Sermon: They Want to Know

Worship Services for July 27, 2014

Invocation
O God, creator of all humankind, I bring to You the cares and concerns of all Your creatures. Look now to those who cry for help from every corner of the earth, for You alone are able to satisfy our deepest desires. Amen.

Prayers for the church of Christ, for others, for yourself.

Scripture: Matthew 9:35-38
35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When He saw the crowds, He had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then He said to his disciples,“ The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

Sermon: They Want to Know
By Pastor Ed Evans

There are so many things we don’t know about. We learn first from our parents, from people who teach us, from circumstances, and we learn from seeking to learn. Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under President Gerald Ford, once confused a lot of people at a NATO Press conference in Brussels, Belgium, when he said, “There are no "knowns." There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don't know.”

There are things we do not know we don't know. But Jesus told us that if we seek, we shall find.

There is a lot of discussion right now throughout the Christian world, and among others, about the “End Times.” We know about the Biblical End Times, and yet, we don’t know. Many of us are afraid it is one of those things we do not know we don’t know, so we collect every bit of information we can about it, and we obsess over it.

For example, do you know about the four blood moons?

Had you heard about the rivers turning to tomato-soup red?

According to ABC News, the Wenzhou River in Xinmeizhou village in eastern China’s Zhejiang province turned completely red over about an hour’s time. Residents say that the river was normal around 5 a.m., but an hour later, the water had changed color.
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1374633/china-river-turns-red-locals-baffled-after-river-turns-blood-red-pollution-blamed/#QQ2FX9UZ2GlO4HlX.99

It happened before, on Sept. 6, 2012, in the city of Chongqing, where the Yangtze River runs through thi city in southwestern China. You can read more about it at http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2199800/The-river-DID-run-red-Residents-Chinese-city-left-baffled-Yangtze-turns-scarlet.html#ixzz38csRfyBz

And it happened in Exodus 7:17, “17 Thus says the LORD, ‘By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.’”

In the Book of Revelation there comes a time when the angels pour out six bowls of wrath on the world, and in chapter 16, verse 4 we read, “Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood.”

The matter of four blood moons refers to the verse in Joel 3:21, “The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes”, and the verse in Rev. 6:12, “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood”.

The sequence of four consecutive blood moons (known as a tetrad) has occurred several times before, in 1909-10, 1927-28, 1949-50, 1967-68, 1985-86, and 2003-04.
This cycle, the four blood moons will all take place on religiously significant dates for the Jewish people.

The first comes April 15, 2014, the second day of Passover. The second will come on October 8, 2014, during the Jewish Feast of the Tabernacles. The third will come on April 5, 2015, during next year's Passover celebration, and the fourth will arrive on September 28, 2015, another Feast of the Tabernacles, also known as Sukkot.

History shows that blood moon cycles in the past have occurred at momentous events in Jewish history. For example, in 1493, just as Jews were being expelled from Spain; then in 1949 when the state of Israel was founded; and again in 1967 during the Six Day War between Israel and its Arab attackers.

And yet, as much as these occurrences are factual, we must wonder. Upon what day of time is something momentous not happening in this world? Something is always happening, blood moon, blood river or not.

Jesus reminded us, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

Even the Apostle Paul wrote about signs of the End Times, but scholars believe his intent was not to establish a calendar, but rather to comfort those Christians who thought death would deprive them of seeing Jesus’ Second Coming.

As war and terror, greed and hunger, disorder and natural calamities sweep through mankind, widespread insecurity and uncertainty lead people to fear what they don’t know and what they do know. At the same time, there are those who will exploit the circumstances, claiming secret knowledge amidst the disorder.

You might remember the hysteria about Y2K at the turn of the century in 2000, and about the “Mayan Apocalypse on Dec. 21 just two years ago. Now we are surrounded by war, terrorists, and social mayhem. In such times people are looking for answers, they are looking for hope and a promise of tomorrow. All those things are found in Jesus Christ.

Why so much hate, social disruption, calamitous weather occurrences in America, in Europe, China, terror and revolution in the Middle East and around the world? Is it the End Times? What’s going on? The world wants to know. You can tell them; be the laborer of His harvest.

Give them Jesus. Give them heaven. Give them the peace of God.

And instead of looking to mystical stars and moons, signs and wonders to predict the future, focus on the promise of the gospel message. We need to reflect Christ in our words and actions as we avoid the shadows of mysticism, rumor and innuendo. For our God doesn’t operate on the basis of those, and just as no one keeps promises like He does, we can be assured that He is going to do what He has said He will do. In His own good time.

What is left for we who follow the Living God is to continue sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. People want to know. They want answers. Everything He has promised will come to pass, in His own good time. And finally, for each of us to keep enjoying the fullness of our relationship with the God who created the sun, the stars, and yes, even the blood moons.

Amen.


Hymn: “By Gracious Powers”, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1944), translated by Fred Pratt Green; copyright Words @ 1991 Stainer & Bell Ltd.; provided here for educational purposes only

1 By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered,
And confidently waiting, come what may,
We know that God is with us night and morning
And never fails to greet us each new day.

2 Yet is this heart by its old foe tormented,
Still evil days bring burdens hard to bear;
O give our frightened souls the sure salvation
For which, O Lord, You taught us to prepare.

3 And when this cup You give is filled to brimming
With bitter suffering, hard to understand,
We take it thankfully and without trembling,
Out of so good and so beloved a hand.

4 Yet when again in this same world You give us
The joy we had, the brightness of Your sun,
We shall remember all the days we lived through,
And our whole life shall then be Yours alone.


Communion
On the night Jesus was betrayed, He took bread and He broke it, saying this is My body, given for you. After supper He took the cup, saying this cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you do it, in remembrance of Me.

Benediction
And now, our God, as we go to our places in the world, go with us. May the peace of sin forgiven and the power of Your Holy Spirit work in us and through us to Your glory Amen.

As we close the worship services today, always remember that while some have called you servants, He has called you friends.

Closing Hymn
God Be With You ‘Til We Meet Again
By Jeremiah E. Rankin
Public Domain

God be with you till we meet again,
By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you,
God be with you till we meet again.
Refrain:
Till we meet, till we meet,
Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.

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Daily Scripture Readings for July 28 – August 3, 2014
Monday – Genesis 22:1-14
Tuesday – 1st Timothy 6:11-19
Wednesday – Psalm 68:1-10
Thursday – John 10:1-18
Friday – Matthew 7:1-12
Saturday – 1st Peter 5:1-11
Sunday – Exodus 3:13-20; Romans 8:26-30; Psalm 105:1-11; Matthew 14:44-52