06-26-16 Shaka with Jesus

Scripture   Isaiah 6:8

POP UP Verse: Isaiah 6:8   Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"  And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

What does the Shaka sign mean?

If you visit Hawaii, you're likely to see it a lot. The gesture, called The Shaka Sign, can be interpreted as "Hello," "Goodbye," "Have a nice day," "Take it easy," "Good luck," or, the most popular definition, "Hang loose."

When Jesus began his earthly ministry, the disciples seemed to just enjoy being with Jesus. As time went on things began to get a little tense – they never seemed to get Jesus and his miracles - like shocked when he wanted to feed 5000 people with only a boy’s lunch, like when James and John wanted preferred seating in heaven, like when Judas left supper to go betray Jesus.

It seemed that after Jesus death and resurrection, he wanted the disciples to get back to that kind of relationship. A shaka relationship. HE just wanted to “hang Loose with his friends – his disciples – so instead of calling a board meeting, he started a cooking fire…on a beach to have breakfast with them. He decided to remind them that he has the ability to provide all their needs – when there were no fish in the net he blessed them with a catch of 153 – a great catch by any fisherman’s standards.  Then he decided to focus specifically on the central fisherman-Peter; and remind him that their relationship was of far greater importance than his poor choices in a bad situation.

Jesus often showed us that our relationship with him is the most important thing. Consider the time parents were bringing their children to ‘shaka’ with Jesus. Or how about the time that Martha wanted to show Jesus she could make it onto Iron-Chef all while sister Mary was just spending some good shaka time with Jesus – which he said he preferred.

          Pastors’ have a standing joke – “If it weren’t for people, the church would be a great place to work” – This tongue in cheek saying simply means – I’d be ok if it were just me and Jesus having some shaka time together.  There is a book called “People love Jesus, not the church” On the one hand that is a sad commentary on the church, but look for the positive – people DO want to spend time with Jesus. One of the greatest things to come out of the late 60’s and early 70’s in the US was a spiritual awakening…Do you know what it was called? “THE JESUS MOVEMENT” The entire movement was about people having a shaka relationship with Jesus.

          Yes, there is much more to living our faith than just hanging loose with our savior; we also serve him as Lord. Think about a marriage where all you do is work, pay bills and go to work some more…that you never hang loose with your spouse or children?  How aweful that would be – so it is in our relationship with Jesus. There needs to be more than accomplishing things for Christ…there has to be just being in a hang loose shaka relationship with Jesus – that is how most of us came to know him at first but has become easy to go from a relationship to a religious experience.

          Maybe it is time to remind ourselves to shaka with Jesus – once we do that…it makes much more since to do what comes next – to encourage others to come to faith in him.

John 21:1-18

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

          4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5 He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. 6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

          7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, "It is the Lord," he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.   9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

          10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." 11 Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

          15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." 16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep."

          (Follow me and I will make you fishers of men)

06-19-16 FATHER’S DAY: The Missing Piece

Scripture  Luke 15:11-32

(Pastor  -  Jesus  -  Prodigal Son  -  Father  -  Older Brother  -  Servant)

Jesus said: There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

          Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father.

          But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

          The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

          But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

          Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him, What’s going on? Your brother has come and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.  The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. Please come back in son!  Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!  My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.

You just heard a story about a missing piece. The younger son was missing something, even though he had everything he needed right where he was. But because he felt he was missing something, he took everything he had and half of everything his father had and in a short amount of time lost it all on reckless living, and therefore he started missing the things he had before and decided to go back home and see if he could reclaim a minimum amount of what he had before he left.

What was the older, more responsible brother missing? He was missing the point, that a father’s love is not determined by a child’s behavior but only by the fact that you are your father’s child.

What was the father in the story missing? We will come back to that.

This story is part of a triad of stories about things that were lost and now are found.

1)  First was one lost sheep out of a hundred. The shepherd left 99 in the care of other shepherds to go look for the one lost. A lost sheep meant the shepherd had to pay for it. Not to find the lost sheep meant money out of his own pocket, plus the disgrace of being known as a careless shepherd. No wonder he came back rejoicing after finding the missing one.

2)  Second was one lost coin out of 10. In any age from a money point of view this would not be catastrophic. What if it were something important, say you just got married and lost your wedding ring – that would be catastrophic and have value well beyond the monetary value.  Well, when a Jewish girl married, she began to wear a headband of ten silver coins to signify that she was now a wife. It was the Jewish version of our modern wedding ring, and it would have been unbearable for her to lose one of those coins. Palestinian houses were dark, so she had to light a lamp and search until she found the lost coin; and we can imagine her joy at finding it.

          So along with a missing sheep is possible financial and reputation loss.  Along with a missing coin is possible financial but great sentimental loss. But that is a sheep and a coin. The final part of the triad has to do (SEE PUZZLE PIECE) with a lost son.

DRAMA: The Missing Piece 

CONCLUSION

          We now come back to the question – In the story we call “the prodigal son”, what was the father in the story missing?  He was missing a lost sheep, a lost coin, and most importantly a lost son. Yes, for the father there was financial loss (1/2 inheritance), and reputation loss (can’t keep your own kid at home), and sentimental loss (Thanksgiving dinner won’t be the same). But the loss of the son, compared to a sheep or a coin, also has the loss of something far greater – the loss of a relationship. When the son left it was as though he were dead and that relationship would exist no more. The son completely cut himself off from the father and his whole family.

          In the story I dramatized for you. Other than an occasional card or letter, those relationships too were lost. That story in part ends in tragedy, the father’s death means that relationship cannot be repaired. It is gone forever.  However, in our story with Jesus, when we (each of us a prodigal son or daughter) come back to God through Jesus, it is exactly his death that has made a way for us to once again come home and be in a perfectly restored relationship with God our Heavenly Father.

          Is the God the Father and his son Jesus missing a piece? Are you that piece? Or do you know Jesus but a piece of you is missing in your relationship with Him and you are ready to give that up and let Him put it all back together?  The first verse of a great hymn says it all for us:  SING: 1^st verse of Amazing Grace.

06-12-16 What’s in your basket?

Scripture  John 15:1-8

INTRODUCTION

POSTLUDE TEXT:  John 15:9-11     "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.

          Galatians 5:22     The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy…

          Growing up seeing grape vineyards. Pics of Heinemann’s vineyards.

          Grapes became favorite food post-surgery and weight loss

John 15:1-8          The Message

"I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. 2 He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. 3 You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken. 4 "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

          5 "I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. 6 Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. 7 But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. 8 This is how my Father shows who he is — when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

4 Baskets of Grapes – which best resembles your basket?

John 15:1-8          New International Version

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off (airw = to lift up) every branch in me that bears 1 no fruit, while every branch that does bear 2 fruit he prunes (to cleanse) so that it will be even 3 more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

          5  "I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear 4 much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

How closely does this view of John 15 resemble the parable of the SOWER in Luke 8? 1 (hard path-trampled and birds ate) no yield 2 (Rocky soil – lack of moisture) temporary yield 3 (Thorns grew and choked the plant) longer yield 4 (Good soil) overflowing yield

The fruit can be salvation – most important – but the fruit could also be the fruit of the Spirit – more particularly for today – the fruit can be AND ought to be JOY! You have a privilege and responsibility to bear the fruit of JOY – not temporary-worldly-based on circumstances happiness that quickly comes and goes. I am talking about deep consistent JOY like king David had that caused him to dance and sing before the Lord. It is not something you can manufacture but something you experience only when you are connected closely to Jesus Christ. In fact, you cannot escape joy if you are closely connected to Jesus Christ. Even if your circumstances make it seem like you are far from him – as long as your branch is getting its life and nourishment form the Jesus vine you WILL HAVE JOY!!!

Oldest Living Grapevine

In Hampton Court, there is a grapevine that is reported to be the oldest living vine. It is over 230 years old. This grapevine has one root which is 12 feet round, and some of the branches are over 120 feet long. Despite its age the vine still produces 500 to 700 bunches of grapes every year, each bunch weighing about a pound. Although some of the branches are 120 feet from the main root, they still bear the sweet and delicious fruit because they are connected to the vine EVERY branch draws nourishment from that one vine.

The world is desperate for the church – that means each of you (& me) to push the delete button on our whining and complaining and looking for what is wrong with the world and our circumstances and just live an ABUNDANT FULL life in Jesus and we will be able to pass our basket of fruit around and discover the more we do, just like the feeding of the 5000, our baskets will be overflowing with much fruit to give away even more.

Are we responsible for others to discover Joy in knowing Jesus?

READ: GREENLESS CHILD

06-05-16 There’s only one way in and one way out

Scripture    2 Corinthians 5:16-21

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. (Do this and radically change the world) Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled (fixed the relationship) us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. (BIG DEAL – God has to count men’s sins against them!!!) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. = (Be in a fixed relationship with God – How does that happen?...) 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the (right-ness) righteousness of God.

WOMAN CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF ADULTERY

John 8:2-11

          At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman (at least only to the court of women) caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" (Leviticus 20:10
If there is a man who commits adultery with another man's wife, one who commits adultery with his friend's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.)

6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.  But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."  8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. (like a parenthesis) 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 "No one, sir," she said.  "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."

HOLE IN THE ROOF

Mark 2:1-12

          A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them.

3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, "Why does this fellow talk like that? He's blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?" Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, "Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take your mat and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins . . . ." He said to the paralytic, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."  He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, "We have never seen anything like this!"

TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE

Luke 23:34-46

And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself." 38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.

          39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."

          44 It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last.

          (To this story, Luke adds…) FORGIVE THEM  Luke 23:32-34  Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals — one on his right, the other on his left. 34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing."  And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.

CONCLUSION

Alexander III was Tsar of Russia from 1881-1894. His rule was marked by repression, and in particular by persecution of Jews. His wife, Maria Fedorovna, provided a stark contrast, being known for her generosity to those in need. On one occasion her husband had signed an order consigning a prisoner to life in exile. It read simply SLIDE #1 “Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia.” Maria changed that prisoner’s life by moving the comma in her husband’s order. She altered it to SLIDE #2 “Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.”

In Christ God has changed the comma that stood against us. From SLIDE #3 “Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia” comes the good news of salvation: “Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia.”

COMMUNION