Thursday, April 20, 2017

April 16 2017 Easter Mission Possible - I Have Seen the Lord

April 16, 2017 Easter Sunday - "Mission Possible – I’ve Seen the Lord", John 20.1-18 Pastor Jacqueline Hines
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We gather here following behind centuries of those who have celebrated, not only Resurrection Sunday, but the coming of spring. Spring makes this Resurrection Sunday even easier to celebrate. [ slide # 1 spring] We have plenty of sunshine, green grass, budding trees and brilliant flowers that brighten our mood. [slide # 2 daisies]
Spring brings out the playful child in us and we are more apt to gather for picnics with those who love us. [slide # 3 picnic] For ancient cultures, springtime especially meant preparing for harvest time. Crops would soon be coming in abundance and there would be more than enough to share with the neighbors.
We know what that is like at Bethel. For when the local gardens bear their fruit, we find baskets on tables at every meeting. The baskets are filled with all varieties of tomatoes, squash, and peppers both hot and sweet. [slide # 4 basket of vegetables] We share and celebrate just as humans have celebrated since the beginning of time.
So verse 1 of John chapter 20 finds us on the first Easter morning. It was very early on the first day of the week. The first day of the week, Sunday, would become a safer day to seek Jesus and to worship him. For Christians seen worshiping on the Jewish Sabbath or Saturday were likely to be persecuted.
While it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. [slide # 5 Mary in a dark tomb] Mary did not come to celebrate. She came to mourn. She came to show her respect for Jesus who had been crucified. She came even though she had no idea how the stone would be removed from the tomb. She would soon learn that angels went ahead of her and rolled the stone away. [slide # 6 angels rolling the stone away] No doubt since last Easter you have had one heavy burden or another lifted from your life, too. [slide # 7 Jesus holding man up] Halleluiah!
She looked in the tomb and saw that Jesus was not there. She began to cry according to verse 11. [slide # 8 Mary crying at tomb] It was hard to have closure in her mourning since she could not actually see Jesus. Perhaps you have cried in the past year. Perhaps there is a situation for which you did not have closure. The people you looked for had gone and you did not know where to find them. Unanswered questions left you with a broken heart and weeping wounds.
As Mary wept, the angels in verse 13 asked her an unusual question for someone in a cemetery: Why are you crying?  [slide # 9 Why are you crying] Angels are messengers who know that our tears tell more than one story. Do you know all the stories behind your tears?
In verse 15, Jesus asked Mary the same question the angels asked. Why are you crying?  [slide # 10 Jesus and Mary] The question is an important one when angel messengers ask it. The question is twice as important, when Jesus asks, because Jesus gets into even deeper depths of our heart. Why are you weeping? Our tears may have more than one story. Our stories may have more than tear. Why are you weeping?
Are you weeping for fear or anger? Are you weeping tears of remorse or repentance? At times, we may shed crocodile tears. The crocodile tears are the tears of a salivating predator, crying just before they attack their prey. Sometimes we cry tears of relief or tears of joy. Why are you crying?
Whatever our reason for tears, like Mary, in our heart of hearts, we are all seeking to be with Jesus. We may not always recognize him. We may not always see that he is the resurrection and the life, but in our hearts, we will always long for him.
Mary came with spices to anoint his body for burial though he had said he would be alive by Sunday morning. She came like one who prays for rain and leaves the umbrella at home.
It was hard to believe in a resurrection just three days after a crucifixion. It is hard to believe in love after your partner tells you they want a divorce. It is hard to believe in healing after you get sick. It is hard to believe in God after you have been beat down and beat up by the Devil. When there are no signs of rain, who bothers to bring an umbrella? Believing is a choice. As one poet put it:
“I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when there’s no one there. I believe in God, even when he is silent.” And in a time of trial, a voice rises within me saying ‘hold on my child, I will give you strength, I will give you hope, just stay a little while.’
Lee Strobel [slide # 11 Lee Strobel] was a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and an avowed atheist in the 70’s. The story is told that when his wife Leslie became a Christian, his first words to her included several ugly expletives. His second words included something about divorce. But, as he watched her life change to be kind and respectful to him, he was intrigued about her Godly attitude and he began to do his own research on Christianity. He saw and experienced the evidence of God’s love, and he converted to Christianity and wrote a book entitled A Case for Christ. There is also a movie about his conversion. [slide # 12 Lee and Leslie Strobel]
There is evidence that the God of love is alive in our lives. You may see that evidence in the life of someone close to you. The evidence may be in your own heart and in your own experience. If so, you have found the truth of that song children sing around the campfire. “It only takes a spark, to get a fire going. And soon all those around can warm up to its glowing. That’s how it is with God’s love. Once you’ve experienced it. You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring. You want to pass it on.”

Regardless of how dark it is when we come looking for Jesus, on Easter morning, it quickly dawns on us that there are many reasons to celebrate.  We realize that he is risen just like he said he would. [slide # 13 he is risen] We are compelled to go and share the truth of the power of God’s love that lives within our heart. We know he lives, for, like Mary, we too have seen the Lord. Amen. [slide # 14 Jesus hands]

April 9 2017 A Stone's Throw Away from Sorrow

“A Stone’s Throw Away from Sorrow” April 9th 2017 Jacqueline Hines Luke 22.39-46

        If you are looking for Jesus today, you will find him at the Mount of Olives. [slide # 1 alive trees] The Garden of Gethsemane was there. It was a place of prayer and privacy with the help of the walls made of stone or perhaps trees. It was an agonizing time. Jesus was preparing to do what no one else could do. At the tender age of 33, he was ready to give his life as a sacrifice; he had come unto his own and his own received him not.
He came to express God’s love in the flesh, to make God’s love real and visible in ways that the prophets and the law could only partially do. Yet in return for a message of miracles and a lot of love, he was spat upon. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. He was indeed a man of sorrow, acquainted with grief. [slide# 2 Jesus praying, angel is near]
        There he knelt in fervent prayer. [slide# 3 Jesus praying in garden] His heart was nearly fainting with grief. Sadly, God’s people had sinned; someone must go and save them and cover them with the love blood shield of protective righteousness. God’s people, in their dedication to sin, were in danger, for their sins would cause much harm and much trouble. Danger! Danger! Danger! Sin puts us in danger -Sins of omission, sins of commission. [slide # 4 sin/danger] We, God’s people, need Jesus to save us from our sins.
Jesus had gathered a few disciples for a time of prayer. Prayer is serious business. It was peaceful in the olive garden. The olives reminded them of the anointing oil used to symbolize God’s call to come, come and be healed. Come, come and be delivered. Come, come and be saved from all that your sins can do to destroy your life.
The garden, where they had prayed so often, was a reminder of God’s love, power, and presence. Three things happened in that garden that we must never forget. Number one, the first thing we must not forget is what Jesus said to the disciples. He said, “Pray.” Pray so you will not enter into temptation. [slide# 5 pray]
Seven days without prayer makes one weak (week). We must pray to avoid some trouble. As the songwriter put it, “Oh what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” Most people say they pray when they are in trouble. But it is wise to pray so we can avoid certain troubles.
At our last Union of churches service, Bob Meissner told me a couple times about activities for children at the Movie Church. They have activities and a meal for children and families and his neighbor goes to the Movie Church. Since last Easter at least we have had no Junior Church. For a few Sundays, I announced that Jr. Church was under construction. Then Jr. Church was out of sight and out of mind.
That conversation with Bob reminded me to start praying again for children’s ministries at Bethel, because a church with children without a growing children’s ministry is at risk. A few weeks ago, I heard Mary Tyson speaking about the heartbreak of seeing two pews full of children and no Jr Church for them.
We have certainly done everything possible that we know to do. Now it is time to pray intentionally, as we prayed two years for a youth worker and Kim Bradbury and Amy Keller came forward. We have signed up every volunteer we could think of to participate in Jr. Church. We have paid people, we have set aside money to pay people and still, we have no Jr. Church. We have done all we know to do, now it is time to pray intentionally.
When I woke up Thursday morning, I was reminded over and over again to pray day after day, year after year until something happens, and I hope you will join me and the Nurture Committee in the effort to pray for a growing children’s ministry. We may prune some children’s ministries, but we also want to pray for God to bless us with ways to touch the lives of our children in consistent, constructive and lively ways. Prayer can will keep us out of spiritual trouble.
We can’t avoid having some trouble. The scriptures say, “Many of the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of them all.” Sometimes we have to pray to get out safely out of the trouble we’re in. Sometimes we pray to avoid trouble.
Pray! Pray! Pray! We must never forget that Jesus warns us to pray.
After he said that he went to another part of the garden to pray himself. When he left, he told the disciples to pray so they would not enter into temptation. He did not go very far, only a stone’s throw away. He got down on his knees and prayed the most agonizing prayer anyone could every pray, “Not my will but your will be done, Father.” Here’s my money, Lord. Not my will but yours be done, Father. Here’s my refrigerator, Lord. Not my will but yours be done, Father….here’s my time, my attitude, my vocabulary, my lifestyle…my worries, my fears…Not my will, but yours be done, oh God.
This is the second thing that happened in the garden hat we need to remember. We need to remember that Jesus prayed: “Not my will, but your will be done, Father. [slide # 6 your will]
                Oh, how we need to pray more often: “Have your way, Lord. Have your way. I surrender, Lord. I know you have a purpose and a plan for my life. I know you intend no harm to me only a future filled with hope. You say so in Jeremiah 29.11. I know I can trust you, so I will obey. I know you know all things. You know the beginning and the end. You know, Lord, better than I where I need to be broken in order to be blessed. Not my will, but your will, Lord.
        When Jesus turned, to get comfort from the disciples, they were no more praying than the man on the moon. Instead they had fallen asleep. At first I felt sorry for them because the bible says they fell asleep because of sorrow. [slide # 7 sleeping disciples]
        Why did they have sorrow? For the same reasons any of us have sorrow. It was dawning on them that the kingdom was coming, but it wasn’t coming as they expected. They knew they were going to be blessed, but the blessings did not always come when they wanted them. They knew the Holy Spirit would teach them, but it wasn’t the lesson they thought they needed to learn. It was dawning on them that they were on the winning team, but the enemy seemed to be laughing in their face and getting away with the cruelest treatment. They were afraid, and they were disappointed.
        When we look around the church universal, do we not also see that we too are a people of sorrow, acquainted with grief? Have not our hearts bled for the unkind deeds that Satan has perpetrated against us or our loved one? Have we not been disappointed time and time again because someone has failed to be faithful or kind? Have not our bodies been wracked with pain and distress? Have we not cried out as Satan snatched a loved one into the slavery of sin and none but Jesus heard us? Do we not grieve the loss of our will and the dawning of God’s purpose in spite of our fondest wishes? How many times have we cried out for healing and relief but God seemed to be silent.
        Yet, it seems to me that God is rarely silent. What most often is the case is that we don’t want to hear the answer. God’s ways are not our ways. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 53.8, 9)
        Just think about it. A blind man asked for healing and Jesus put mud on his eyes and sends him to a pool to wash it off. One thing is for sure, he probably needed someone to go with him to guide him. The Lord always has a way of getting us together with other people because we need them or they need us or God just want to bless us with his awesome glory.
        Another man with leprosy who came to Jesus for healing was sent to wash seven times in the Jordan River across the way where those other people lived. The first thing the man thought was “I have water in my own back yard among people I know. Why do I have to go over there, Jesus? Why is my healing wrapped up in the strength of my relationships? Why is my blessing in a strange place? --Because God is love and always wanting us to reconcile, and influence more territory for the good of all. Since Naaman wanted to meet the God who heals, he had to go to the Jordan and discover that the Lord our God is one God, and the only God.
        Things were not going as the disciples expected. They were sorrowful. We all understand the heartache that left the disciples sleeping for sorrow instead of praying.
        That is why we must never forget the third thing that happened in the garden. That is that Jesus withdrew merely a stone’s throw away from their sorrow. [slide # 8 two tossing stone’s]
        In our sorrows, Jesus is close by. All we need to do is call the name of “Jesus.” [slide # 9 power in Jesus name] He is there all the time. When we call on him, things change for the better. When we call on him he promises to bring us through. When we call on him, a light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot put it out. When we call on him we feel more hopeful. [slide # 10 Jesus is the answer]
        At first I felt sorry for the disciples, exhausted and sleeping because of sorrow. Now I know that in the time of sorrow, when things are not going as we expect, it is better to wake up and call on him – Jesus. In the bible, sleeping is a biblical metaphor for prayerlessness. We need to wake up and call upon the name of the Lord.  He’s right here to help us. [slide # 11 wake up…]
        In every area of our life, we need to call on him. If your body needs healing, call on him. If your neighbor won’t do right, call on him. If you need a friend, call on him. All we need to do is call on him. Jesus  -  a stone’s throw away from sorrow. AMEN! [slide # 12 Call Jesus first]





April 2 2017 Mission Possible - Rising from the Dead

April 2 2017"Mission Possible – Rising from the Dead", John 11.1-45 (Dramatic Reading) Pastor Jacqueline Hines
God has blessed America.  [slide # 1 flag] We live in the land of opportunity. It is a land flowing with milk and honey, both literally and figuratively. God has blessed America. We have come a long way from the pioneer days. We no longer have to churn cream to make butter, or boil chickens to remove the feathers, or use a scrub board to wash clothes. We just have to go to the grocery store, remove wrappers, and press buttons. We are truly blessed to live and do ministry in such a time as this.
Yet, at whatever time we live in, work is work. [slide # 2 work] There are days when we whistle while we work. There are other days when we complain and gripe and we might say like that popular bumper sticker –“I would rather be fishing.”
Lazarus was probably a working man, and like all of us he got sick from time to time. Whatever work he did came to a halt, then he died. But, God had a plan. God’s plan was the same plan God has for all of us. God’s plan is to get the glory, [slide # 3 to God be the glory] to get the credit, so that all can say that God is good and God is great!
When we look through the pages of Bethel, we can say with confidence, “God is good and God is great.” In 1844, this church began with God as a central focus. Bethel began with God as the one who was worshipped and lifted up as more important than anyone, as worthy of our devotion and service. Now 173 years later, we are still bowing before this altar in humble adoration and praise.
When we leave this altar we go do what the early church did according to the book of Acts that we are studying during Lent. Christians were always studying, fellowshipping, praying and eating. That is what we do too. We go down to the fellowship hall and cafĂ© and the library to eat and meet and study and laugh and support one another in ways too numerous to count. [slide # 4 they broke bread…]
Like us, Jesus and his friends Lazarus and Mary and Martha celebrated a lot. [slide # 5 dinner with Jesus and Lazarus’ family] There central place of celebration was Jerusalem. They called it the City of God. It was and still is a fabulous city, filled with the grandeur of God’s presence.   
Christians always have and will always need a place to celebrate. Celebrations give us the joy that strengthens us to cope with life’s bumps in the road.
God mandated several celebrations. The main celebration that God commanded God’s people to participate was and is the Passover. Passover was a time to acknowledge that God had delivered them from the Egyptians. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover the week before he was crucified. Our celebration of Holy Communion has its roots in the Passover. When Jesus broke the bread and shared the cup at the last supper, it was at a Passover meal. [slide # 6 last supper]
During Passover week, it was crowded like the Philadelphia region was when the Pope visited. Because Passover was a mandatory celebration, it was an official holiday. The routines of life were shut down and everybody was focused on the Passover, worshipping and thanking God for delivering them from the Egyptians. Of course, for some it was a heartfelt occasion, for others it was just a great way to make some extra money, renting a room, selling lambs for sacrifice, or boarding animals as needed.
Bethany was just two miles away from Jerusalem. [slide # 7 Bethany two miles] Not everybody could find a place to stay in Jerusalem for the celebration. Many considered themselves fortunate to get a place just a few miles away. Jesus was one of them. He stayed with his friend, Lazarus and his sisters Mary and Martha who lived in Bethany.
Even though it was holiday time, Lazarus was sick. Then he died in the middle of all that preparation and celebration. By the time Jesus arrived at the tomb, Lazarus had been there for four days. John tells us that Jesus wept. Some say he wept because he felt the loss of someone he loved. Others say Jesus wept because he was taking Lazarus was from the bliss of heaven and returning him to this world of woe and wickedness. Jesus wept.
There is much discussion these days about how churches are dying. In my mind, the church can never die. We may be constantly exposed to contagious temptations, contaminating viruses, and infectious attitudes. Occasionally, we are injured and damage in spiritual collisions and unexpected accidents. We may find ourselves fighting spiritual fatigue and weakness or having little appetite for the things of God. The church has seasons of disease and distress, but from age to age, we rise.
In the American church heyday, history tells of churches in revival and bursting at the seams with people. Churches were building and expanding. Today it is the churches persecuted and poor in Asia and Africa that are bursting at the seams along with evangelical mega churches we see in the U.S. The Holy Spirit does a great work, but it is not always the same work.
The church never dies. There has always been and there always will be people who believe God and seek to serve and obey. That number may be as small as a dozen members or as large as 144,000. People fill the pews for many reasons, cultural, emotional, spiritual, and political. Also, the pews may not be as full for the same reasons, cultural, emotional, spiritual, and political. But, the church never dies.
Our Lord is merciful to us when we are not on our best behavior and puts up with us when we are not living up to our potential. But, when we get hungry enough for the things of God, we do better, we grow strong enough to make a difference, not just where it matters, but where it matters most. This does not always mean we will have a crowd. [slide # 8 where two or three]
When we get sick and tired of being sick and tired, we do the spiritual work required to bring healing and hope and help in our homes, to be a shining example for our young people, to seek the Lord with our whole heart until someone is delivered from their wicked ways, even if that someone is us.
Our District Superintendent, Dr. Anita Powell did a workshop last week where she gathered a panel of 6 young people under the age of 40. Their job was to help us understand how they experience the generation that goes before them.
I remember 3 things from that workshop: #1. Young people are not always welcomed and included in opportunities to serve. The old guard holds on very tightly to their positions and are not as eager to work at mentoring the young. [slide # 9 mentor]
#2. The language and the attitudes and the behavior of the generation before the young are not always exemplary of what their Sunday school teachers teach them.  [slide # 10 watch your language]
#3. Young people are hoping to be surrounded by Christians who are sweet and kind, not grumpy and rude. [slide #11 be sweet and kind
Like Lazarus, the church will never die, but, for the church to be as lively as it can be we must follow Jesus’ lead. We must do the work he gives us. [slide # 12 Lazarus]
He first tells the mourners to work and take away the stone. [slide # 13 stone] Though stones can be heavy, we can move stones in our hearts or in our various organizations and committees, if we work together. I wish I had a nickel for every excuse I have ever heard from people, year after year who refuse to commit to keeping the covenant to loving God’s people and doing the work of the church.
Jesus did the work of speaking to Lazarus in a loud voice. [slide #14 Jesus reaching for Lazarus…] Some of us have to work harder than others in order to speak in a loud voice. “Lazarus, come out.” So Jesus calls us, to come out of that cookie jar, come out of debt, come out of that bad habit. He calls the church, come out of the fear of change and let God do a new thing in you. (Becky’s Spring Craft Bazaar is a beautiful new thing at Bethel!)
Jesus told those mourning Lazarus to do the work of unbinding Lazarus and letting him go. He was asking them to do a job that was up close and personal. [slide # 15 unbinding Lazarus] He was also asking them to do a dirty job. There are lots of jobs in the church that are dirty. Ask Chris and Paul how many times some child threw up in the church bathroom?  Or ask Allen how many times he had to get down on his knees in the kitchen floor to light the stove. Or ask some committee chair how many times they had to manage messy misunderstandings between members. There are lots of jobs in the church that stink. 

It is the Holy Spirit that enables us to do our job from generation to generation. It is the Holy Spirit that helps us to work together and roll away the stone, to do the dirty work that needs to be done, so that we can let go of that which binds us and let God show us how to live our lives in Christ. Church, we have work to do. Let’s come alive and do it! Amen. [Slide # 16 Walk in the spirit…]

March 19 2017 Wells of Water In the Spirit

March 19 2017 “Wells of Waters in the Spirit” *John 4.5-42 Pastor Jacqueline Hines
If you ever need a little drama, meet Jesus at the well, [slide # 1 Jesus/well] like a woman did in chapter 4 of the gospel of John. He will not only ask something from you, as if it is your place to serve those who are considered to be in a league above you, but he will get into all your personal business as if he cares about you. [slide # 2 he cares]
Jesus is something else! Wherever he went, he stirred something up. He asked this woman who had never met him before, to draw him some water. He was thirsty and it was hot and dry as it often is in the Middle East. The woman at the well did not necessarily recognize him as the lover of her soul. She may have been preoccupied with the five boyfriends she had back in town. She had drama in her love life and Jesus stirred it up. [slide #3 drama]
She called Jesus “sir” and wanted to know why he was asking her, of all people, for water since his kind did not usually mix with her kind.   “If you knew me” he says to her, you would be asking me for water and I would give you living waters.
That is true for us, too. When we ask for water that refreshes, he will give us living water, no matter how important or unimportant others say we are.
Living water is refreshing water that brings life. Living water is the opposite of stagnate or polluted water that injures and brings death. In the bible, living water symbolizes the presence of God that rains on us and carries nutrients to the seeds of love and health and prosperity that are growing in our lives. [slide # 4 bucket of water]
We know how to ask God for what we want and what we need. There is a great prayer ministry at Bethel. We pray for one another, we pray for family and friends, we pray for our leaders, and we pray for the nations. We pray for our children, our neighbors, and we pray for ourselves.
We are all ministers and we all pray. [slide# 5 man praying on knees] That is, we have come to know Jesus well enough to ask for living water so we can be blessed and not harmed.
We are prayer warriors and like all soldiers, we understand that praying is spiritual warfare. [slide # 6 armored person] We understand that we are being trained to fight. We wear the helmet of salvation, we carry the sword of the spirit, we are armed with the shield of faith and the breastplate of right living, our feet walk in peaceful intentions, and we wear truth like a supportive girdle.
We exercise spiritual disciplines like all who want to remain in shape to fight and conquer the enemies. [slide #7 athlete stretching] We fight faithfully and courageously. We know we are winning the war, but we also know that we do not always win every battle.
Sometime, the answers to our prayers take longer than we want. Daniel prayed and fasted during troubling times. He prayed for 21 days before God answered by sending an angel with a message.
I woke up one morning and my thumb was tender and would not bend right. A chiropractor said it was arthritis and he pulled and pushed and I felt better. I did not believe it was arthritis, though, so I went to the hand center and the doctor there said it was tendinitis, and he showed me a needle and a dose of cortisone. [slide # 8 needle] An interesting thought came to my mind. “Take the shot, now. Take the shot, now.” I prayed and thought, “God, that is not your voice.” So, I told the doctor, “No shot today. I will think about it and come back.”
I spoke to a nurse in our congregation who noted that often this condition gets worse and I could lose the use of my hand and need to be surgically corrected. The nurse said, “You’d be surprised at how important a little thumb can be in your daily activities.” How right she is. Nevertheless, I continue to ask God for healing. I may lose the battle, or I may beat the odds, but I continue to pray and ask God’s help and mercy, as I do for all of us when we face physical and emotional turmoil.
Jesus gives us living water when we ask. We are refreshed in the midst of battle, whether we win or lose. It is not a problem. Ultimately, we can leave all of our problems in the hands of God. [slide # 9 plug in]
There is a show called The Doctors. Recently it featured a woman named Penelope who was nearly bitten to death by her fiancĂ©’s two Rottweilers. They bit her from head to toe. She was in terrible shape.Her nurses cried when they changed her bandages. She was in a coma for weeks, and when she emerged, she was terrified of dogs.
A phobia expert worked with her to deliver her from her fear. His goal was to have her remember the past without the pain. That is a good thing to do in our Christian journey as well. We know that God recreates all of our pain so that it has a holy purpose. Losing a battle for which we pray so hard to win is painful. Yet, we never fail to get important lessons and blessings from painful experiences, never.
Whenever Penelope relived those horrible moments the therapist encouraged her to say, “That’s not a problem. [slide # 10 dog in carrier] He said to her, “I have a dog right here on my lap in this carrier.” And she answered, “It’s not a problem.”
That is a helpful meditation for all of us. No matter what happens, we can say, “It’s not a problem.”  Jesus has our back. He is with us and will never leave us, so we can bravely say about everything and anything that comes our way, “It’s not a problem.” God has the solutions we need. God will help us. [slide # 11 not a problem]
In troubled times, Jesus may seem like a stranger, because we may feel it is strange that he would allow us to have such a hard time. We imagine miracles and outpouring of blessings, but we do not go looking for trouble, so when trouble comes, we look at trouble and we look at Jesus as if they are strangers. We do not always get it.
But, I Peter 4 reminds us in verse 12 - Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
When we spend time at the well, we get to know Jesus and we learn to be free to ask for that living water. Then he may ask something from us, and we understand it is our place to serve him. He may get into all our personal business as if he cares about us, because, yes, he does care about us. Whatever trouble comes to us, we can say with confidence, “it’s not problem.”
On Monday night before the storm, I went to a worship service in Germantown. The preacher was Carolyn Knight, homiletics professor at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. She was named as one of the top 3 female preachers in the country. She preached on the Acts of the Apostles, which we are studying for six weeks in our Sunday Lenten Luncheons arranged by Ed and Aubrey.
She referred to Acts 12 where Peter was in prison for preaching the gospel. He was chained from head to toe, with security guards inside and outside his cell, and Dr. Knight noted that in spite of all the trouble that was going on in the church, the church was praying.” The church was not crying or complaining; the church was praying.
It just so happened that the answers to their prayers were unbelievable. When he showed up at the prayer meeting, they thought it was a ghost or something. Even Peter thought he was dreaming at first. They were praying fervently. They had high hopes, but they had low expectations.
When we pray, we ought to have high expectations that God will answer, and we ought to be prepared to give God high praise and sincere thanksgiving for every blessing, whether we appreciate it or not! As the songwriter says, “If we count our many blessings, name them one by one. Count our many blessings, we can see what God has done.” [slide # 12 count your blessings]
As you know, animated movies are prepared one frame at a time. One frame may show a foot dancing 6 inches from the ground. The next frame shows the foot dancing 3 inches from the ground, and the next shows the foot on the ground. When you put the frames together and add some speed, you can see the whole picture. [slide # 13 Snoopy dancing]  Giving thanks in every step of our journey helps us to see more of God’s blessings, to see that God is working something out for our good.
Dr. Knight encouraged us when trouble comes, to say, “So what, the church is praying.”
We are a praying church, so when trouble comes we naturally may grieve and shed tears of sorrow, but we keep on praying, we keep on asking, and in a manner of speaking, we say, no matter how big the cross we carry, “It’s not a problem.” No matter how tough the battle, “So what, the church is praying.” God is working it out for our good, no matter how terrible it seems. [slide # 14 troubles - so what!]
This season of Lent reminds us that we serve a big God. As we spend time at the well, [slide# 15 Jesus at the well] we begin to realize that refreshing blessings are deeper than we have imagined. We come to know Jesus in the fellowship of his suffering as well as in the power of his resurrection.
As Jesus said to the woman at the well, he says to us. “If you knew me, you would ask me for water, and I would give you living water.” Let it be so today. Spend time at the well. [slide # 16 church is praying] Resolve to do whatever he asks you to do, and let him mind your business, because he cares. Amen.  [slide # 17 count your blessings……]