More Thoughts for Sunday

I was working on my sermon for Sunday at Faith Church and I have decided to expand my scriptural support to include a passage where Jesus shows the power of God by having compassion on someone whom the religious authorities set up to entrap Jesus. I am using it in conjunction with Isaiah 54.2-5 (expanded from previous thoughts) to talk about the bias God has toward restoration (the Isaian passage refers to Zion's restoration and the Marcan passage refers to the restoration of a man with a withered hand).

Both passages show God's love for the people who need to experience healing and wholeness in their lives. Zion is returning from Babylonian exile and God promises to be her husband and challenges her to "enlarge the place of your tents" in order to fully experience the restoration that will come as they return to Israel. The man with the withered hand experiences restoration of his hand even though he was placed front and center by the Pharisees to try to trick Jesus into breaking the Sabbath command.

Oftentimes, it seems like churches need to experience the restoration that comes with a renewed relationship with God. A renewing that comes when they fully understand that God has created and purposed them for a unique calling that only they can fulfill. A calling to grow to the fullest extent of their mission - growth that can only happen when they remain fully surrendered and fully in tune with God's plan for the church.

I am going to share a story of my missed opportunity to play football in Jr. High and relate it to the fact that the regret I feel for not seizing that moment in time could be played out in hundreds of small membership churches if they fail to remember (or identify) what God has called them to do.

I will talk about different kinds of church growth, not just numerical because a proper understanding of what it means to grow a church and what actually constitutes a church (see Andrew's comment on previous post) is key to following God's plan for the church. I am going to ask some hard questions of Faith Church and I pray that they will rise to the challenge.

Please pray for me as I continue to refine this message for the people of Faith UMC and be sure to pray for me on Sunday morning when I get up to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray that their hearts are open and receptive to what the Spirit will say thru me. Pray that the worship time is truly about preparing their hearts to hear this message. Pray that I don't screw this up because I am just a sinner who needs to hear this message as much as they do.

Grace&Peace