Archive for May, 2011
FIVE REASONS TO TITHE:
FIND IT IN THE BIBLE: "And of all that you give me I will surely give one tenth to you." (Genesis 23:22)
1) ANCIENT MODEL:
Tithing is our most ancient model for giving. One of the best tithing stories is that of Jacob (Genesis 28:10-22)
2) TRUST IN GOD:
Tithing helps us worship God more in our lives. It encourages our spiritual growth and trust in God.
3) FINANCIAL WISDOM:
Tithing brings God's wisdom to our finances, exercising a healthy spiritual discipline over them, and helps us to combat the destructive materialism and greed that destroy the lives of many.
4) MINISTRY SUPPORT
Tithing provides the means to keep our pastors and missionaries in full time service to God.
5) CONGREGATIONAL STRENGTH
Tithing strengthens the ministry, outreach and health of our congregations, molding us into true Christian communities of faith, love, and grace.
As your Pastor and members of Zion, we have placed tithing on the top of our list. We have pledged our support by pledging 10% of our earnings towards giving to the Lords work. We have been blessed by it. May you be blessed by it also.
Please sign up for being a greeter after our 10:15 Service. Also, we can use more ushers. Please sign your family up for ushers for a convenient month.
NOTE For Clarification Purposes: My sermons are populated with a lot of “……” These dots represent the pregnant pauses I use as I speak my sermon to you on Sunday. Just as “the pauses” between musical notes turns a bunch of notes into beautiful music, the telling of a story is the same way. Although it is not grammatically correct…..I am going to leave them in just as I would speak them to you….. My hope is that you would read it just as you would hear it………… Pastor Floyd
Faces of an Empty Tomb
Grace & Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior the RISEN Christ. Please pray with me: Heavenly Father today is the celebration – Today we rejoice for you have redeemed the world, reconciling all human-kind to yourself so we might live. You have made the ultimate sacrifice…..carried our sins upon your back and have cast them away forever. Help us to remain as Christ-like examples to a world who does not yet know you. AMEN.
Just as sin entered the world through one man…..saving Grace and forgiveness of sin entered into the world through one man. We, through Adam were a fallen humanity……there was no way out of our sin except by the law……the keeping of the commandments of God…….God’s people failed over-and-over again in keeping His law, yet God would continue to provide for and direct them; through this Love for His people Israel…….In our Psalm this morning verse 18 says “The Lord indeed punished me sorely, but did not hand me over to death, He opened for me the gates of righteousness”. And verse 22 “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone”. We as a sinful people have rejected Christ, yet He has become the chief cornerstone…….HE is the gate of righteousness…….In verse 35 of our first reading, Peter is speaking to Cornelius of Caesarea and says; “But in every nation anyone who fears Him (God) and does what is right……. is acceptable to Him” and later in verse 43 says; “All the prophets testify about Him that…. everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name”. You see…..the free gift has been given.……the rejected stone has become the chief cornerstone of the church……..anyone who fears Him…….anyone who believes in Him receives the forgiveness of sins and the gates of righteousness have been open………Is your heart right with God?…….have you asked Him to forgive you?……….do you tremble with fear and awe when you go before Him?………if you answer yes to this, then this is a wonderful day of celebration……this day, the most important day of the year for us poor believing sinners……..the day He took all of our sins to the cross, and through this cross cast them away forever.
Our Gospel reading this morning is taken from Matt, and Matt is like the gospel of John when it comes to the women going to the tomb…… There is a difference between the Gospels of Matt /John & that of Mark/Luke……Matt/John are not carrying spices because the spices were used at the time the body was laid in the tomb………unlike the Gospel of Mark & Luke where the the women bring the spices to the tomb after the Sabbath………Because Jesus’ death was on the day of “preparation”, right before the Sabbath, ……… he was either anointed immediately before the Sabbath or after the Sabbath……..and we really don’t know which version is the correct one, so I am going to choose to speak about the women carrying spices to the tomb to prepare the body of Jesus after the Sabbath.
Why are the women the first to discover the empty tomb? Was it the maternal instinct that women have?……Where they refuse to give up…….. where they must take care of the favored son even after death?………remember, Matt’s Gospel says they just went there to sit at the tomb because the anointing had already been done………..How about the men? ……..were they back in their place of hiding, licking their wounds planning or wondering what to do next?………..In trying situations…….. men seem to move on, while Women tend to not let go ………and in this Gospel situation, I very happy that we had women who would not let go of Jesus……..
I want you to put yourself in our Gospel lesson this morning……You are about to become the very first people to witness the empty tomb and believe in the resurrection after Jesus’ crucifixion. At least that is the thought I want to put into your mind……..and since I have acknowledged the women as the shining stars of the supporting cast in today’s narrative,……..I want you to imagine yourself as one of the women who first arrived at the tomb……..remember, you are in mourning because the Messiah has died…….you were there at the cross and saw His last breath……….you witnessed the pain he endured………. ……..and this scene at Calvary plays over and over in your mind…….the suffering………so tremendous was the anguish and suffering……. and your own pain of helplessness that you had to endure as you stood by watched him die a slow painful death……….so on this morning’s walk to the tomb, you are at your lowest because this is to be your final contact with him…….preparing His body with the spices that you carry.
Providing a proper burial (by preparing the body with spices) was an important obligation of family members. It is very evident that the women going to the tomb considered themselves very close family to Jesus, as was Joseph of Arimathea when he claimed the body of Christ and provided the tomb in which to lay Him.
In our present day lives we deal with the preparations of death.……death within our family…… of our loved ones………of our friends. Death, loss, and funeral preparations are some of the most trying times in our lives………but knowing what we know about our savior gives us the faith to handle the worst of situations…….we know that Christ goes before us….. to prepare a place for us and our loved ones as long as we “believe in & confess Him” with our mouths. But the original followers did not yet have this assurance…..this assurance of being with Christ forever…..although you might say, “They had Jesus with them and He told them many times where He was going”………. we must remember though they had not yet received the Holy Spirit, they were only leaning on their own understanding….. and this lack of understanding had to leave them feeling completely lost at the death of Jesus.
But can you imagine their joy once the scriptures and the impact of the resurrection was revealed to them by the Holy Spirit?……PUT YOURSELF BACK AT THE TOMB…..You have arrived and see the stone rolled away! WHAT HAS GONE ON HERE?? WHERE HAVE THEY TAKEN HIM?? You are in shock and feel completely helpless……..and then…….the two angels of the Lord appear and say………“Why do you look for the living among the dead”? Did He not tell you that the Son of man would be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and on the third day rise again?
You at the empty tomb feel a flood of emotions rush through your body………through the fear your thoughts begin to crystallize………you remember His words now……YOU REMEMBER HIS WORDS NOW! Fear starts to turn into overwhelming hope……….adrenaline courses through your body………“I MUST TELL THE OTHERS!!”………you drop everything from your hands and start to run back to where the others are……..the adrenaline in your muscles and the hope in your heart puts wings to your feet……..as you cover the ground, you think…..could it really be true?….could it really be true?….COULD IT REALLY BE TRUE!!
When the women reached the disciples and told them of what they had seen…….there was disbelief with all…… all except Peter……Peter ran to the tomb to see for himself………and after Peter had witnessed the empty tomb, he went back home…….amazed at what he had seen and at what had happened.
There were many.. “Faces of this Empty Tomb”……faces that showed fear………faces that showed sadness…..faces that showed despair…. faces that showed shock…….faces that showed disbelief……faces that showed hope…….and faces that showed sheer joy…….
This is a day of celebration my brothers & sisters for as the women questioned themselves on the way to tell the others “COULD IT REALLY BE TRUE”? …….IT IS TRUE!!…….it is as true today as it was on that first day ……….that first day when understanding dawned upon that group of women.
HE HAS RISEN! …… HE HAS RISEN INDEED!!
AMEN
Sermon by Pastor Floyd on Easter Sunday