Resurrection

Friends,

To prepare for the Resurrection, we are to live for/with Christ now. Otherwise, how can we know the gain the God has for us? We live as forgiven people. We forgive people. We keep close to Jesus in our living days. The youth at the Resurrection event in Gatlinburg were reminded a bit of this idea. Committing ourselves to Jesus Christ is not just a one-time thing. We re-commit ourselves to Jesus Christ everyday. Who knows who is watching you live with Christ? There is more than God watching you! May all who see you live with Christ know Jesus Christ.

In Christ’s Service,

John Grimm

Gladeville-Mt. Olivet Circuit

The United Methodist Church

Calling

Jesus wants everyone. But does everyone want Jesus? When we do call upon Jesus, our life changes. We are not the same. This happens because we admit that we are no longer in control of our lives, but that Jesus is Lord of our lives.

I like the quote: “Believing in Jesus is a personal decision, but it is not private.” I don’t remember to whom this is credited to, but the statement is evident in how we live. Continuing to call on Jesus therefore means that our actions, attitudes, and words show that in deed Jesus is Lord of our lives.

I pray that all who read this may be able to call upon Jesus, and that continually throughout their lives. All of our lives will be different when we do!

Grief

As a pastor, I have witnessed people leave the church. Some were hurt by someone in the church. Others were forgotten by the church. Even others did not like what the church was doing. Each of these situations of leaving the church causes more pain. Paul, in Romans 9, mentions his grief and anguish about his own people not placing faith in Jesus.

As a pastor, it causes me grief to see people leave the church. What about you, do you grieve for people who have left the church? Or is your grief more about those who have not found Jesus through the church?

We can pray for those who have left the church. God will soften our hearts as we pray for them. And God will give us the words to say to those for whom our hearts are in anguish.

Will you pray for those who left the church?

Tips on Avoiding Temptations

Where in your life do you need God to help you fight temptation? Wherever it is, God can help you. He has give you His word – you can live with it. God is available – He is not far from you. He has you in His sights. God is able to give you more than the world can.

God can get you through your temptations. Are you ready for God in your life?

How to Avoid Temptation

“Courage is fear that has said its prayers.” – Dorothy Bernard

Avoiding Temptations

When we face temptations, how do we avoid giving into the temptations? One thing I have discovered is that I can ask: Does Jesus need _______ ?

This sounds simple, but if Jesus doesn’t need what I am tempted by, then do I really need it? Maybe that is what we can understand from the story of Jesus being tempted. He didn’t need to use his power for his own benefit. He didn’t need test God. He didn’t need to worship anyone but God. Those are the same things that I don’t need. I don’t need to use my power for myself. I don’t need to test God. I don’t need to worship any one other than God.

How do you avoid temptations?

Are you going onto perfection?

Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18 Matthew 5:38-48 February 20, 2011
Before I was ordained an Elder in the United Methodist Church, one series of questions I was asked was:
1. Are you going on to perfection?
2. Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?
3. Are you earnestly striving after it? (2008 Book of Discipline, ¶336 (United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville: 2008), p. 246)

My answer to each of those questions was, ‘Yes.” What was I thinking? We can’t be perfect. There is no perfect person in this world. And I say to you, than what are we doing as Christians who happen to be United Methodists? We United Methodists use several methods to live out God’s holy call on our lives. These methods are the means to which we know God and reflect his glory in this world.

John Wesley wrote that, “our doctrines are three, that of repentance, of faith, and of holiness. The first is the porch, the second is the door, and the third is religion itself.”( F. Belton Joyner Jr., Being Methodist in the Bible Belt, (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville: 2004), p. 3) In other words, repentance gets us to the porch of religion; faith is the door into the house; and holiness is our religion. That is holiness is our way of life as we live in the grace of God. God starts us on the road to being holy, being perfect. And Jesus shows us the way to live.

A. God is holy (Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18)
1. He speaks to the whole congregation of Israel
2. We shall be holy
3. We get to be holy by loving our neighbors
a. Leave/give food to the poor & the alien (v. 9-10)
b. Buy what you need/want, be honest, use words wisely (v. 11-12)
c. Be honest with your neighbor, act honorably to the deaf & blind (v. 13-14)
d. Seek justice for all (v. 15-16)
e. Love your neighbor as yourself (v. 17-18)
4. God has taken us from captivity to sin. We have repented of our ways and we are facing God’s way of living. This way of living, being holy, involves our entire lives. As God has loved towards us, then we love him, and those around us, in the same way. To stress the importance of God’s way, Jesus taught and lived the way to live.

B. Jesus shows us the way to live (Matthew 5:38-48)
1. Turn the other cheek; give your cloak and coat; go the second mile; give to everyone who begs of you (v. 38-41)
2. Love your enemies (v. 42-47)
3. Be perfect as God is perfect (v. 48)
4. John Wesley – perfection
a. Not free from ignorance, freedom from error, freedom from infirmities, or freedom from temptations
b. Perfect as not to commit sin (John Wesley, “Christian Perfection,” Albert Outler,  John Wesley, p. 254-271)
c. Perfect love/entire sanctification/holy (John Wesley, “The Scripture Way of Salvation,” Albert Outler, John Wesley, p. 275)

d. Means of Grace – public worship, private & family prayer, The Lord’s Supper, reading & studying Scripture, fasting – We open ourselves to God
5. We can be holy/perfect! God wants us to be this way. He uses every means possible to get us to that point. We experience his grace through being justified and sanctified. Through this process, no matter how long or short it is, we become perfect in love. Some of us might even become perfect in this life to not even commit sin!

Are you going on to perfection? This question is not only for United Methodist Elders. This question helps each Christian understand how total our devotion to God is.

Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life? What else would we want out of life?

Are you earnestly striving after it? If you are, then how is God’s grace working in your life so that you totally love God and love your neighbor, even your enemies, as yourself?

We can be perfect – in love, and maybe even from sin, in this life.

Let’s pray: God, you want me to love you completely and to love my neighbors, and to even love my enemies. Your grace has gotten me to this point. I want to work with you on me so that I can be perfect in love. As I grow closer to you, show me, by the power of your Holy Spirit, how to live without sin. In the Name of Jesus the Christ I pray. Amen.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord

I believe in Jesus Christ
1 Corinthians 1:4-9 June 27, 2010

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord. That is what the Apostles’ Creed says that we believe. We have stated this belief several times in our lives. What are we saying?

Are we saying we believe like the demons do? You know that demons shudder at the idea of Jesus. Or does our believing go deeper than that?

Notice the 3rd word. “In” is a powerful word. It means not just a topical or superficial belief. The word “In” means to go deeper. Yes, we know that 80% of the USA says there is a god. Many less than that show God their belief by worshipping him.

To put it another way, when we are baptized, we are placed “in” the water. That means we are placing our whole body, our whole person “in” God’s cleansing. It is therefore our whole person that believes in Jesus Christ.

A. Christ
1. Messiah
2. One appointed
3. Not a last name!
4. We have grace from God through Jesus (1 Cor. 1:4)
5. We need God. We need the one sent by God. We need Jesus! And we get more than we expect when we believe in Jesus. The beginning of holiness happens as we believe in Christ. All aspects of our lives are affected by Jesus. All the water of baptism, no matter how much water is used, affects our whole life. So, we believe in God’s only Son.

B. His only Son
1. At the beginning (John 1:1)
2. Acknowledged as his Son
a. Matthew 3:17 – his baptism
b. Luke 9:35 – the transfiguration
3. Lived as a son – does what the Father does
4. All believers in Jesus are part of a fellowship
5. We need a close relationship with God. Several times in our lives we have seen the “good old boy” system work. You know where someone is in need of something, and someone else can take care of it, but you only get that person through a good friend? Sometimes these arrangements keep individuals out of prime opportunities for employment, school, and other endeavors. But in this case, knowing the only son of God helps. And all people can have the benefit of knowing Jesus. We can believe in the Lord.

C. Our Lord
1. Strengthens us (1 Corinthians 4:8)
2. Not just mine or yours, but our Lord
3. We have fellowship because of God’s Son
4. We have fellowship with Jesus!
a. He pulls us up out of the miry bog and sets our feet upon a rock
b. He walks and talks with us along the narrow way
c. He saves us from ourselves and our sin
d. He rules well even when we make wrong choices
5. How do we believers in Jesus Christ come together? All of us have sinned. We all receive forgiveness for our sins in the Name of Jesus. All barriers come down; we are no longer black, white, rich, poor, male, or female. All those who have accepted the cleansing from Jesus’ blood say that Jesus is Lord by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is because we know Jesus that we can believe in him. And it is because Jesus knows us that we can believe in him.

You can believe that the oil gushing in the Gulf of Mexico is a bad thing. You can believe your political party. You can believe some of what you hear other people say. Yet, all this believing does is scratch the surface of what is important in life.

But you can believe in Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ that we find the ability to live. It is in his only Son that we find God has others whom know him. It is in our Lord that we have the strength to live each day.

We can believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord because it is all true. I believe in Jesus Christ. He has helped me overcome temptations. He has provided other believers to encourage me. He has helped me have the words to say when I could not come up with anything to say. If I can believe in Jesus Christ, then can’t you also believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord?

I believe in God

I believe in God.
Genesis 1 Psalm 8 June 20, 2010
Who is born when we are baptized? Is it someone who looks and acts like the preacher? Or is it someone who looks and acts like a child of God?

What does it mean to be baptized? Is it just getting into line for heaven? Or is baptism the beginning of living what we believe?

What is our part in baptism? Is it being a warm body to be counted so that the congregation looks good? Or is it publicly saying that you believe in God?

This Father’s Day we start to look at the Apostle’s Creed. As we spend the rest of the summer looking at whom we believe in, we get to examine what we believe about God. We will be able to state that we believe in God, Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth.

A. God
1. Someone greater than ourselves
2. He was before the beginning of creation and time
3. All-powerful, all-knowing
4. We may have made up superheroes, but none is like God. Batman, Superman, and the Green Hornet all have superpowers. But each one cannot do everything that is needed to sustain life. How do we know God is able to do all things to sustain life? We know this because of how God is described and what he has done.

B. He is Father Almighty
1. Jesus calls him Father (Matthew 6:9)
2. The Psalmist calls God Almighty (Psalm 8)
3. Yet he is mindful of us! (Psalm 8:4-9)
4. We know that we need protection. As we are growing up, we want the safety that a father can provide. When we are older, we realize that it is God who protects, provides, and cares for us. A father would give us the freedom to make mistakes, and to learn from them. A father would show us the right way to live. A father would do what is necessary to provide for his family. Many in our world do not know a father like that. But God can show and be that father for many in this world. How important is that we get to know the Father Almighty? A father was watching his young son trying to dislodge a heavy stone. The boy couldn’t budge it. “Are you sure you are using all your strength?” the father asked. “Yes, I am,” said the exasperated boy. “No, you are not,” the father replied. “You haven’t asked me to help you.” How do we know God can help us?

C. He is the Creator of Heaven and Earth
1. 6 days to create, 1 day to rest
a. Day 1 – Light & Darkness – good
b. Day 2 – Sky – good
c. Day 3 – Earth & Seas, plus vegetation – good
d. Day 4 – Sun, Moon, & Stars – good (Isaiah 40:26)
e. Day 5 – Sea creatures & Birds – good
f. Day 6 – Cattle, wild creatures, Humans – good
g. Day 7 – Sabbath! (Rest)
2. We can see God’s work (Psalm 19:1)
3. God loves those who fear him (Psalm 103:11-14)
4. Apollo 13 was 55 hours and 54 minutes into its flight to the moon. Then the oxygen tank #2 blew out a 12’x6’ panel on the side of the ship! Astronauts Lovell, Swigert, and Haise were in trouble. On earth we breathe a mixture of air that is 21% oxygen. Any more oxygen we burn up and any less we smother. Space-traveling ships need much engineering to make sure that the astronauts can live.
5. Earth & Moon orbit – constant
6. Gravity – constant
7. Orbit of planets – in our galaxy & other galaxies – constant
8. God wants us to know him. He does everything he can to allow us to be protected from radiation, heat, comets, and other space hazards. God makes it possible for us be aware of him – no matter the season of the year or of life. Being baptized in the Name of God the Father means that you are turning to him – for protection, for your very life.

Do you believe in God? Then keep turning to God! His ways are constant and for our good. We can turn to God the Father Almighty because he is not going anywhere.

We get baptized and we get to identify ourselves with God, as his children! We get baptized and we can live with the one who created the heavens and the earth. We get baptized because we want to say we believe in God.

Fasting

Works of Piety: Fasting
Isaiah 58:1-12 February 21, 2010
God uses many means for us to have his grace. These include: fasting, prayer, reading the Bible, taking Holy Communion, and attending weekly worship. These are called works of piety. After Easter we will see how God’s grace is worked into our lives by the works of mercy.

Why should we United Methodist Christians fast? How long should we fast? Who should or should not fast? Fasting is meant to be a response of penitence and contrition, seeking God’s favor.

The spiritual reasons for fasting have been pretty much lost on today’s society, particularly in Protestantism. Many United Methodists are surprised to learn that John Wesley fasted two days a week, Wednesdays and Fridays, in his younger days. Later he fasted on Fridays. Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., in John Wesley: Holiness of Heart and Life writes:

Wesley was convinced that fasting, abstaining from food or drink, was a practice firmly grounded in the Bible. People in Old Testament times fasted (Ezra 8:23). So did Jesus and his followers (Matthew 4:2; Acts 13:3), and Wesley saw no reason why modern Christians should not follow the same pattern. His plan of fasting sometimes allowed for limited eating and drinking. He found that fasting advanced holiness.

Being holy, is that a reason to fast? It seems it would be. Isaiah 58 helps us get to how we should fast.

A. Why isn’t fasting working? (v. 1-4)
1. We are rebelling
2. Do we practice righteousness?
3. Whose interest are we serving?
4. Are we still quarreling?
5. God’s grace allows us to see the harsh reality of our lives. Sin is in our lives. At times our attitudes are horrendous. It almost sounds like we, like Israel, can be spoiled brats trying to get the attention of our downtrodden parents! There has to be more to drawing near to God.

B. What has to change to have grace in our lives? (v. 5-12)
1. What kind of fast has the Lord chosen?
2. Are we about justice?
3. Can we feed the hungry?
4. Are we willing to house the homeless poor?
5. Can we give clothes to the naked?
6. Are we willing to take care of our own family?
7. Do we work the grace God has given us?
8. What happens when we pursue righteousness and justice?
9. God’s grace can work through fasting. It is not a diet. Fasting is not a good idea for young adults and youth who are worried about their body image and who are leaning toward purging. That is a sure sign of needing help. If you need to get closer to God, to be more holy, than fasting can be one way that you draw closer to God. That is if you are helping those who need help. Otherwise, we are just spinning our wheels. It is in the basics of our faith that we gain the means to be closer to God, to become holy as he is. During Lent, you can give up chocolate or sweets. That would be categorized as abstaining. But to give up a meal or two and spend the time in prayer and giving those funds to the needy, that is fasting.

Will you fast this Lent? For those of us with health concerns, talk with your doctor before you fast. For those of us who need to get closer to God, to allow his grace to work in our lives, then let us fast. Just don’t let anybody know when you are fasting.