Sermon Plans for March and April, 2010

March 7 Never Waste a Crisis: The Testing of Your Faith James 1:2-4 This message will use the Joseph story in Genesis 37 to lead us to think about God’s power to help us in times of crisis. God will use the trials we face to make us stronger.

March 14 Never Waste a Crisis: Plan B Romans 5:1-5 This will be a continuation of the Joseph Story to talk about God’s power to help us in our toughest times.

March 21 Flow of the Spirit: Rivers of Living Water John 7:37-39 The beginning of a series on how the Holy Spirit will flow in our minds and in our living if we don’t quench the Spirit.

March 28 (Palm Sunday) Shane Gaster, Guest Preacher

April 4 Christ Is Risen Indeed 1 Corinthians 15:1-8 An Easter message on the historical reality of the Resurrection and the impact Christ’s Resurrection makes on us.

April 11 Flow of the Spirit: Beyond Resentment Colossians 3:1-10The Spirit will enable us to change and grow away from our tendencies to become angry and resentful.

April 18 Flow of the Spirit: Beyond Anxiety Psalm 23 The Spirit will enable us to grow toward trusting God and living a life of love and power.

April 25 Flow of the Spirit: Humility Luke 18:9-14 The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector will be the basis of a sermon on recognizing the truth about ourselves and learning to tell the truth about ourselves: I am a sinner in need of God’s mercy.

Laying a Foundation for a Loving Community

We are growing on Wednesday evenings, too. If you were here last Wednesday evening you may have noticed that there were more children and youth than ever. The decibel level was higher than usual because their young voices reflected excitement. I am grateful for the fact that so many children and youth are coming to New Hope. They are with us because of the preparations made by Cheryl Secunda and her leaders. Wasn’t it great to hear that group of older children recite from memory all the books of the New Testament a couple of weeks ago? Our thanks to Leesa Holloway and Erma Dreas for teaching them. And we thank Joanne Kirk, Beth Gibbons, Kelly Secunda, Debbie Shelver, and Fred Griffith.

What we are seeing is the fulfillment of this truth: Children (and people of all ages) will come when they know that they are cared for and have been prepared for.

When you see Jim McCroskey thank him for all he has done to get our building and grounds in shape. Our playground equipment was acquired by Jim as a gift from the City of Daytona Beach Shores where he is Assistant City Manager. The lights in the parking lot and along our sidewalk also came from Jim’s work on our behalf. We got a huge bargain on them. Jim led in the installing of our lights and of our playground equipment.

Two weeks from today, March 14, we begin our Laying a Foundation for Growth Campaign. The purpose is to give as much money as we can in March to pay down our mortgage debt. You will see the bricks building up as we give above our regular budget offering. We are building not buildings yet. We are building a loving community.

Love and Hell

On January 24, I preached a sermon in the meaning of hell. I got more requests for that sermon than any I have preached at New Hope. The subject of real love has dominated my thinking for at least three years now. Dr. Walter Shurden, Chairman of the Department of Christianity at Mercer University until his retirement a couple of years ago, has helped me to understand how living without real love leads to hell. In a meditation on how the author of The Shack plays on the theme of “living an unloved life,” Dr. Shurden brought together the relationship between living unloved and hell. He wrote,

“At least part of what it means to be “lost” is to live as though you have never been loved. All are children of God, but some have resisted the embrace . . .. When we live unloved lives we end up overreaching like Adam, lying like Eve, manipulating like Jacob, being fearful like Saul, living unbuttoned like David, amassing like Solomon, denying like Peter, boasting like Paul, and killing ourselves like Judas. Living unloved, we end up puking in alleys, bed-hopping, living self-destructive lives, buying till it hurts, climbing ladders made of others’ heads, building barns too big to live in, confusing ambition with vocation, hoarding rather than sharing, hating folk who don’t look like us, driving by Lazarus, and using rather than serving people. To tell the truth, we end up on trash heaps on the southwest corner of Jerusalem. They called it Gehenna. We call it Hell! We end up as waste, and we waste the only life given to us. That is hell: waste.”

I know some people who are living unloved. They are lost. They are on the way to wasting the only life they will ever have. They are resisting God’s embrace and the embrace of the human channels through which God’s love flows. I pray for their salvation from the trash heap, from hell.

Young People Need Our Love

Last Sunday morning, January 31, we had eight young people singing in our worship service. Wednesday night I talked with one of the girls who came down front at the invitation time to say she wanted to join our church. She is twelve years old. She comes to church without either of her parents. Our youth group gives her a feeling of acceptance.

As I walked into the youth room in the A-frame to find her, I noticed that there were at least four new young girls there whom I did not know.

Here are some of the thoughts that came into my mind: Why are these young people coming on Wednesday night in such numbers? And what are we being called to do to care for them? What is God doing? Are they learning here at New Hope that God loves them and has a purpose for their lives? Can they grow up to serve God when they have very little encouragement from their parents to continue in church? How can we help them to be growing disciples of Jesus Christ?

I am thankful for the work that Cheryl Secunda, our Director of Children and Youth Ministries does to bring in young people. God seems to be sending us young people between the ages of 11 and 14. How can we join God in what God is doing? How can we provide spiritual care and guidance for these young girls and boys?

When you pray, please ask God to send us the leaders and the healthy, caring people we need to show these young people that their future as Christ followers really matters to us. Ask God to help us to find ways to give them the care and the guidance they so much need. Do you see what I see?