Spiritual Walk Week 23 - My Sermon Part 2

Elijah was another guy that went to heaven without dying. 2 Kings 2:11-12 says, “...suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha cried out, ‘My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of israel!’ And Elisha saw him no more.”
So how did Elijah open his heart’s door and stay connected with God? Elijah was one of those guys that stood up for God no matter what. If someone insulted God’s name, he took it personally. We don’t know much about the early years of Elijah’s life, but we can imagine him growing up in the mountains of Gilead, East of Jordan. Far away from the hustle and bustle of any known city. He was Immersed in God’s creation, observing its beauty and order. Breathing and seeing the presence of the Lord. That is when he made the choice of a lifetime, to open his heart to God and to cultivate his relationship with Him. The Bible says that he was a man of faith, prayer, and fearless devotion to God. There you go, this is Elijah’s recipe for a constant connection with God: Having eyes and ears open, seeing God around him in nature and other people. Throughout his life, Elijah made a continuous choice to stay connected with God. His love for his master grew so much, that he was overwhelmed with sorrow as he saw God’s chosen people following apostasy.
So brothers and sisters, we can learn from the way Elijah stayed connected with God. Do we make a conscious effort to find God in the beauty of nature and in another human beings? Or is it merely a background to our busy lives? How about unplugging from the business of our lives and turning your distractions to silent so that you can hear the whispering voice of God. Is your prayer life vibrant? Or has it become a brainless repetition. Do you want to study the word of God because you want to connect to God, or maybe its the last thing on your to do list. I’ll let you answer those questions. For I know that opening our hearts and keeping it open is the key to our relationship with God. When we stay connected with God, he fills our hearts with his presence. Our mouths with his words, our minds with his wisdom, and our actions with his will. Because we are connected with God, we will make better choices, by seeing another human being through the eyes of our Lord. Leaving the jealousy, judgement, and strife behind us. Making the right choices and choosing the right friends. Take Saul/Paul’s story for example. Saul hated people that followed Christ, he persecuted them. He thought he was doing God a service, because he thought Jesus was a false prophet. But when God showed himself to Saul, Saul made the connection and changed his ways.
Good relationships are Like the hands of a clock. They meet time and time again, but always stay connected at the center.

Spiritual Walk Week 22 - My sermon Part 1

I guess I should connect my Sermon to his. (Pause) Or should I? You see, God wants to connect with us. Just like he did with other people in the Bible.

Whenever I called my grandparents, or they called me on my Grandpa’s phone. I almost immediately got into a talk that went sort of like this:

“Hello?” I said.

“Hello?” They responded.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” I said again

“What?!” they say 3 seconds later

I thought. Well, it’s not my hearing, I'm too young to be losing my hearing, they must be going deaf. What I actually said out loud was a little different.

“Um maybe I can call Grandma’s phone. It might have better reception.”

“What about Grandma’s mug collection?” they asked

“Did you guys even hear me?”

Click! The line went dead.

I called grandma’s phone and they picked up on the first ring.

“Better?” I said

“We can hear you. So what was that you were saying about Grandma’s Mug Collection?”

Eventually, we found out that Grandpa’s phone, for some reason, had a 3 second delay. So our hearing wasn’t bad after all. Since then, it has been fixed.

Your connection with God cannot be like the phone conversation I had with my grandparents. It must be better, It must be established.

Take Enoch for example. You know the guy right? He’s the one that walked with God, right up into heaven. In Hebrews 11:5-6 it says that “By faith, Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: He could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

You might not know this, but Enoch was the great great great great grandson of Adam and the son of Jared. I can just imagine little Enoch sitting on Adam’s lap as he told story after story about the time before sin. He tells of how he spent his days with God and Eve in the gardens walking and talking face to face. Then he eventually gets to the story of the fall and how God sacrificed the first lamb as a symbol of redemption. Adam cries and tells of how God will send his son to die for our sins.

Because of these stories and other experiences in his life, Enoch grew closer and closer to God, but his big turning point was when he had his first son. Enoch now knew the feeling of having a son and couldn’t bear the thought of losing him. He knew what God would have to go through if he sent his son to die for the human race. He understood the depth of God’s love. Because of his strong connection with God, God decided to just scoop Enoch into heaven. I guess you can say that e-knocked on heaven’s door. Opening the door in your heart is one thing. But letting God walk through it is another, and it seems that Enoch did just that. What about you friends? Do you listen to God’s input in the life of others? Or do you disregard them as irrelevant stories, unusable in your life. How about taking a moment to pause and reflect upon your life, and see what God has done for you. Enoch chose to keep the door open and have God play a vibrant part in his life. You have the choice to take advantage of the open door, or just let it slam closed.

In Deuteronomy 4:29 it says “... if ...you seek the Lord your God, you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” Sure you can open the door so that God can come in, but you first have to find Him. Believe that you can find Him, and He will be found. Invite Him in. You must seek Him to connect to him.

Spiritual Walk Week 21 - In Jesus' Time

          We were relaxing in the middle of the sea of Galilee. The waves playfully splashed up against the boat. The sun was setting. It was the perfect day. Then John yelled. "Ghost!"

          The rest of us laughed, but still got up to see what he saw.
          "Ahhhh, a ghost!" We yelled.
          The ghost responded, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid."
          "LORD, if it's you," I asked, "tell me to come to you on the water."
          "Come," Jesus said.
           I jumped over the edge of the boat, and landed on the water. The wind picked up speed, the waves splashed against me and I tripped. Suddenly, I lost faith in myself and started to sink. I cried out, "LORD save me!
           Jesus reached out and took my hand saying, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

Spiritual Walk Week 20 - In Jesus's Time

          I walked to the hillside one day to hear a rabbi named Jesus preach. He was wonderful and I learned a lot from him, but eventually it got late in the day and I hadn't eaten yet, so I took out my sack lunch. I was about to bite into my food when I saw Jesus talking with his followers. I had a sudden feeling they were talking about feeding the people that had gathered here. I had no idea how they would feed them, so I walked up and showed them my sack lunch.
          "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish." they said to Jesus, continuing the conversation that was happening before I got to them.
          "Bring the fish to me." Jesus said. He also told the multitude to sit down. Then I walked up to Jesus and gave him the food inside my basket, five loaves and two fish. Then Jesus blessed the food and gave them to the disciples to distribute. I couldn't believe how much was coming out of my little basket of food. It was definitely a lot more than what I had in the first place. In fact, there were twelve baskets of food left over. My five loaves and two fish fed about 5,000 families. Man I have a story to tell.

Spiritual Walk Week 19 - In Jesus's Time

          I was blind. As far as I can remember, I was blind. My brother, he was also blind, but he became blind when he was of three years old.
          Today, I walked around the city with my brother. We felt our way to the temple to beg for money and food because: 1. We didn't have any money and 2. Even if we did, only nice store owners would let us buy from them. There weren't too many of those.
          Then we heard a group of people approaching they seemed to be listening to a man speaking. I felt something inside me move. That was new. I communed with my brother and we decided to follow the group. We got close enough to listen to the conversations that were happening inside. Then we heard the name Jesus. We were overjoyed. We had found the miracle worker. He must be able to heal us.
          "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" I yelled.
          People shuffled away from us and whispered unspeakable things about us.
          "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" My brother yelled.
          I heard the man come toward us. He grabbed us each by the hand and pulled us indoors. Jesus said, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?"
          "Yes LORD." We replied in unison.
          Then he touched our eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be done to you."
          Then suddenly something changed. I don't know what it was, It felt like the world just added a whole nother range of hearing, but my eyes hurt. Wait, my eyes hurt. Does this mean I'm seeing? My brother confirmed my suspicions.
          "I can see again!' he said
          So that's what seeing is like.
          "See that no one knows about this." Jesus said.
          Why? I thought. Everyone is going to know anyway.
          Then we went and told everyone we knew.