FREEDOM to Be Your Self in Christ March 17, 2013

 

 

Today we move to a new a new era in our continuing  journey through time, as we “Experience the Bible”  right here on Sunday mornings.     We began this series by reflecting upon how Jesus was tempted by the devil in the dessert while He was praying.  Jesus was a man, and He suffered from temptations, just like we all do.  But Jesus found the “Word of God” to be a source of strength and comfort, so  was freed from the devil’s overtures to sin.  Jesus found the strength to stand his ground, and the devil gave up….at least temporarily.  (For those of you watching the Bible series on the History Channel, tonight you see this story dramatized as part of the show)

 

So, three weeks ago we built on that by exploring just how God is working to free us to live in communion with Him.  Would you please take out the insert from your bulletin, entitled “Basic outline of Old Testament History.”  This is a document that you should take home and put right in your bible.  It makes a wonderful reference.  Let’s look at the introduction at the top of the page:

 

 

BASIC OUTLINE OF OLD TESTAMENT HISTORY

 (Introduction) The term’ Old Testament’ means ‘Old Covenant,” containing the Hebrew Scriptures.  God spoke His Word through the Hebrew scriptures, establishing His unique relationship with the descendents of Abraham, & his wife Sarah, Isaac & his wife  Rebecca, Moses, King David, and the people of Israel.   The ‘New Testament scriptures’ refer to the New Covenant of Jesus Christ, whereby He invites all people to become part of His family

 

 

I.    PATRIARCHS     2000BC In our 2^nd sermon, we saw how the story of ABRAHAM AND Issac prefigures the sacrifice Christ made so that we can be freed from sin.

 

II.   SOJOURN IN EGYPT    So, moving to point # 2----from 1875 to 1450 BC, God’s people were enslaved in Egypt. However, God is a god who opposes tyranny and oppression, and so we learned how God miraculously freed the slaves   in the Exodus.

 

III.  EXODUS   1450 BC

 

IV. CONQUEST  & JUDGES 1400 BC

 

Then, moving down to point 5---We saw how David defeated Goliath,  the giant &  leader of those who wished to imprison and kill God’s people.

V. UNITED MONARCHY of ISRAEL —Kings Saul, David & Solomon—1100 BC

       

VI.  DIVIDED MONARCHY: Israel (northern tribes) and Judah (southern tribes) 933 BC

VII. EXILE  587 BC

 

( Outline from William Carey College)

 

        Today’s installment takes place in point # 7—God’s people   had been defeated by the Persians, and they were then exiled to Persia, where the King of Persia could keep an eye on them.    During that time, numbers of God’s people turned away from the worship of the God of Abraham, Moses & David—because that made it easier to fit in with the crowd in this foreign land.  However, there were those faithful few who continued to worship God.

 

One man who remained faithful to God was the refugee named Daniel. Daniel had distinguished himself as a man of profound wisdom, insight, conviction, and courage. He was so outstanding, that the King made him a major leader in his government.  However, Daniel had political enemies, who tricked the King into sentencing Daniel to death because of his faith.  You see, Daniel understood that his purpose in life was not to curry favor with the King, but to love and to worship the one true God.  So, when Daniel refused to worship the statue of the King, he was sentenced to death.

He was thrown in a den of wild, vicious, and hungry lions. However, God sent and angel who closed the mouths of the lions. The King was so shook up, that Daniel not only walked out a free man, but he was promoted to be chief administrator of the Persian Kingdom.

 

One question that this story raises for me is how did Daniel have such courage…courage to face certain death?  He had the same courage of Jesus, who refused to renounce his faith.  But God delivered Daniel from the Lions’ Den—but God did not deliver Jesus from the cross.

·       Well, looking at Daniel—I believe that the source of his courage was that Daniel felt free to be himself, even when  the powers and  forces from the world  tried to pressure  Him to conform…….so that he could get along, so that he could be safe, so that He would not suffer the danger of standing out from the crowd. 

·       You see, it seems to me that the real miracle of Daniel’s story is not the fact that God sent and angel to rescue Him.  Throughout the Bible, God does miracles---but it is clear that we have no control over what God does or doesn’t do.   No, the real miracle here is that Daniel was determined not to let the world take away his identity, his personality, and his faith.  You see, Daniel was courageous because he understood his purpose in life.

·        

  Daniel lived a purpose driven life.  Daniel understood that he was important to God; that God loved him, and that Daniel’s purpose was to love, worship, and serve God.  Anything that distracted him  from his life  purpose was of far less importance, even at the risk of his own life.

 

Now most of us will never be asked to sacrifice our lives as we live out our faith. But like Daniel, we live in a world  where there are forces, powers,  and people who seek to make us conform……to go along and get along, to keep our faith hidden under a bush basket, for fear of incurring  rejection…. one way or another. Some of us may find that there are times when the opinions of others influence us more than the opinions of the Word of God.  Now, I am not talking about everyone going out and preaching on  a street corner and being obnoxious and offensive.  I’m talking about our desire to conform our behavior by disregarding the Word of God…to not rock the boat with those close to the Christian faith.

 

I know of what I speak, because for much of my life, I was a people  pleaser. My family background as a child of an alcoholic  taught me the importance of not rocking the boat, not speaking out , and hiding my true identity in order to protect myself from the rejection of others.  As I look back, it seems to me that my real purpose in life was to do everything possible not to be offensive in any way.

 

Well, as I participated in Small groups, as I read the Bible, as I received prayers for healing—I grew in God’s wisdom to reject that false purpose. I grew to accept God’s invitation to all of us—the invitation accepted by Daniel—to live a purpose driven life.  Knowing your purpose gives you courage, wisdom, confidence & clarity.

 

Now there are people I this parish who have know their God given purpose for many years.  There are people in this church who learned a lot about this thorough our Purpose driven Life last year. And then there are many, many of us, who are in a searching mode—seeking to understand and to grow.  My friends, here at Christ Church Quaker farms, you are free to be yourself.  You are free to have faith, you are free to have doubts.  You are free to search, and you are free to find.    And, there are two  resources currently being offered that can encourage and facilitate that growth process:

·       One is our Prayer and Healing Ministry, which we are offering today while communion is being administered, and every Wednesday—currently gathering at 6:30 Pm.  Come and let our trained prayer counselors pray with you, that you might find freedom to grow in Christ.

·       The 2^nd resource that we are offering, as many of you know, is Small Groups.  The Bible becomes alive in Small groups as we talk and share and listen.  Please feel free to join us any Friday at 7 pm for our Experiencing the Bible discussions.  Try it one time, and you will come back.

So, the message of Daniel was later fulfilled by cross of Christ, who died that we might all be freed from the forces of sin which would reject us, that we can be free women and men of God. In so doing, you, too, will experience the Bible. Amen.

 

--The Rev. John Donnelly, Christ Church Quaker Farms

FREEDOM from Tyrants through Christ

Today as we continue our  “Experiencing the Bible” sermon series,  we begin in 1500 BC, when  the Israelites  were emancipated from slavery in Egypt.  Their  master, Pharaoh, King of Egypt, was a most cruel   tyrant-- Beatings, executions, and abuse were all part of the daily routine. The Israeli slaves were deployed in forced labor to make  bricks from straw and mud, which Pharaoh used for his  grandiose  building schemes.  Pharaoh’s expectations for brick production were wildly unrealistic.  When production was down, then Pharaoh  cut their food rations, and then raised his demands for increased production.  Consequently , more slaves got weak, sick and died; and then the healthier slaves were forced to  pick up the slack.  The slaves pleaded and cried for mercy, but   Pharaoh just didn’t care.  He was intoxicated by the  power of controlling the people beneath  him.

 

Although we are not slaves, I hear modern day versions of this story all the time.

·       Employers cutting salaries and cutting staff.

·       Employers demanding  staff to complete  the work of two or more people, while production expectations rise.

·        And  I have heard of many workers plead for relief and make constructive suggestions,   but their supervisors and employers  just don’t seem to care.

 Are they, too, intoxicated by  their power, by which they control  employees beneath them?

 

Another example: we are all horrified that too many  families of all economic levels, are victimized by abusing control freaks.  But now many of us are learning that child on child abuse has grown to toxic labels in our schools. Sometimes, the abuse is physical, against those weaker.  Other times people use their words to frighten, intimidate, and to control those without recourse to  defend themselves.   Often, these victims feel  trapped by fear without recourse. And the bully abusers just don’t care.  Perhaps they are intoxicated by their power in controlling their families or terrorizing their classmates.

 

And,  finally,  there are those of us in this room, and others we know, who have been spiritually manipulated by authoritarian religion.  There are some denominations  & churches out there, where the clergy and church hierarchy  have imposed guilt, shame, and fear upon their people, in order to control them.  These clergy &  religious leaders just don’t care.  It must make us wonder if they, too,  are intoxicated by their power controlling those beneath them.

 

And, where is God in all of this?    PAUSE   God is on the front lines, doing battle for you and with you.  Throughout the Bible, God has always stood with the victims of tyranny and oppression, and has, quote, “cast down the mighty from their thrones to set the captives free, unquote. “

 

1.    God raised up Moses, to lead the Israelites out of slavery.  As they made their escape, Pharaoh was  delusionally full of himself  and  drunk with power.  He sent his armies to cut them all down.  However, in so doing, Pharaoh made his fatal mistake by neglecting  the God factor.  God provided the a way for the slaves to escape through the red Sea; but when Pharaoh’s army tried to go the same way, God cut them down.

 

2.    God later used David, a young & naïve pre teen, to defeat  Goliath, the  murderous giant, & leader of Israel’s enemy. Goliath also  neglected the God factor by cursing, ridiculing, and damning God.  Due to his over whelming size, strength, and skills with weaponry, Goliath inspired horror as he and his armies terrorized the Israelis—killing, raping, plundering, destroying  any victims who stood in the way.  Goliath never lost a battle, until this nothing of a boy challenged him to a duel to the death.   God  raised up this mere child, armed only with a sling  shot and a couple smooth river stones, to defeat the  dreaded tyrant. Through David, God cut Goliath down to size, and won the battle.

 

3.     And in today’s Gospel,  Jesus stands up against an angry , murderous mob, to free a woman from impending death. This time, the religious leaders were the tyrants.  Seeing an opportunity to discredit and to slander Jesus, they  thought that they had him trapped -- If Jesus violated Jewish law, then he would be slandered as a heretic.  Or, if Jesus condoned the woman’s execution, he would have denied his own teaching, and been labeled as a  hypocritical/ coldhearted  fake.  However, Jesus stood up against and defeated he unscrupulous religious leaders by sending the mob away.  Jesus used the sword of his tongue and faith to save the woman, and to expose the religious leaders as the hypocrites that they were.

 

Throughout the Bible, God has raised up people to defend the helpless, and to defeat tyrannical giants. Our God is working to break the chains that bind us, to set us free to live fuller, richer, & better lives through Christ Jesus.  Jesus is the one who was enslaved by death on the cross, and enslaved in a tomb.  But freedom in Christ is stronger than the chains of tyranny, so Jesus came back to life  and rolled the stone away from the tomb.  Now He is the one seeking to free us from all tyrants.

 

                 SO, WHAT GIANT IN YOUR LIFE DO YOU NEED TO DEFEAT?

A.    Looking at the work place---Sometimes you may feel like hitting your employer in the head with a rock,  don’t do it.  But Jesus wants to fight for you.  Jesus wants you to look at the situation with eyes of faith---confident that He has a plan to help you. Here’s what you do: Seek out God’s strategy & plan for you. problem.  Get advice and counsel from someone you trust, someone at church,  or a job coach or counselor, or maybe even someone else at work.   Seek to discern one of the two actions plans: change what you can change, or go to greener pastures, at least looking for something else; or ask God to give you the grace and serenity to  accept what you can’t change, knowing that you can be free on the inside, even if things don’t change on the outside.

 

B.   Likewise, Jesus wants freedom  from abuse in families and at school.   God has rocks for you to use to knock out the abuse. The first thing you do is to get some help from the outside. There are specialists, counselors and clergy who are  dealing with family abuse issues all the time.  Never have there ever been so many resources available; and there are victory stories all around.  You may feel small before this giant, but just like God used little David, so can God use you.  Also, as part of God’s work, the Christ Church Vestry is forming a task force to work with our own parishioners and others in our community to promote child safety in the local schools. You will hear more about this soon.

 

C.    Concerning the spiritual tyranny of  clergy and religious leaders---God is showing more and more people to the way of freedom in Christ.  Here at Christ Church, and in many other places, millions of people are learning that you are important to God:  God does not condemn you, he forgives you;  God is not angry, but loving.  God opposes the proud and defeats them, just like Jesus did in today’s Gospel… and just like He did when He rose from the dead, demonstrating  that he is the truth, and the truth will set us free.  Further,  I see a lot of action in freeing up religion from religious despots:

 

1.    Clergy  immorality and crimes, which were covered up, and now being exposed, fulfilling Jesus words when he said, “That which is hidden, will be revealed.”  That is the God factor which those criminals neglected to consider,

2.    Also, there are millions of people who have  rejected the judgment of their former churches, and finding God’s love in new ones.  How wonderful that God and you are making this church into a spiritual oasis.  It has been my delight,  as your rector, to see so many of you discover freedom in Christ’s love.  For me, this is what it is all about. This is “Experiencing the Bible.”

 

So, God is in our corner, slaying giants to set us free.   Now this week I want you to remember this, so we are giving you a little present.  When it time for communion, please come forward to receive the bread, the wine, and the rock of Christ.  These rocks are smooth, like the smooth stone that David used to slay Goliath; and the stones are engraved with a cross, to remind us of the stone at the entrance to the tomb, that Jesus rolled away, when He escaped from the chains of death—so that he could be our champion warrior, our defender, and our savior, now and forever. Amen.

 

--The Rev. John Donnelly,  Christ Church Quaker Farms

FREEDOM FROM SIN THROUGH CHRIST

FREEDOM FROM SIN THROUGH CHRIST
The Rev. John Donnelly,  Christ Church Quaker Farms, March 3, 2012

 Christ Church’s Experience the Bible” series is going to surprise many of you.  You will be surprised to learn that the all the scriptures are inspiring, including the Old Testament & Hebrew Scriptures, written before the birth of Christ.  Unfortunately, too many “doom” & “gloom” preachers & evangelists have used the bible like a club to instill guilt and fear in the hearts of the unknowing.    God has been totally misrepresented as being vindictive or frightening and harsh.  If God was truly like that, then he would not be worthy of worship, much less worthy of our trust & admiration.

 

The Bible calls upon us to be washed clean by God’s Word. During the next month, if watch, listen and participate, you will find your hearts and minds washed clean of the misconceptions and downright lies about God.  And in that place, you will know the truth—and the truth of God will set you free.

 

So, today we are going to begin our adventure into God’s Word to learn the rich heritage and history of pour faith, which goes back 4000 years ago.   It has been said that if you want to understand Jesus Christ and the Christian scriptures of the New Testament, then you have to know something about our spiritual forefathers and mothers, the Israelites, described in the Old Testament.

·       You see, the Old Testament chronicles the emergence of monotheism.  Our spiritual forebears rejected the worship of trees, the sun, and the moon.  They rejected the worship of statues made of stone and wood; they rejected the whole pantheon of different “”so called gods” being worshipped by everyone else.

·       In the Old Testament scriptures, we begin to learn of God’s character and purposes, as He revealed it overtime. From 2000 BC up until the birth of Christ, God initially adopted just one small nation of people, the Israelites.  During that time he taught them to know, trust, and to love Him.  That was the foundation.  With the birth of Jesus 2000 years ago, God has continued this work, but this time He is sharing His love with all peoples and nations.

Now this mighty work of God’s work began with   the patriarch, Abraham.  Just as our nation reveres George Washington our founding father, so the Israelites revere Abraham as the founder of their people.

 The Middle East, during the time of Abraham, 4000 years ago, was so very  primitive, comprised of  many  different nomadic ethnic  groups and tribes, who  were all  hunters, gatherers, shepherds, farmers, warriors and thieves.  Everyone lived in fear of rival tribes, and most people lived in fear of their gods.  All the things that they could not explain—the weather, times of draught, the causes of disease, and sudden attacks by animal and rival tribes –all this left them in a perpetual state confusion and terror.   Now going back as far as 50,000 years ago, ancient people sought to make peace with their gods by making sacrifices---burnt offerings of agricultural produce, and blood offerings of animals and humans. 

 

So, it was into this chaos of ancient man, that God, the creator of the universe, imitated a new and special relationship with Abraham and his wife Sarah. God began to teach Brahman and his tribe that He was a benevolent God, a God who desired relationship with his people.  God taught Abraham that God loved the children that he made. However, He hated the sinful actions that they committed.  So, it was within this context that God taught an eternal truth---that sacrifice nullifies sin.  Please repeat that after me—Sacrifice nullifies sin. So, over the course of thousands of years, the descendents of Abraham made sacrifices for the forgiveness of sin. But the one difference from the other religions is that they understood that God did not want the sacrifice of humans.

 

 Now, this may seem strange in light of today’s reading about Abraham and Isaac.  Abraham is commanded to murder his own son as a sin offering to placate God? ! ? How can this be??  Just imagine the horror felt by both Abraham and his son. 

·       And, how could Abraham have consented to do this?  On the surface, this story sounds like a horror story from the TV show “Criminal Minds.”

 However, when we view  this story in the lens of history, we can learn two things:

1.     The end result  of this event was the public affirmation and pronouncement  to the Jews and to their neighbors, that God does not require human sacrifice  for the forgiveness of sins.     Most scholars believe that this story was intended as  a clear statement opposing all human sacrifice in a world where such senseless bloodshed was all too normal.  While you and I may be repulsed by this story, the fact remains that in the end, God’s mercy countermanded the blood sacrifice.

You see, Abraham and his descendents were just beginning to learn about the love and forgiveness of God.  God partially revealed his personality and identity throughout the Old Testament.  But all their knowledge about God remained incomplete  and illusive for 2000 years.   But at the time appointed, God chose to make the perfect revelation of His identity, His purposes, and His compassion.

So God chose to come to earth as a human being. Then, in the person of Jesus Christ,  we can see God face to face.  Jesus summarizes this truth in the Gospel of John,  when Jesus said “ Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.  Believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”  Now Jesus repeated this over and over again, in many different ways, and in through all 4 of the Gospels. Now at the time, many people did not understand Him, including his  own disciples.  Jesus’ enemies heard this  message all too clearly, and that’s the reason that they crucified Him, to shut him up.  But then, He rose from the dead and his disciples finally understood.

 

2.    So, God does not want human blood sacrifices.   But the fact still remains, that sacrifice nullifies sin.  So, with that in mind, Jesus voluntarily sacrificed himself to nullify sin, to bring forgiveness for all who turn to Him. In a mysterious way that it beyond human comprehension, Jesus  unleashed the power of God’s mercy, thereby making it possible for all people to know of God’s unlimited love and forgiveness.

 So the followers of Jesus said it this way in the Bible--- please repeat after  me : Christ was the perfect sacrifice    not only for our own sins,    but for the sin of the world.      

So, what does this mean for us?  Whether they realize it consciously or not, too many people are weighed down by the burdens  of their own sinfulness.  Sometimes this manifests itself in guilt and self condemnation; other times it makes us withdraw from church; other times it is like some emotional diseases, which weighs upon us; and still other times it makes people hostile to Jesus and his followers. 

 

Jesus’ greatest, hardest work,  His masterpiece, His crowning achievement, was His sacrifice on the cross to bring forgiveness of sin.  We show him that we appreciate and value that work, by not just confessing out sins, but by immediately accepting the reality that we are forgiven.  So, when I first became a Christian, I was taught that for every time I told God that I was sorry, I immediately had to follow up thanking him for my forgiveness, which he grants automatically to all who sincerely seek his mercy.  As I said earlier, in my opinion, too many churches have discouraged people by talking about sin, without immediately talking about  the guarantee of immediately forgiveness for those who seek it.  You see, if most of us were truly honest with ourselves, and you gave it some honest thought, you would come to realize how you have let yourself down, how you have let down the people you love, and how you have let God down. I am fully aware of my failures and sins.  But I am not courageous enough to deal with that mess of sin,  unless I am confident that God ‘s going to forgive me, and then help me forgive myself, and then help to change my actions

So,  today you can all experience the Bible –right here—right now. How?   When you confess your sins,  you choose to claim the truth that you are forgiven and loved, and that with God, there is no problem too big that the 2 of you cannot handle together.  That t my friends, is the one truth around with all the Bible revolves.  Jesus Christ’s sacrifice was made to free us from sin, to live a renewed life in Him, now and forever.  Amen.

 Lord Jesus Christ, Master Carpenter of Nazareth, who on your cross of wood and nails wrought our whole salvation: wield well your tools in this your workshop, that we who come to You rough-hewn, may by your hand be fashioned into a greater beauty and truer usefulness, to the honor of your name.

FREEDOM FROM TEMPTATION THROUGH CHRIST

 

FREEDOM FROM TEMPTATION IN CHRIST

 

The Rev. John Donnelly  Christ Church Quaker Farms,  Feb. 24, 2013

 

 Jesus is in the wilderness—and of course, because he is Jesus, the gentle and good,  He would never consider doing something wrong,  right?  ENNNN!  Wrong answer.  The Bible tells us that he was tempted in every way that we are.  He was tempted by wine, women, food,  fame, power,  and tempted to turn against God.  You see, there is a difference between being tempted, and actually sinning, and doing something wrong. Being is tempted is where you think about it,  you entertain the idea. Sin is the action.  The doing.  No, Jesus was tempted alright.  And did He just naturally turn away from the temptations.  No.  He didn’t . There was a struggle, and then, as we heard in today’s Gospel,  He remembered some teaching from the Word of God.    And the Word of God gave him inner strength to reject the bad and to do the good.   The Word of God freed him from temptation.

 

Earlier in our service, we recited the 10 commandments.  I know that many people think that the 10 commandments are  largely irrelevant to modern life. Others of us may  look at them with an inner sense of guilt and discomfort.   How differently did the ancient Jews view these words from God.  They rejoiced in the 10 commandments, because they understood them to be like “danger sings”  on the highway of life. Indeed, today’s psalm praises God for his word and commandments ,because they give guidance, encouragement, and strength, and freedom.  We all know that there are physical laws that govern the universe, like for every action there is a proportionate reaction.  Well. That’s not just a law of physics.  That is also a law of the universe.  Disregard of God’s Word & commandments can lead to disaster.  And most of us know that, but sometime we are tempted to disregard, disobey, and to discard a commandment or two, or three, or more.

 

One commandment that all of us tempted to violate is the commandment to tell the truth. Dishonesty is a huge problem in all aspects of our society.  Of course, we are enraged when prominent people are caught in lie.  However, it’s not just politicians and celebrities who lie.  Some social scientists report that the average person tells anywhere from 4 lies a day. Others report that number to be as high as 280 times per day.  Now they also have done studies on which sex tells the most lies.  Can anyone guess which gender is the culprit??     (My defense is that this propensity to lie is probably a genetic male attribute, over which  we men have no control.  Or, we were traumatized by our mothers, from whom we heard our first lie as a babe in arms.)

 

So, both sexes  are tempted to lie for many reasons: to save face; to protect someone we care about; to seek revenge, as in gossip, or to advance our own goals and agenda. However, God ‘s word commands us not to lie to protect us from the dangerous consequences of lying.  Broken relationships, embarrassment, hurt feelings, guilt, suspicion, undue anxiety and stress are all consequences of lying.  Sometimes, we may never experience the consequences ourselves , but we unintentionally hurt others;  or we may be publicly exposed for the liars that we are.  Also, each lie pushes God farther and farther away from us.

 

This is just one example.  But this true for violations of all 10 commandments.  So, what we learn from Jesus’ example, is our need to resist temptation to do the bad.   How do we do that?

 

There’s a current TV advertisement, which actually quotes noted author George Bernard Shaw,  which sheds light on this.  Shaw wrote, and I quote, "Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time. When asked which dog wins?...'whichever dog I feed'." Unquote.

 

Does anybody remember the inner voice of conscience? That inner sense of knowing what is right and wrong?  Unfortunately, we live in a time where the inner voice of conscience is not taught, nurtured, or even known about by many people.  I don’t think that the inner voice of conscience is ever heard by many people. It seems to me that many people are deaf to that inner voice.   Growing up,  my Daddy told me that every time I did something bad, that it would become easier and easier to do that bad thing over and over in the future.  Then, at some  point my conscience would be silenced.

 

  Too many people are feeding the bad dogs within them.  And too many of us are not sufficiently feeding the good dog.  We may know that the good dog is there, but too often the bad dog wins.    So, our goal should be to feed the good.  And God’s word tells us about feeding the good dog. The Bible tells us that men and women do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”  We need to feed our conscience with the Word of God to resist temptation.

Now, I know that many people find it hard to read the Bible.  I also know that many of us do not choose to sign up for a small group bible study.  So, what if you could feed your good dog with God’s word, by not doing any of that. Just sit in your recliner and let the Word of God fill your heart?

 

Well, your good dog can start feasting next Sunday night at 8pm, when the History Channel presents a new dramatic miniseries of the 10 ten stories of the Bible.  I sincerely believe that this will be an epic event for many of us, because if you watch this series, your conscience will be fed to find greater freedom from temptation.  You will see the ordinary stories of regular people, people who gave into temptation, and suffered the consequences as well as people who resisted temptation and then found the freedom to become strong and happy women and men of  faith.  In short, many of us will be inspired.

 

So, I want to show you the 2 ½ minute trailer, which captures some high points from the miniseries.

 

 

 

Now, I know some of you are excited about this. So, I hope that you will invite friends and family, who do not get the History Channel, to come and watch it with you.  Also, we have preordered  the DVD edition, which we will make available as soon as it arrives.  However, even if you do not watch it on TV, we have something which will bless  everybody.  In combination with this miniseries, CCQF will concurrently offer a  new program based on the Bible & based on the series. Would you please take out the  white flier in your bulletin, and turn to  page 4.

 

So, looking at the top of the page, the miniseries will run on the 5 Sundays in March, from 8 to 10 pm, showing e hour long episodes each night.

 

Moving down—earlier in the day, back here at church,  I will be preaching about selected bible stories featured in the miniseries, to give you some interpretation and commentary, which will be scintillating as always.

 

Finally,  two new Small Groups begin next  Thursday and Friday at 7pm. Both groups will view video clips from the series, which will serve as the basis for discussion that night.  So, if you don’t watch  TV miniseries, you can come to the small groups, and be on the same page with everyone else, so that you can  enter in the excitement.

 

·       Thursday night’s small group will be similar to the Small groups we had last fall.

·       On Friday, however, we are doing something different.  Friday’s program will be open to anybody to come to all 5 meetings, or to come to one, or anything in between.  It us totally open, so that you can bring friends and family without pressuring them into a commitment. Actually, Friday’s program will feature several sub groupings, so that we can share in the benefits of be inviting to all, and yet have that small group flavor.  Free child care will be provided, where the Kids will watch Bible action cartoons, so that they can feed their good dogs as well.  If you wish to attend Fridays on a semi-regular basis, please sign up  today--downstairs in the parish hall,  to help us in planning.

 

So, this all begins next  Sunday, when  God’s Word will feed us and set us free to be the people we are meant to be in Christ Jesus, our Lord.   Amen.