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“Things Aren’t Always As They Seem”

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“For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all he does.”–Psalm 33:4

This is supposedly a true story.

A flight from Melbourne to Brisbane, was unexpectedly diverted to Sydney.

The flight attendant explained there would be a delay of almost an hour, and if the passengers wanted to get off the aircraft the plane, they could re-board at the appointed time.

Everybody got off the plane except one lady who was blind. She sat quietly while her Seeing Eye Dog continued to lay quietly underneath the seats in front of her- as he had throughout the entire flight.

The pilot approached her, and said, ‘Ma’am, we are in Sydney for almost an hour. Would you like to get off and stretch your legs?’

The blind lady replied, ‘No thanks, but maybe my dog Max would like to stretch his legs.’ And the pilot obliged.

The people in the gate area came to a complete standstill when they looked up and saw the pilot walk off the plane with a Seeing Eye dog!

The pilot was even wearing sunglasses.
People scattered.
They not only tried to change planes, but they were trying to change airlines!

This is a good reminder that things aren’t always as they seem. Our efforts may have appeared to fail. Our worth may seem small. Some people may seem to be winning when, in fact, they are losing.

We judge by what we see on the outside. Too often, we use the world’s standard of measure for success or failure.  God judges by the eternal, He sees what we cannot.

So, don’t lose heart and don’t grow weary.

My prayer for us this week is for a greater ability to trust God in those things we cannot see.

Worship Services for Sunday, August 10, 2014

Invocation
Almighty God, who always moves with clarity of will and singleness of purpose, help me to live and work with certainty in an uncertain world.  Light a lamp before me so that my feet do not stumble.  Make my path clear so I may never wander from Your chosen way.  I pray in the name of Jesus who comes to make Your way clear before our eyes.  Amenj.

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

Scripture: 
23 But I call God to witness against me—it was to spare you that I refrained from coming again to Corinth. 24 Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.
2 For I made up my mind not to make another painful visit to you. 2 For if I cause you pain, who is there to make me glad but the one whom I have pained? 3 And I wrote as I did, so that when I came I might not suffer pain from those who should have made me rejoice, for I felt sure of all of you, that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4 For I wrote to you out of much affliction and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to cause you pain but to let you know the abundant love that I have for you.
5 Now if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but in some measure—not to put it too severely—to all of you. 6 For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, 7 so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8 So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For this is why I wrote, that I might test you and know whether you are obedient in everything.10 Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. Indeed, what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ, 11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Sermon: Wrong is Hard, Love is Harder
by Pastor Ed Evans

A man who has a Facebook page on the Internet uses that page to comment on local and world events from a Christian point of view.  Many people pose questions to him about those events in the news, and he answers from a Biblical, scriptural point of view.  Recently a reader of his page complained that all this man put on his Facebook page was “hate, hate, hate.”
In fact, his Facebook page carried news items about murder, mayhem, terrorism, and evil at all levels, with scriptural encouragement regarding God’s requirement for individual responsibility and the idea of treating others as you would have them treat you.  But all this person saw was the negative.
It’s like the story about the man visiting a psychiatrist who was showing him random ink blot images, called a Rorschach Test.  This is a psychological test in which the subjects' perceptions of inkblots are recorded and then analyzed using psychological interpretation to gain a picture of that person’s psychological make-up.
Well, every inkblot the doctor showed his patient, the man said it had sexual connotations.  At the end of the test the doctor observed to the man that he had a rather strong fixation on sex.  
The man replied, “Hey, Doc, they were your dirty pictures!”
In today’s scriptural lesson, Paul is apparently responding to a letter from the church at Corinth, and Paul is explaining why he has not been back to see them recently.  
It’s evident there was something going on at the church in Corinth to which Paul has already called their attention, a subject which hurt people when the bright light of righteousness was shone upon it.  Paul has not returned to the Corinth church right away perhaps because unrighteousness is incompatible with the worship of God, and people’s feelings get hurt when you point that out..  
But hurt feelings or not, we must choose whether we will serve our own pleasures, or walk the path of love and righteousness with Jesus Christ. 
Paul knew if he returned and that situation remained, he would have to speak hurtfully once again, and causing hurt and pain was not why Jesus Christ had set Paul on the path he was on.
We know what that feels like, don’t we?
How often have we found ourselves facing a situation among friends that we know to be wrong?  And yet we love our friends.  It pains us to see the wrong that they are in.  And it pains us even more to say to them, this is wrong.  If you love Christ you must give this up, get out of this, repent of your actions and walk away from this.
In fact, most people don’t want to hurt the feelings of others they care about.  They feel it is better to say nothing than cause an emotional upset.  And here we have the weed of political correctness taking root in an otherwise healthy environment.
There is a movie many of us may remember from childhood, the movie “Bambi.”  It was the very first movie I remember seeing as a small child.  In that movie there is a scene where the deer fawn Bambi mistakes a cute little skunk for a flower, looking at the friendly skunk and asking “Flower?”
The baby rabbit, Thumper, collapses in laughter and little Bambi is embarrassed without knowing why.  Thumper’s mother then says something that has followed so many of us into adulthood.  She says, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
Good advice, perhaps, for a baby rabbit, but not the best advice for adults living a sinful, permissive world such as many of us experience every day where pleasure and entertainment and excess are the mark of the day.  A day where there is no right and there is no wrong, there is only whatever we choose to do for our own pleasure.
In the days before Israel had a king, holy scripture tells us everyone did what was right in his own eyes,” we are told in Judges 21:25.  Matthew 24 and Luke 17 both speak of the lawlessness in “the days of Noah”, just before the flood.  Gen. 6:11-12 says “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.”
In such times it might be even more than impolite to point out another person’s transgressions.  It might even be dangerous.  In Hempstead, Texas, this week a Middle School principal was fired to telling Hispanic students they should speak more English to prepare themselves for jobs after graduation.
It has been said that in an empire of lies, truth is treason.  Much of the trouble that befell Paul on his missionary journeys came about because the truth was all he could tell.
Paul knew that God knew his heart and would bear witness to the truth he spoke; “It was in order to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.”
J. W. McGarvey paraphrased Paul’s words to say,  “I delayed to come to Corinth in order that you might have time to repent, and show your repentance by obedience; for had I come at the time which I first mentioned it to you, I would have been compelled to discipline you, and therefore make you sorry.”
Instead, Paul wanted to work with them for their joy. He did not see his role as lording it over them, even though his words had apostolic authority.
It wasn’t nearly as much about pointing out sin, assigning responsibility for that sin, as it was seeking repentance and offering forgiveness.  All throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth, love and forgiveness were paramount, drawing people back to the Living God, sharing His love for them, took precedence.
There are in this world today tyrants seeking power, terrorists seeking to impose their will, and willing to kill to attain dominance for their cause, people who will not listen to the message of Jesus Christ, people who claim to have a better plan, a better god, a new way, a way of sacrificial blood-letting, of violence, of worship superior to the ways of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  There are even people who, in claiming to worship the Living God, worship an angel; the Peacock Angel.  These people are the Yazidis of Iraq.  They were once part of the Zoaroaster movement in Iran and their rites and beliefs are very close to that of Judaism.
These people have come into the news this past week because the Muslim terrorists known as ISIS --  The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham – in attempting to create a Muslim caliphate from Syria and Iraq have either driven out and murdered all of the Christians in northern Iraq, and have driven the Yazidis up onto Mount Sinjar near the city of Mosul.  The ISIS forces threaten them with death and annihilation.  The news that these people worship the only angel who ever rebelled against the Living God has brought out the very worst in some people.
On the one hand it is suggested killing them is a good thing; men, women and children.  On the other hand, those of a liberal frame of mind (1) question whether or not they really “worship the devil”, (2) castigate those who say out loud that they do, and (3) those who claim the Yazidis worship was, though a kinship with Zoaroasterism, here first and must be superior to both the Christians and Jews, so they must be saved and preserved.
The reaction of the American government has been to drop food and water supplies to the Yazidis atop Mount Sinijar, even as those intent on killing them approach their positions atop the mountain.  President Obama has said America will not send ground troops back into Iraq, although most people know that American forces have been and are still remaining in Baghdad to protect Americans there and in the U.S. Embassy.
As events have progressed this week in the news reports, people have asked me how I could be in favor of saving these “devil worshipers”, and why can’t we just “nuke” the entire force of terrorists and be done with them.
Well, first I'm a firm believer this current body in which you and I live and breathe is just an apartment in the mansion of our soul.  And related to that I also believe it is a gift of the Living God, so I appreciate His gift and take good care of it.  Furthermore, if I believe Jesus meant what He said about treating others as I would treat myself, then there's the upkeep and safety of others to be considered. He never said it would be easy ... or uncomplicated.
But like Paul I have no qualms about saying, “What you are doing is a mistake,” even as I plead to the world and our own government to save their lives.  They each have an eternity to think about, and they are each created in the image of God.
In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul assured the people, “What I have forgiven . . . I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake.”  He was their example for conduct just as Jesus was his.  Paul would not hold a grudge. As an emissary of Christ, he offered others the same forgiveness granted to him by the Lord. 
So should we all!  Forgiveness, the refusal to hold a grudge, this helps thwart Satan’s schemes. The devil seeks to overreach, taking advantage of Christians whenever possible. All who follow Christ are required to forgive because we have been forgiven (Matthew 6:12).
Granted, dealing with people mired down in wrong places, wrong habits, a wrong world is difficult, tiring and often frustrating.  And it is also true that loving those people can be even harder, but that is what Jesus asks of us…..because we have been forgiven.  Amen.


Hymn:  “O God, Our Help in Ages Past,” by Isaac Watts (19 ); copyright: Public Domain; provided here for educational purposes only

1. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.
2. Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.
3. Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.
4. Thy Word commands our flesh to dust,
“Return, ye sons of men”:
All nations rose from earth at first,
And turn to earth again.
5. A thousand ages in Thy sight
Are like an evening gone;
Short as the watch that ends the night
Before the rising sun.
6. The busy tribes of flesh and blood,
With all their lives and cares,
Are carried downwards by the flood,
And lost in foll’wing years.
7. Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the op’ning day.
8. Like flow’ry fields the nations stand
Pleased with the morning light;
The flow’rs beneath the mower’s hand
Lie with’ring ere ’tis night.
9. O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last,
And our eternal home.


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
Send me, Lord, as an evangel of hope and security to those whose paths will cross with mine this day.  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 August 11 – August 17, 2014
Monday – Isaiah 54:9-17
Tuesday – Hebrews 10:1-10
Wednesday – 2nd Peter 1:1-11
Thursday – 1st Peter 3:13-22
Friday – 1st Peter 4:12-19
Saturday – John 17:1-19
Sunday – Exodus 14:19-31; Romans 9:1-5; Psalm 106:4-12; Matthew 14:22-33

Worship Services for Sunday, August 3, 2014

Invocation

Almighty God, create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us, that amid the din and confusion of this noisy world we may always choose the more excellent way.  Through Christ.  Amen

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

Scripture: 2nd Corinthians 1:3-11

Sermon for Sunday, August 3, 2014

It’s In The Blood

2^nd Cor. 1:3-11

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.  ⁵ For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too.  ⁶ If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.  ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

⁸ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia.  For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.  ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.  ¹⁰ He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us.  On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.  ¹¹ You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.

Last year 2,123 Christians died because they worshiped Jesus Christ, and they would not abandon Him.

The year before that, 1,201 Christians were slaughtered, many right in their own homes.

Of last year’s 2,123 dead, more than half of those reported killings (1,213) occurred in Syria, followed by Nigeria (612) and Pakistan (88).

In North Korea — a country of more than 24 million souls – there are an estimated 300,000 Christians surviving under one of the most oppressive regimes in our time.  In that very poor nation Christians must deal with corrupt officials, bad policies, natural disasters, diseases and hunger, while hiding their decision to follow Christ.  For if they are caught with a Bible they are either executed or must live out a life-long political prison sentence.  It is estimated 50,000 to 70,000 Christians survive in concentration camps, prisons and prison-like circumstances under the regime of leader Kim Jong-Un.  More than 80 percent of people worldwide identify with a religious group, according to 2011 survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.  Of those, 2.2 billion, or 32 percent, identified themselves as Christians, followed by 1.6 billion Muslims (23 percent) and 1 billion Hindus (15 percent).

The survey also found that roughly 1.1 billion people, or 16 percent worldwide, have no religious affiliation, making that segment the third-largest religious group globally and roughly equal in size to the world’s Catholic population.

In 2011 the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life performed a survey that indicated more than 80 percent of people worldwide identify with a religious group; 2.2 billion, or 32 percent, identified themselves as Christians, followed by 1.6 billion Muslims (23 percent) and 1 billion Hindus (15 percent).

Their survey also revealed that 1.1 billion people, or 16 percent worldwide, claim no religious affiliation at all.  That makes them roughly equal in size to the world’s Catholic population among Christians.

In 2011, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity revealed that more than 100,000 Christians were being martyred every year.  That figure means a Christian is being murdered somewhere in the world every five minutes.

This past May, Vatican spokesman Archbishop Silvano Maria Tomasi announced in a radio address to the United Nations Human Rights Council, "Credible research has reached the shocking conclusion that every year an estimate of more than 100,000 Christians are killed because of some relation to their faith."

How safe do you feel?  If you feel safe, know that you are in the minority in the world today.

Perhaps you are familiar with the John Donne poem “No Man is an Island,” which ends with the words:

“Any man's death diminishes me,
Because I am involved in mankind,
And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;
It tolls for thee.”

His words become more meaningful if you know that the “for whom the bell tolls” line did not originate with that poem, but part of John Donne’s
“Meditation 17”, which reads in part, “'No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a Manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee....”

We might individually have problems, you and I, health problems, financial problems, family problems, but in the end they are problems with which we can deal.  Although, if we have someone to share those problems with us, we do a lot better. 

Paul pointed out that God is our great comforter, and as we endure our troubles, we receive comfort through Christ so that we know how to comfort others.   He wrote that he offered the same comfort as he had received from God.  “For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too,” Paul wrote.  “If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer.   Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.”

Paul went on to say that he had hope for the Corinthians, for if they were partners in suffering, they would also be partners in comfort.

Lori Broschat, an elder in the United Methodist Church, tells the story of a four-year-old boy’s neighbor, an elderly man, who had recently lost his wife.  The boy saw his elderly neighbor sitting outside, weeping.  The little boy went into his neighbor’s yard, crawled up into the old man’s lap, and just sat there.  At last, the weeping stopped, and the little boy climbed down and went back into his house.  The boy’s mother had watched the scene and asked her son what he had said to the old man.

“Nothing,” said the little boy, “I just helped him cry.”

Perhaps children, in their simplicity, writes Lori Broschat, understand best the dynamics of suffering and sympathy.  Sometimes the best consolation is just being there.  And God is always there, with His concern and comfort going beyond His extension of compassionate forgiveness.  Sometimes that comfort does not take the form of taking away the pain and suffering, but instead consists of His encouragement and strength so we can endure, and learn.  One thing we should learn is that no matter how great the problem, God’s comfort is greater.

We who have benefited from His grace to us, His comfort and concern for us, we who believe in Jesus Christ, we become the agents of His comfort to others.

And Paul tells us the best way that happens in verse 11: “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.”  Scripture teaches us that God often responds to His people only when they pray and ask.  Here we see Paul urging the Corinthian church to join with him in praying for the future deliverance of Paul and those who work with him.

For like Christ we who follow Him live under a sentence of death.  Whether we are martyred now or a live a long life, we all live under the sentence of death.  And yet like Christ, we have God’s resurrection power on our side.  We have the power of God working within and through us.  But that power does not keep us away from suffering.  Instead it empowers us to overcome, to use the power of prayer to be one with a loving God, even as we seek to be His consolation to those who are suffering.  It is for them we should be in prayer.  In our relative safety and abundance, let us be in prayer, for the safety of others, the endurance of others even as they are in danger.   As He has consoled us, so we have His example to encourage and console others, and to seek for the well-being others, in prayer, in His name.  Amen.

Hymn:  “Dear Jesus, in Whose Life I See”, by John Hunter, 1889, Public Domain; provided here for educational purposes only

1. Dear Jesus, in whose life I see
All that I would, but fail to be,
Let Thy clear light forever shine,
To shame and guide this life of mine.

2. Though what I dream and what I do
In my weak days are always two,
Help me, oppressed by things undone,
O Thou whose deeds and dreams were one!

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

My Lord, today I will make a thousand choices, big and small, consequential and trivial.  In the midst of all these decisions, help me to choose the one thing needed for a richer, more vital life in You.  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 August 3 - 10, 2014
Monday – Luke 10:38-42
Tuesday – Romans 8:18-25
Wednesday – 2^nd Corinthians 6:1-13
Thursday – Revelation 19:1-8
Friday – Hebrews 10:19-39
Saturday – Colossians 3:5-17
Sunday – Exodus 12:1-14; Romans 8:31-39; Psalm 143:1-10;  Matthew 14:13-21