Presents of God

PRESENTS FILL THE TEMPLE

A dear elderly lady was teaching the four and five year old Sunday School class at her church. During one of the lessons, they were learning about he building of the temple. She explained to the students that when the temple was finished, the presence of the Lord filled the temple. 

Instantly the eyes of each child got wide and full of excitement. Soon she discovered, however, that the source of their excitement was not joy that God had come to dwell in the temple, but rather, delight in the imagining that huge building filled with the presents of God! 

Aren’t we often much like those children? We are easily more excited about our presents from God that being in the presence of God.

Radical Hospitality

His name was Bill. He had wild hair, wore a T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and shoes with no socks. This was his wardrobe during four years of college. Though mildly eccentric, he was a brilliant person. He became a Christian while attending college.

Across from the campus was a traditional church. They wanted to develop a ministry to students, but weren't sure how to go about it. One day Bill decided to go worship there. He walked in with his wild hair, T-shirt with holes in it, jeans, and shoes with no socks. The service had started. Bill started down the aisle looking for a seat but the church was full.

By now people were looking a bit uncomfortable, but no one said anything. Bill got closer and closer to the front, when he realized there were no seats. He just sat down right on the floor. Although perfectly acceptable behavior at a college fellowship, this had never happened in this church! By now the people were really uptight, and the tension in the air was thick.

A deacon slowly made his way toward Bill. This deacon was in his eighties, a distinguished man with silver-gray hair and a three-piece suit. He walked with a cane. Everyone thought, "You can't blame him for what he's going to do. How could you expect a man of his age and background to understand some college kid, thinking he can worship sitting on the floor?"

It took time for the man to reach the boy. The church became utterly silent, except for the clicking of the man's cane on the tiled floor. All eyes focused on him. When the elderly deacon got next to the boy, he dropped his cane to the floor. With great difficulty he lowered himself and asked Bill, "May I sit with you?" The man sat down next to Bill and worshiped with him, so he wouldn't be alone.

That's what the birth of Jesus means.

• Radical action.
• Radical behavior.
• Radical gospel.
• Radical Savior.
• Radical God.

Trouble Tree

I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job: a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit and his ancient one ton truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.

When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation.. His face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

'Oh, that's my trouble tree,' he replied 'I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children.. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again.' 'Funny thing is,' he smiled,' when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before.

Revival - Who's the Winner?

A young Methodist pastor was ready for his first appointment. As is often the case, his DS gave him an enthusiastic pep talk before he moved to the small rural town that boasted one Methodist church, one Presbyterian church and one Baptist church.

"This church has a lot of potential!" his DS said. "But they've been under-performing. They haven't had any new members in three years. I want you to go and help this congregation become the congregation that God is calling them to be!"

The young man moved to the town, got settled in the parsonage, and "got his feet under him" with his new appointment. A few months after his move, he called the pastors of the other two churches and asked them to meet him for lunch.

"I've got a great idea that is going to help all of our churches," he said. "Let's have a revival! We can bring in a dynamic preacher, organize our churches to do mission work in the community, and have lots of delicious meals together. There are a lot of unchurched people in our town - let's show them what our churches have to offer!"

The other pastors agreed; and the revival was held. It was glorious! The preaching was inspired, the mission work made an impression on the community; and the food was, indeed, delicious.

A month after the revival, the young pastor again called a lunch meeting, so the pastors could evaluate the revival.

"I am so excited to meet with you!" he said. "I can't wait to tell you that our church - which hasn't had a new member in three years - welcomed four new families to our congregation after the revival!"

The Presbyterian pastor shared his enthusiasm: "That's great!" he said. And I want to tell you that we had six new families join our church after the revival. God is good!

The two men looked at the Baptist pastor, who said, simply: "Well, I have to confess, we did not have any new families join our church after the revival."

The other two pastors didn't know what to say.

But then a slow smile spread across the face of the Baptist pastor. "But we had ten of the most negative, meanest, most stubborn and least welcoming families leave our church, and our church has never been healthier or happier!"

Room at the Inn

John Simmons tells about a grade school class that was putting on a Christmas play which included the story of Mary and Joseph coming to the inn. In that class was one little boy who wanted so very much to be Joseph. But when the parts were handed out, his biggest rival was given that part, and he was assigned to be the inn keeper instead. 
He was really bitter about this, so during all the rehearsals he began to plot how to get even with his rival.
Finally, the night of the performance, Mary and Joseph came walking across the stage. They knocked on the door of the inn, and the inn-keeper opened the door and asked them gruffly what they wanted. 
Joseph answered, "We’d like to have a room for the night."
Suddenly the inn-keeper threw the door wide open and said, "Great, come on in and I’ll give you the best room in the house."
Now, that wasn’t in the script and for a few seconds poor little kid didn’t know what to do. 
But finally the young Joseph had an idea. He stepped up to the innkeeper, and looked beyond him through the door that represented the inn. He made a big production of looking right and left. He stepped back out beside his “wife” and said, "No wife of mine is going to stay in dump like this. Come on, Mary, let’s go to the barn." 

Found online at: http://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/a-blue-christmas-jeff-strite-sermon-on-christmas-142077.asp

Heaven, Hell...and Getting Our Lunch

One day a man said to God, “God, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”

God showed the man two doors. Inside the first one, in the middle of the room, was a large round table with a large pot of stew. It smelled delicious and made the man’s mouth water, but the people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.

The man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. God said, “You have seen Hell.”

Behind the second door, the room appeared exactly the same. There was the large round table with the large pot of wonderful stew that made the man’s mouth water. The people had the same long-handled spoons, but they were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking.

The man said, “I don’t understand.”

God smiled. It is simple, he said, Love only requires one skill. These people learned early on to share and feed one another. While the greedy only think of themselves… [Author unknown]

A Collection of Story Ideas/Metaphors from SermonCraft 2015

Forgiveness: Oshea Israel and Mary Johnson - http://theforgivenessproject.com/stories/mary-johnson-oshea-israel-usa/

Coaching 3 & 4 year-old soccer as a metaphor for life: "herd ball" - might go in the right goal, might go in the wrong goal - might fall flat on our face - might leave with no notice to use the bathroom....mob mentality: the direction you are going isn't a direction....sin...Directives from the Y to coaches: 1) this is the ball; 2) this is the goal; 3) the ball goes in the goal; 4) don't touch it with your hands...a little older: trying to get 4 year olds to learn position: "stand here". Ball goes by because they have been told to "stand here"...It's okay for little kids to be really bad at soccer - they're having fun! But we expect they will mature in their ability to grasp the purpose...Do we have church members who are not willing to mature beyond 4-year-old soccer?

Losing a child in Wal-Mart...how the community worked together to bring her back to me...before Mom could see her, calling out her name....child's face when she found her mother...could tie into personal story of a time you were lost and what you felt...different story of being lost and worried and having a strange adult yell at you: "You need to be with your mother!" Opposite experience to having community come together...another story of a lost child seeking an adult who looked trusting (grandmotherly)..."If you're lost, who do you go to?" (a mom with children, etc.)...Can we equip our church members with "where do you go when you are lost?"...so easy to shut down when we are lost; can't imagine forward momentum...Joseph & Mary leaving Jesus behind in Jerusalem..."People of Wal-Mart" came to help - this website disses people who shop in Wal-Mart; but these are the people who worked together for good. How do we judge others? "Aren't there churches for people like that?" Film people in the congregation telling their own "lost" stories...Shouldn't churches have a plan for people who are "lost" (been gone for 6 months?)

Only do 52 children's sermons - repeat them every year, so children (adults), over time, internalize these messages.

Doubt: Woman climbs into trunk of car and shuts it to see if light goes out (WHY????). Brings keys in with her....Police have to come to get her out. "It seemed like a good idea at the time..." There was a witness to this!  Mob mentality, we condone this..and then, someone is locked in...perspective of doubt: if we let doubt overwhelm us, it can take us to places we don't want to go....Woman took a home pregnancy test, came out positive, she didn't believe it, took 3 more of different brands, husband comes home, doesn't believe, he pees on the stick to prove that this test can work...Driving back home, habitually, to see if the garage door is down....old SNL skit, family imagining what could go wrong, then drive off a cliff...parents tell you "don't ever touch the cigarette lighter," but you do...when doubt overrides common sense....we know better than Jesus...Do we have to be burned to believe?...another part of the spectrum: people sometimes do "dumb" things because they believe Jesus wants them to (unexamined spirituality)...How do you know about the faith if you don't step into it.

Purpose of the camera...from taking pictures of treasured moments/loved ones...evolution to selfie...focal point has moved to self...Focus as Christians varies: God, Others, Self...camera works both ways...Emmy Awards - Julia Louis-Dreyfus and producers of Veep, she is trying to take selfie with veteran presenter, he turns phone around as if to say: no, this is the future, take pictures of them...Kid President: We need to live in a world with fewer selfies and more "other people-ies"...perspective: story of family taking a long time to get pictorial directory picture made, parishioners behind them thought they were very rude; but really, they didn't have any idea that people were waiting, they didn't know how many rooms there were, how many salespeople, etc. Had to communicate with angry people to explain the difference in perspective...Wendell Berry poem: Once there was a man who filmed his vacation..."Screen Time" from Ted Radio Hour..Ted Talk by Monica Lewinsky on shame...