lives or it can curse our lives. Don’t voice your fears out load. Speak in faith instead.

The scripture from Ephesians 4:25-5:2 is so important. The scripture says “25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26"In your anger do not sin"[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. 29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

The person who was given this challenge to give God a chance for thirty days is seeing a difference in his life. His coworkers want to know what happened to him. He is not cursing. He is not looking at other women. He feels the fullness of God in his life. He is about to burst open with God’s love inside of him. He doesn’t know what to do yet, but he knows that life has changed for him. Are you willing to give God a chance for thirty days, too? Amen.

Living A Life Worthy of God

What does it mean to live a life worthy of the calling you have received? Are we living a life worthy of God’s calling? We have so many grand ideas of God’s calling, but are we handling the small stuff? Ephesians 4:1-3 says "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. "

I scanned a lot of pictures from our family photo albums over the last month. My parents are going to celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary on December 20th this year. My sister wanted to have a slide show of some of the best photographs. I quickly realized that our family has changed and also grown over the years. All of my grandparents have passed away now. There was a time when I could not have imagined life without them. I thought about their lives and how God called them. I wondered if my life would stack up to the faithful path that they had walked in their lives. I also thought about how they had touched their church and their family and their friends over the course of their lives.

Are we being a good friend? Are we being a good spouse? Are we being a good son or daughter or parent? Do we give the time when someone needs us? I spent the week at the Boy Scout Camp Ottari this week. I am the Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 362. We only have a handful of boys, but it means a lot to them that I took my time to spend the week with them.

One of the boys told me that he hoped that his Dad would be with him next year. He hoped that his Dad could sleep with him in his tent next year. At that moment I realized that part of my calling from God is being a Dad. I took time this week just to be a Dad. The time that I gave was more valuable to Johnny than all of the money in the world.

I’ve had the scripture for this week’s sermon for a long time. I took the scripture and my notes to Boy Scout Camp. I would get out my Bible and my notebook to start writing with the intentions of writing my sermon. Every time, someone would start up a conversation about God or God’s calling on their life.

Scoutmaster Tom told me that he knew that God was calling him to be a pastor since he was about eighteen years old. Tom told me that he had zigged and zagged his way through life. He’s cross paths with what God was calling him to do, but he never would stay on course until about two years ago. He realized that God’s call on his life was too great to ignore any longer. He was starting on the process to be a pastor in the United Methodist Church. It was great getting to know Tom and hearing how God had touched his life.

A scout came up to be to me his belief in God and religion. He told me that he didn’t have too much faith in religion. I told him that Jesus didn’t either. I told him that Jesus upset the money changers in the temple who were part of the organized religion. He wasn’t sure about God because of his lack of faith in religion. I told him that he should look around him at the beauty of nature if he ever doubted the existence of God. God created the beauty.

Have you ever been seen someone working alone and realized that they needed help? I saw a scoutmaster cooking hot dogs on Thursday afternoon. I realized that I couldn’t just keep on walking and leave him to cook for all of those boys and their leaders alone. I cooked about nine hundred hamburgers for the outdoor festival. Afterwards, I needed to take a shower and cook off. Finally, on Thursday night I found a bench overlooking the lake to write the first few pages of this sermon. I felt God and had a sense of this sermon.

It rained almost every day that we were at camp. Our socks and clothes were wet. It was hard to get them dry so they were put into the dirty clothes bag a little damp. We loaded the truck in the rain and had to put all of the suitcases and dirty clothes in the cab. I didn’t notice the smell when we loaded the truck. I didn’t notice the smell until I had taken a bath and returned to unload the truck.

I smelled the wet and soggy truck with a new sense of smell. I tried to get the clothes washed as quickly as possible so that the rest of the family would not gag from the smell of a son and Dad who had been camping for a week.

We got back on Saturday morning from camp. I had dreams of getting home early, resting, finishing my sermon early in the afternoon, and having a peaceful birthday party for my brother-in-law. Jessica told me that she needed to shop for tennis shoes for band camp next week. We couldn’t find a pair a “Show Show” in Rocky Mount so we ended up driving to the “Rack Room” in Roanoke. I realized while I was driving Jessica that driving to Roanoke was the gift of my time to help Jessica have shoes to wear while she was marching next week. I was fulfilling my call to be a parent in a different way. I was ready to rest, but my calling was to give time to my daughter.

Susan was at Wesley Seminary last week learning about how God and the Bible is portrayed in Hollywood movies. I missed her. She didn’t make it home until Saturday afternoon. I realize that my calling as a supportive husband is being able to let go enough so that Susan can grow spiritually. Missy is also serving God at Project SPY (Summer Project Youth) in Christiansburg. I’ve missed her this summer, but she is really growing in her faith by preparing a place of middle and high school students to come to serve God. I’ve also had to let go of Missy so God could transform her spiritually.

I’m also learning that living my calling requires me to listen to God, Susan, and my children. They have very special things to tell me about how God is touching them. If I don’t slow down enough, I’ll never be able to hear their wonderful stories of inspiration and transformation. My call is to be an active listener.

My call is also being a good brother-in-law. My call is also being a good pastor by visiting David Smith in Franklin Memorial Hospital. My call is also being an encourager to people that cross my path – Whitney. Whitney remembered every word that I told her last year. She remembered my stories. She remembered my encouragement. I had forgotten the words that were spoken last year at Boy Scout Camp, but for her those words were words of hope and faith. I realized that my call from God is to encourage strangers as they cross my path. Those moments may make a bigger impact in someone’s life than we realize.

I received a call from Kofi Boakye. The windows and doors are in the Sagadugu Church. He said that missionary went by the church and was impressed with the new church. The missionary asked Kofi how the church was built. Kofi is ready to start work on the plaster job for that church. Kofi said that the people of Sagadugu are encouraged because they have a place to worship. I realized that my call is to serve God by helping people to worship God.

I received a call from a member of our church who wants to remember her baptism. She wants to rededicate her life to God. I realize that my call is to help people along their faith journey.
Living a life worthy of God’s calling is easy. We need to pay attention to the little things in our life when people need us. We need to lift them up. We need to encourage. We need to help people when they are down. We need to pray for the sick. We need to clothe the poor. We need to feed the hungry.

It is okay to think about the calling of Moses going to the burning bush or the mountain top. We may be called to part the Red Sea or we may just be called to live our life in a manner that people will say that they were touched by our love in such a special way. If someone opens the photo album fifty years from now, what will they say about our life? Will our lives inspire others to serve God and to be inspired to determine their life that is worthy of God’s call? As we go out those doors today, let us think about God’s calling on our lives and find the way that God wants us to serve.

Vastness of God's Love

Ephesians 3:14-21 is the scripture for this sermon. This scripture says "14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen."

The Apostle Paul prayed in Ephesians 3:14-21 for us to get tight with God. The Apostle Paul prays for others in most of his prayers. Paul uses his life as a testimony. He also uses himself as an example for us to follow.

I learned about this scripture when a friend of mine, Rex Brown, read it in Sunday school to describe how God had touched his life. He opened my eyes that God is so much bigger than we can grasp without truly spending time with God to learn God’s depth. Rex was giving his testimony how God’s touched in his life. He explained that God is indescribable. Today, I believe he was saying that we have to learn about God for ourselves to find out all of things that God can do in our lives. Words just can’t do justice to God.

We need to fall to our knees and pray to God. We won’t get to know God we unless really talk to him. It says that we need to “knell before the Father.” Knelling before the Father makes me think of the picture of a small child knelling by her bed to pray to God before she goes to sleep. Do we do that today? Jesus says that we need to have childlike faith. If the child is willing to knell before God, why aren’t we willing to fall on our knees to pray? It is okay to tell God that we can’t go through this world any longer without him. It is okay to tell God that you want him to be your best friend. It is okay. God wants to be your best friend, too. Our church alter is designed to have a place to knell. Do we use it or do we look at it?

I confess that I wrote my sermon listening to K-Love. I turn on the radio when I’m in the car. I turn on the television when I go into the living room. It is hard to hear God’s voice over the booming radio or television. What if God is screaming at us and we don’t hear his voice because of Fox News, Q-99 or the 10 O’clock news? Can we turn off the noise in our lives so we can listen to God? I admit that the music on K-Love inspires me. Sometimes God works through the noise in our life.

Why don’t we make it easy for God by reserving some quiet time to think about God? On Friday morning, I was about one hour early to a meeting so I had time in a place without TV or radio and nothing to do. It was a gift of time where I was with God. I didn’t have any distractions. Why can’t we plan to receive that gift of time with God every day?
The scripture mentions God’s glorious riches. What are God’s glorious riches? Is it eternal life? Is it being loved in a huge way? Does it mean sharing God’s love with others in a wonderful and unselfish way? Is it giving of ourselves without expecting anything in return? Does God’ glorious riches include silver and gold? Does God’s glorious riches include blessings from heaven falling down to us and our family?

Does God’s glorious riches mean being able to see the impossible become possible? Why don’t we find out what God’s glorious riches mean in our life? Many people search under the rainbow and in all kinds of unusual places for the pot of gold to change their lives. My belief is the pot of gold doesn’t really exist. We should search for a “pot of God.” If we clean up our lives, we will probably realize that the “pot of God” has been sitting in the corner of our lives waiting for the time when we open our eyes and realize that the future glorious riches was sitting waiting to be opened all of the time. Some of us call the “pot of God” a Bible. Jesus Christ is the truth. Jesus is the light of this world.

Jesus Christ can strengthen us through the Holy Spirit. We can go through this life relying on our own power or we can rely on the power of God to be with us. It is our choice. We usually wait until bad health hits us to consider asking God to be with us. Why don’t we invite God in when everything is going well and we are healthy? This scripture also indicates that our strength is not skin deep. Our strength comes from our inner being.

We think of God’s love as two dimensional: our love for God and God’s love for us. This scripture quickly explains that God’s love is so much bigger. This scripture challenges us to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ. This scripture challenges us to realize that God’s love surpasses our human knowledge and wisdom. God’s love is bigger than what we can write on a piece of paper. God’s love is bigger than a box.

The way that I relate to this scripture is to think of the Grand Canyon as a small ditch compared to God’s Grand Canyon. God’s love has thousands of Grand Canyons contained inside of it. Let me describe God’s love another way. God’s love is the size of thousands and thousands of Grand Canyons. God’s love is like Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls is the biggest water falls in the world. Victoria Falls could hold many Niagara Falls. It is impossible to see all of the water falls from one vantage point. God’s love is like the mist that comes off the water falls. The mist surrounds us when we least expect it. The mist cools us on a hot summer day. God’s love refreshes us just when we need his love the most. God’s love and presence covers us and renews us.

God’s love is bigger than the biggest Grand Canyon that we can imagine. God’s love is BIG! Jesus answered a key question about how to obey God’s commandments by talking about love in Matthew 12:28-31. It says, “28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" 29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all of your mind and with all your strength.' 31The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

I’m not sure why it is so hard to describe love. First, there’s so many ways to love and be loved. I’m thinking about the love that gives without wondering what will be received in return. I’m thinking about the love that anticipates a need and gives fully to satisfy that need. The love that a mother shows to a newborn baby is like that kind of love.

It is hard to describe the love of Jesus Christ because he gave his whole life just for us. Jesus didn’t just give of his time. Jesus didn’t lose a leg. Jesus lost his whole life so that we could have eternal life. Jesus gave his life willingly for us. We hear about people who died in war so that a buddy could be saved. The soldier knew love when he laid down his life in the line of duty for a friend. Jesus knew love when he laid down his life for the whole world.

Verse 16 & 17 of Ephesians 3 help us to understand how we are able to grasp God’s love. The Bible says “16I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” We can comprehend God’s love if we invite the Holy Spirit into our hearts through faith.

I cherish the “love chapter” in the Bible. It is 1 Corinthians 13. Susan and I read this chapter at our wedding. This chapter states that we can do great things in our lifetime, but if we have not loved we are nothing. [Please read 1 Corinthians 13 NIV]

In conclusion, we need to “continually remember before our God and Father our work produced by faith, our labor prompted by love, and our endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” [1 Thessalonians 1:3] And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom God has given us. [Romans 5:5] We learn in Galatians 5:22 that a few of the fruits of the Holy Spirit are love and joy.

Grace and faith help us to understand the vastness of God if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. God’s love is so special. It is also so wonderful to share God’s love to as many people as we can. In turn, the love of Jesus Christ is returned to us in ways that we can only imagine. If we are looking for love in all of the wrong places, we are not seeking God’s love. Today is the day to open our hearts to the vastness of God’s love. Today is the day to be willing to ask for the strength from God! Amen!

Listening God's Call in My Life

There were many people who inspired me as I grew in my faith. I first heard God’s call when I started as an unpaid “Youth Group Pastor” in 1983. I helped the youth grow in their faith. This was also the first time in my life that I began to give back to God after college. The work with the youth was very satisfying and rewarding, but I didn’t think about turning that experience into a full-time ministry. I began to think more about God as my wife, Susan, and I began to have children in 1989. It was important for us that our children grow up in the church. Our family is active in the church.

In 1999, I read the scripture from Luke 12:48b “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.” God blessed me with my wife, Susan, and our four children. God also blessed me with a career with Mobil and America Online which allowed me to retire in 1999. I realized I had been given much and God would demand much from me. I am a steward of God’s wealth and his Word.

I began by praying to God what he asked in return. I started by taking as many daily Bible studies as possible to further learn God’s Word. I studied the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I also prayed for discernment to know the ways that God would use me. I took the Companions in Christ and Disciple courses. I also taught the adult Sunday school class at Redwood United Methodist Church from 2000 to 2008.

In 2002, I noticed that Uncle Bill Barker had been transformed as a pastor. I asked myself what happened to him. I realized that he had gone to Ghana on a mission trip. I asked him if I could go on his next trip. He asked me if I was serious. I told him that I was serious about going. I went on my first trip in September 2003.

God showed me amazing things on that first trip to Ghana. I learned that if I prayed that God could answer my prayers. I asked Uncle Bill what I would do on the trip. He told me that he needed people to pray while he preached. I met my first witch doctor on a Sunday morning while we were meeting the chief and the elders before a worship service under a tree.

The witch doctor told us that two of the elders were his brothers and that the village of Gbani was his village. As Uncle Bill started preaching, the witch doctor began to give the people the evil eye. The people became afraid and stopped listening to the sermon. I realized it was time to pray. I prayed “God, let the people have the faith to overcome their fear. Let the wind blow and blow the evil out of here.” I felt a breeze. I felt God’s presence overcoming the evil in that village. We took one hundred and fifty people to the river. I helped Uncle Bill baptize eighty-one people in the river. We baptized until our backs ached. I’ve seen God when people are transformed during baptism.

I saw the impact of giving Bibles translated for the first time into the Mampruli language. We preached in a village, Zangum Yakura, where they heard about God for the first time in the 150 year history of that village. I prayed for little children who wanted God’s blessings. I prayed more in a few days than I had prayed in my entire life. I’ve seen God in people who were reading the Bible for the very first time and in the faith of little children.

I came back to America renewed spiritually. I didn’t have a clear picture of God’s call, but it was becoming clear that God had a plan for me. I joined the board of the Henry Fork Service Center. I helped with Phase One of the construction of the classrooms in 2004 and 2005. I raised money and searched for mission teams across the Virginia Conference to come to Franklin County to help build the Henry Fork Service Center. I’ve seen God when you prepare a place for people to serve the Lord in missions close to home.

I have the gift of prayer. I actively visit people who are sick, homebound, or in the nursing home. Many people have been touched by the Holy Spirit when I’ve gone to pray. I prayed for a man with severe pain in his jaw. He was unable to get relief from the UVA Medical Center doctors, but God healed his jaw. He asked me how much the healing would cost. I told him that the power of the Holy Spirit is free of charge. I’ve seen God at home when people ask for prayer.

I did not plan to go to Ghana again until I received God’s call in early 2005. I told God that I did not have a mission team. I told God that I had a family. I told God had never led a mission team in the past. He told me to go now. I asked him if I could go in September, but he said for me to go now. God had an answer for every one of my excuses. The team appeared. The plans were made. I prayed at the altar at Redwood UMC on the Saturday before Easter in 2005. I prayed “Lord, let my words be your words, let my will be your will, fill me with the Holy Spirit, and use me.” It was a simple prayer. I felt the power of the Holy Spirit fill me a few hours later. That was the moment that I knew that God had a purpose for me in my life and had confirmed it with the power of the Holy Spirit. We were in Ghana within two months of God’s call.

I prayed for the nephew of the chief in Bugiya in 2005. He was blind. I thought I couldn’t pray for a blind man, but I did it anyway. I anointed his eyes with oil. I prayed “Lord, thank you for the blessing of sight. We know that in your name all things are possible. By Jesus stripes you are healed.” The pastor held up one finger and the blind held up one finger. The pastor held up two fingers and then the whole hand. The blind man held up two fingers and then said that the whole hand was fuzzy. I asked the blind man if he believed in the power of Jesus Christ to heal. He said “Yes!” I anointed his eyes with oil and prayed for him again. This time, I saw the clouds of the blind man’s eyes part and all I saw looking back at me were healthy eyes.

In 2006, I blessed triplets of that blind man who regained his sight in Bugiya. We’ve seen close to one hundred people receive the answer to their prayers in just one service in Bugiya. I’ve seen God when a blind man can say “I was blind, but now I can see.”

I’ve seen God use me in amazing ways in Ghana over the years. I’ve seen the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear in the name of Jesus Christ. I’ve seen villages turn from Satan to worshipping Jesus Christ. I’ve seen signs, miracles, and wonders AFTER I believed that God was a mighty God. We’ve also seen many people accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior after evangelizing in northern Ghana. Sixty-five people accepted Jesus Christ on my last trip to Ghana in April 2009. We built classrooms in the slums of Kumasi to grow a school from 200 children to over 600 children in the elementary, middle and high school. I’ve seen God when children learn to read and have hope for the future.

We’ve built four churches in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region of Ghana in villages of Sagadugu, Diani, Bugiya and Nabari. The name Bugiya stands for “a place for Satan.” Now, youth from that place sing praises to God at home and around the West Mamprusi District. All of the chiefs of the Mamprusi tribe met in the Bugiya church to try to understand how a church could exist in an evil place like Bugiya. We are finishing the fourth church in Sagadugu where I preached a sermon for the first time in 2003. My Bible fell open to Deuteronomy 28 about God’s blessings. The work has been done with the support of many churches providing mission team members on over nine trips to Ghana. I’ve seen God when people have a place to worship Jesus Christ.

I went back to Ghana in April 2009. We’ve raised over $500,000 to provide clean water in Ghana with the Rotary Foundation, The Carter Center, Ghana Health Services, UNICEF, and Ghana Guinea Worm Eradication Program. Our goal is to eliminate an entire disease from Ghana by 2010. We want to eliminate the Guinea Worm parasite. It is a parasite that lives in the body for one year and grows up to three feet long. In 2007, children were sick with the parasite in the Savelugu Guinea Worm Containment Center. In 2008, the children were laughing and playing in the Savelugu School without the painful parasite! I’ve seen God when children are free from disease.

I’ve learned so much on my mission trips to Ghana. I thought I was going to teach the people of West Africa about God, but I learned so much about faith, hope, and love from the people that I went to serve. I have gone where I was one of the only Christians in a village. I’ve had to overcome my fears and prejudices to be able to go where God sent me. I’ve seen God when I learn from those whom I serve.

I’ve preached after a Muslim man announced our service over the Mosque loudspeaker. I have seen God’s Word come alive. I’ve seen God where people are united in love. Muslims have welcomed us because we brought the love of Jesus Christ through clean water to drink in their community. We dug wells to give safe water to drink to the communities where the Guinea Worm disease was the worst. Giving a thirsty man a drink is the best charitable thing a Muslim can do for his fellow man. I’ve seen God when the thirsty have water to drink.

We usually bring food to villages on our mission trips. In September 2007, a one hundred year flood destroyed all of the crops at harvest time. We drew a map on a piece of paper of the names of the villages to the north, south, east, and west of Walewale, Ghana. We calculated the size of each village. We hired donkey carts and cargo vans to haul the food to over twenty-five villages. We told each chief that the food was a blessing from our church to his village. We also prayed that one day God would bless their village and they would be able to help another village someday. I’ve seen God when the hungry have food to eat.

We celebrated medical equipment and supplies that arrived at the Tamale Eye Clinic and Tamale Teaching Hospital. We worked with Project CURE, the Methodist Church, and Rotary to ship two containers. Redwood UMC paid $1,000 for a needs assessment for the hospital and eye clinic. Rotary paid about $50,000 to ship the two containers. Project CURE collected about $1 million in medical equipment and supplies. The town of Tamale has a population of 500,000 people. We celebrated the improvements to the hospital in early April. The $1,000 investment by the Methodist Church turned into a $1,000,000 project for a hospital in the bush of northern Africa. I’ve seen God in healing the sick through medical care.

I see the power of Jesus Christ here at home. Where two or more are gathered in his name, there God will be also. In October, District Superintendent Bruce Tuttle spoke about a church that needed a pastor. That church was New Hope United Methodist Church in Callaway. I’ve seen God in our local churches.

I understood God’s call in my life for missions and right here at home in the USA. America is a mission field today. I am in awe of God’s ability to use someone like me. In my weakness, God makes me strong. Every time he uses me, I am in awe. I see God touching people. I’ve seen God giving people love, faith, and hope right here at home.

I will go where God sends me. I will do what God wants me to do. I will serve those that God loves. My call is summarized in Matthew 25:35-40: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'”

I will continue to listen to God’s call to fulfill his commandments in my life right here at home and around the world! I may not get it right the first time just like King David, but I’ll trying to listen to God’s call until I get it right.

Trying to Deliver for God

The scripture from 2 Samuel 6:1-19 is about King David trying to deliver the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. It took King David time to get it right. The Ark of the Covenant is a small oak box that contains two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them. The ark also contains the presence of the Lord. The ark is overlaid in gold. David’s call in life was to return the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem so that it would bless the country of Israel.

The Philistines stole the ark after a battle. The ark had caused the Philistines nothing but trouble ever since they stole it. The Philistines abused the ark by putting it into one of their temples to a pagan God. They returned the ark to the Israelites in a cart pulled by oxen. They were trying to get rid of the curses by returning the ark.

At first, David didn’t follow God’s instructions on the way to handle the ark. He used a cart to carry the ark just like the Philistines. He overlooked the fact that God gave instructions how the ark should be carried. God explained that the ark should not be touched. 2 Samuel 6:5 explains that Uzzah reached to keep the ark from falling out of the cart after the oxen stumbled. Uzzah was struck dead.

David was afraid. They decided to stop in their tracks and not go any further with the Ark of the Covenant. David was not willing to take the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem at that time. Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The Ark of the Covenant stayed in the Gittite’s house for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.

David heard that the Ark was blessing Obed-Edom and his family. He decided that it was time to finish the job of moving the Ark to Jerusalem so that the entire Jewish nation could benefit from God’s blessings. God’s blessing flowed from the Ark of the Covenant. David knew his call was to serve God. He also knew that he didn’t do it right the first time.

If all else fails, it is time to read the Bible. David studied up on how God instructed his people to carry the Ark of the Covenant. First, the Ark should be handled with great care and respect. God also wanted two poles to be placed on each side of the Ark. Men would lift the poles which would allow the men to haul the Ark of the Covenant without having to touch it. In this way, David was able to get the Ark of the Covenant to the Tabernacle in Jerusalem.

The Tabernacle was a huge tent. Inside the tent were many rooms. The most sacred room was the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant would be placed until King Solomon years later would build the temple in Jerusalem.

The theme of this month is stories and God’s call. I’ve had the honor to preach at Epworth once before. Now, I am a lay pastor at New Hope United Methodist Church. I am also very passionate about missions. I believe that a church will grow if the members of the church will step out of the doors of the church to serve God wherever God calls them to serve. God’s mission field is right here in Franklin County, in Virginia, on the Gulf Coast recovering from Hurricane Katrina and around the world.

King David knew that part of his call was to return the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem so that God would bless Israel and the people of Israel would have a special place to worship God. He made mistakes along the way. David had to stop along the way. David had to understand more about God before he could continue his call. David finally was able to accomplish the task that God called David to do.

We are a lot like King David. We know that God has called us to service. We try to start on that path to serve God before we fully understand how we are to do the work. We may stumble. We may fall, but we will keep moving along the path to serving God.

Let me share my story with you today. There were many people who inspired me as I grew in my faith. I first heard God’s call when I started as an unpaid “Youth Group Pastor” in 1983. I helped the youth grow in their faith. This was also the first time in my life that I began to give back to God after college. The work with the youth was very satisfying and rewarding, but I didn’t think about turning that experience into a full-time ministry. I began to think more about God as my wife, Susan, and I began to have children in 1989. It was important for us that our children grow up in the church. Our family is active in the church.

In 1999, I read the scripture from Luke 12:48b “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.” God blessed me with my wife, Susan, and our four children. God also blessed me with a career with Mobil and America Online which allowed me to retire in 1999. I realized I had been given much and God would demand much from me. I am a steward of God’s wealth and his Word.

I began by praying to God what he asked in return. I started by taking as many daily Bible studies as possible to further learn God’s Word. I studied the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I also prayed for discernment to know the ways that God would use me. I took the Companions in Christ and Disciple courses. I also taught the adult Sunday school class at Redwood United
Methodist Church from 2000 to 2008.

In 2002, I noticed that Uncle Bill Barker had been transformed as a pastor. I asked myself what happened to him. I realized that he had gone to Ghana on a mission trip. I asked him if I could go on his next trip. He asked me if I was serious. I told him that I was serious about going. I went on my first trip in September 2003.

God showed me amazing things on that first trip to Ghana. I learned that if I prayed that God could answer my prayers. I asked Uncle Bill what I would do on the trip. He told me that he needed people to pray while he preached. I met my first witch doctor on a Sunday morning while we were meeting the chief and the elders before a worship service under a tree.

The witch doctor told us that two of the elders were his brothers and that the village of Gbani was his village. As Uncle Bill started preaching, the witch doctor began to give the people the evil eye. The people became afraid and stopped listening to the sermon. I realized it was time to pray. I prayed “God, let the people have the faith to overcome their fear. Let the wind blow and blow the evil out of here.” I felt a breeze. I felt God’s presence overcoming the evil in that village. We took one hundred and fifty people to the river. I helped Uncle Bill baptize eighty-one people in the river. We baptized until our backs ached. I’ve seen God when people are transformed during baptism.

I saw the impact of giving Bibles translated for the first time into the Mampruli language. We preached in a village, Zangum Yakura, where they heard about God for the first time in the 150 year history of that village. I prayed for little children who wanted God’s blessings. I prayed more in a few days than I had prayed in my entire life. I’ve seen God in people who were reading the Bible for the very first time and in the faith of little children.

I came back to America renewed spiritually. I didn’t have a clear picture of God’s call, but it was becoming clear that God had a plan for me. I joined the board of the Henry Fork Service Center. I helped with Phase One of the construction of the classrooms in 2004 and 2005. I raised money and searched for mission teams across the Virginia Conference to come to Franklin County to help build the Henry Fork Service Center. I’ve seen God when you prepare a place for people to serve the Lord in missions close to home.

I have the gift of prayer. I actively visit people who are sick, homebound, or in the nursing home. Many people have been touched by the Holy Spirit when I’ve gone to pray. I prayed for a man with severe pain in his jaw. He was unable to get relief from the UVA Medical Center doctors, but God healed his jaw. He asked me how much the healing would cost. I told him that the power of the Holy Spirit is free of charge. I’ve seen God at home when people ask for prayer.

I did not plan to go to Ghana again until I received God’s call in early 2005. I told God that I did not have a mission team. I told God that I had a family. I told God had never led a mission team in the past. He told me to go now. I asked him if I could go in September, but he said for me to go now. God had an answer for every one of my excuses. The team appeared. The plans were made. I prayed at the altar at Redwood UMC on the Saturday before Easter in 2005. I prayed “Lord, let my words be your words, let my will be your will, fill me with the Holy Spirit, and use me.” It was a simple prayer. I felt the power of the Holy Spirit fill me a few hours later. That was the moment that I knew that God had a purpose for me in my life and had confirmed it with the power of the Holy Spirit. We were in Ghana within two months of God’s call.

I prayed for the nephew of the chief in Bugiya in 2005. He was blind. I thought I couldn’t pray for a blind man, but I did it anyway. I anointed his eyes with oil. I prayed “Lord, thank you for the blessing of sight. We know that in your name all things are possible. By Jesus stripes you are healed.” The pastor held up one finger and the blind held up one finger. The pastor held up two fingers and then the whole hand. The blind man held up two fingers and then said that the whole hand was fuzzy. I asked the blind man if he believed in the power of Jesus Christ to heal. He said “Yes!” I anointed his eyes with oil and prayed for him again. This time, I saw the clouds of the blind man’s eyes part and all I saw looking back at me were healthy eyes. In 2006,
I blessed triplets of that blind man who regained his sight in Bugiya. We’ve seen close to one hundred people receive the answer to their prayers in just one service in Bugiya. I’ve seen God when a blind man can say “I was blind, but now I can see.”

I’ve seen God use me in amazing ways in Ghana over the years. I’ve seen the lame walk, the blind see, and the deaf hear in the name of Jesus Christ. I’ve seen villages turn from Satan to worshipping Jesus Christ. I’ve seen signs, miracles, and wonders AFTER I believed that God was a mighty God. We’ve also seen many people accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior after evangelizing in northern Ghana. Sixty-five people accepted Jesus Christ on my last trip to Ghana in April 2009. We built classrooms in the slums of Kumasi to grow a school from 200 children to over 600 children in the elementary, middle and high school. I’ve seen God when children learn to read and have hope for the future.

We’ve built four churches in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region of Ghana in villages of Sagadugu, Diani, Bugiya and Nabari. The name Bugiya stands for “a place for Satan.” Now, youth from that place sing praises to God at home and around the West Mamprusi District. All of the chiefs of the Mamprusi tribe met in the Bugiya church to try to understand how a church could exist in an evil place like Bugiya. We are finishing the fourth church in Sagadugu where I preached a sermon for the first time in 2003. My Bible fell open to Deuteronomy 28 about God’s blessings. The work has been done with the support of many churches providing mission team members on over nine trips to Ghana. I’ve seen God when people have a place to worship Jesus Christ.

I went back to Ghana in April 2009. We’ve raised over $500,000 to provide clean water in Ghana with the Rotary Foundation, The Carter Center, Ghana Health Services, UNICEF, and Ghana Guinea Worm Eradication Program. Our goal is to eliminate an entire disease from Ghana by 2010. We want to eliminate the Guinea Worm parasite. It is a parasite that lives in the body for one year and grows up to three feet long. In 2007, children were sick with the parasite in the Savelugu Guinea Worm Containment Center. In 2008, the children were laughing and playing in the Savelugu School without the painful parasite! I’ve seen God when children are free from disease.

I’ve learned so much on my mission trips to Ghana. I thought I was going to teach the people of West Africa about God, but I learned so much about faith, hope, and love from the people that I went to serve. I have gone where I was one of the only Christians in a village. I’ve had to overcome my fears and prejudices to be able to go where God sent me. I’ve seen God when I learn from those whom I serve.

I’ve preached after a Muslim man announced our service over the Mosque loudspeaker. I have seen God’s Word come alive. I’ve seen God where people are united in love. Muslims have welcomed us because we brought the love of Jesus Christ through clean water to drink in their community. We dug wells to give safe water to drink to the communities where the Guinea Worm disease was the worst. Giving a thirsty man a drink is the best charitable thing a Muslim can do for his fellow man. I’ve seen God when the thirsty have water to drink.

We usually bring food to villages on our mission trips. In September 2007, a one hundred year flood destroyed all of the crops at harvest time. We drew a map on a piece of paper of the names of the villages to the north, south, east, and west of Walewale, Ghana. We calculated the size of each village. We hired donkey carts and cargo vans to haul the food to over twenty-five villages. We told each chief that the food was a blessing from our church to his village. We also prayed that one day God would bless their village and they would be able to help another village someday. I’ve seen God when the hungry have food to eat.

We celebrated medical equipment and supplies that arrived at the Tamale Eye Clinic and Tamale Teaching Hospital. We worked with Project CURE, the Methodist Church, and Rotary to ship two containers. Redwood UMC paid $1,000 for a needs assessment for the hospital and eye clinic. Rotary paid about $50,000 to ship the two containers. Project CURE collected about $1 million in medical equipment and supplies. The town of Tamale has a population of 500,000 people. We celebrated the improvements to the hospital in early April. The $1,000 investment by the Methodist Church turned into a $1,000,000 project for a hospital in the bush of northern Africa. I’ve seen God in healing the sick through medical care.

I see the power of Jesus Christ here at home. Where two or more are gathered in his name, there God will be also. In October, District Superintendent Bruce Tuttle spoke about a church that needed a pastor. That church was New Hope United Methodist Church in Callaway. I’ve seen God in our local churches.

I understood God’s call in my life for missions and right here at home in the USA. America is a mission field today. I am in awe of God’s ability to use someone like me. In my weakness, God makes me strong. Every time he uses me, I am in awe. I see God touching people. I’ve seen God giving people love, faith, and hope right here at home.

I will go where God sends me. I will do what God wants me to do. I will serve those that God loves. My call is summarized in Matthew 25:35-40: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'” I will continue to listen to God’s call to fulfill his commandments in my life right here at home and around the world! I may not get it right the first time just like King David, but I’ll trying to listen to God’s call until I get it right.

In Our Weakness, We are Made Strong

2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (NIV) 1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell. 5I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say. 7To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9But he said to me, "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. 10That 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.

The Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 tells about his thorn in his flesh. The thorn in our flesh could be an illness, disease or any problem that overwhelms us. A thorn in the flesh can also be anger, hate or other challenges in our lives. We know that this problem was so bad that Paul asked God three times to remove the thorn in his flesh from his side. The thorn in his flesh could be an attack from Satan which tries to take our joy and peace away.

The Apostle Paul was an amazing disciple of God. We are amazed that he was able to write so many books of the Bible. He traveled all over modern day Greece, Turkey, Lebanon and Israel preaching the gospel. It is shocking to hear that he did all of these things while he had a thorn in his side. We imagine that our heroes in the Bible are perfect. They are strong. They are smart. They are able to leap over buildings in a single bound. Oh, that is another story!

The Apostle Paul admitted that he had health problems, physical problems, or some other problem that caused him pain. Paul was weak! In spite of his weakness, Paul was able to serve God. The key message is that God turned Paul’s weakness into his strength. Part of the reason why Paul was okay with his thorn in his flesh is that it helped him from boasting!
I’ve had a lot of thorns in my flesh over my lifetime. The first thorn was stuttering as a child. It hurt me that people did not want to try to understand what I wanted to tell them because the stuttering made it difficult for me to be understood. The stuttering also made it impossible to dream that one day I could preach God’s word. Now, when I preach I remember that it is with God’s help that I am able to preach the gospel. People can listen to me and think that if it wasn’t for the help of God, I would not be able to open my mouth.

I’ve had back aches in my life. One of the worst times that I had back pain was right before a mission trip to Ghana. I couldn’t walk. I was in pain just to sit in a chair. I had to make a decision to cancel my mission trip or to step in faith onto the airplane for almost fifteen hours. I gathered up the ice packs and heat packs to take on my trip. I prayed. I asked for help. I was able to go without pain as soon as I made the decision to serve God and get on that airplane. Every step that I took on that mission trip was because of God’s grace. God made my weak back strong so I could serve him better. I remembered that I was nothing without God in my life.

I’ve had illnesses that most people in America will never experience because I ate unsafe food in Africa. It has been really tough to overcome salmonella typhi food poisoning and typhoid fever. Now, I am better able to understand people who deal with unsafe food and water every day of their life. I have also had migraine headaches as a result of the typhoid fever. I’ve never had migraine headaches in my life. It may take about one year to recover completely from typhoid fever. I’m able to understand the pain caused by a migraine headache. Now, when I speak about the need to have safe food to eat and clean water to drink it is from a personal perspective that I can talk about the need.

This week, I was complaining that it was taking a long time for the cracked heads on my boat engine to be repaired. I received a call from my friend, Ryan Lester, who was preparing for brain surgery to remove a tumor near his brain stem. I was worrying about a cracked head on a boat while Ryan was worrying about a tumor inside his head. My problem was not nearly as critical as Ryan’s. Ryan made it through surgery without a problem. The problem with my boat was a very small thorn that I turned into a much bigger issue. We turn really small problems into very big issues that rule our lives.

I’ve allowed fear to creep into my thoughts. The fear would start adding doubt about my actions. I would be afraid to go to serve God because a chief wanted me killed. The driver for a public greyhound bus driver in Ghana was passing trucks on blind curves in the highway. I thought I was going to die just riding on the bus. At some point, I told God that I was in his hands. I trusted God with my life. I quickly found that I could go anywhere to do God’s work. I realized that it was God’s plan for me to go. I realized that it was God’s will when my time on this earth was going to end. I now know that every day on earth is a gift from God. I no longer have fear. My fear has been replaced with faith.

I helped with the kids games last year at the 4th of July celebration at the Franklin County High School. I helped with the climbing wall for the kids. Some of the kids had to be pulled up the climbing wall because they were too small or too weak to do it themselves. A few of the pieces of rope became embedded into my left hand. I came down with MRSA. MRSA is a really bad staph infection. I had to have surgery to cut out the infection.

Do you see a trend? Satan is whispering into my ear that if I help someone or do something for children or serve God in some way, I’ll have a very painful thorn in my side. Satan reassures me that if I just worry about Walter and don’t get in his way, I won’t get MRSA, malaria, or typhoid fever. I’ll be healthy if I just don’t go to Africa again. I won’t have to spend a week in the hospital if I just mind my own business. I just need to stop serving God. Not!

The thorns in my side have made me stronger. The thorns in my side have given me greater compassion about the needs and pains of others. The thorns in my side make me realize that all things are possible when we call on the love and power of Jesus Christ in our lives. God has allowed me to speak of his love. My tongue still gets tied up in knots at times, but then the power of the Holy Spirit will give me the words to speak. God gave me a stronger back so I can do his work. God enabled me to walk on his path and follow his light, but God did not promise that his path would be easy. God’s path is hard. God promised that the rewards for eternity would make the pain and hardship worth it. I’m willing to go on my faith journey even though I am weak because I know that with God’s power I am made strong.

If I was strong and a great speaker without God, it would be easy to understand how I could accomplish my task. It is a better testimony to understand that I am just a man doing the best I can. I am a weak man. It is because of the grace of God that I am strengthened to go on the course that God has planned for me.

What is your thorn in your side? Do you listen to Satan’s whispers in your head? Is Satan’s messenger the one who is tormenting you like the Apostle Paul? Has Satan told you that you are weak? Has Satan told you that you are in too much pain to step out on faith to continue on God’s journey? Has Satan told you that God gave you that pain? Has Satan told you that it was God’s plan that your hip hurts, your arthritis acts up when it rains, that you have migraine headaches or that you have chronic pain? Satan lies. We can accomplish so much if we just ask God to take our burdens and carry us when we are weak.

I want to read 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 from The Message. “7-10Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”

This world prides itself on being strong. Our society tells us to only rely on our muscles, our brains, and our brawn. Our society tells us that the meek and weak will be crushed by the mean and strong. If we show our weaknesses, God’s strength and grace will glow on our face. We have to let ourselves be less so that we can be more with the grace of God. It doesn’t make sense. Does it? How can we be less at the same time that we are more?

We have more room in our lives for God when we reduce our pride, our hate, our greed and our prejudices. The more of us that we remove, the more space we have in our lives for God. It is a more powerful testimony that I preach with boldness knowing that my tongue was weak until God made it strong. We have to accept God’s will in our lives. We can ask God for miracles and healing in our lives. If God answers our prayers in a different way by leaving a thorn in our side, we must look for the way God can use us despite having that thorn in our side.

I’ve been able to give my testimony to the doctors and nurses in the hospital why I choose to serve God. People that I don’t even know came up to be at the 4th of July Celebration on Friday night to tell me that they are praying for me and that I’ve inspired them. They tell me that their pastor has told them stories about my struggles. If I did not struggle with the thorn in my side, I would not need the prayers of our church family, friends and strangers. It is with the strength and inspiration of all of those who join in my weakness that I am made strong. My weakness has allowed others to participate in my mission and ministry and service to God. If I was strong, there would be no prayer chains across Franklin County.

If I was strong, there would not be a greater understanding of disease in a foreign land. If I was strong, I would not need to serve God and let the power of the Holy Spirit fill me so that I could be made strong with God’s grace and love. I am just a man.

We are weak without God’s grace. We would be nothing. We would have fear and doubt and live a selfish life. Today, we give all honor, praise, and glory for what we do to God in heaven. We thank God that he is willing to use us today and every day of our lives. We give thanks to God that is going to use each and every one of us in ways that we can only imagine.

If we are weak, we are searching for God. If we are strong, we have accomplished everything on our own. If we are weak, we are humble. If we are strong, we are proud. If we are weak, we are asking for God’s favor and blessing in our life. If we are strong, we forget about God’s favor and blessing. If we are weak, we glorify God in our strength because people will know that it was because of the grace of God that we were able to accomplish so much more than was humanly possible. In our weakness, God makes us strong! Amen.