Fathers Are Co-creators with God and Women

The Readings (1 Sam. 15.34-16.7; Mark 4.26-33; and 2 Cor. 4.6-15) give us good teaching on the role of Fathers as co-creators with God, wives and friends, of the Kingdom of God on Earth. This is a spiritual kingdom based on love and faith where men are judged by what is in their heart, not by outward appearances. The two agricultural images of reaping what we sow and taking responsibility for sheep, help us understand what God expects men to do in our time.

1.     Many men have lost their identity and authority in our time

Men and women were given their identity and authority by God. In Genesis 1.28 we are taught they are to ‘fill the earth and subdue it’.

The rest of the Bible is the story of how men and women have struggled to fill the earth and subdue it over the last 4,000 years. In our time there has been a serious loss of male identity and authority:

·         Many men have not had fathers who taught them how to be a man and a father

·         Many men have not read, been taught or studied the Bible

·         Many men have either lost their faith or never had a faith

·         Separated from God they have lost their identity & direction

·         Separated from God they have lost their authority as priests to the family and become self-centred and isolated

·         Women have shamed men and often replaced them as the spiritual authority in the family in our time

·         Good news is that many men are now beginning to realize that they need to attend a church and join a Bible Study group to re-discover their identity

2.     God judges men and women by the character of their heart

I Believe In the Holy Spirit: The Trinity in 15 Minutes

This is a Creedal statement we make every Sunday. It is part of our affirmation of Faith in the Trinity. The difference is that unlike the Creedal statements about God the Father and Jesus the Son in the Apostles Creed; nothing is said about what it is we are supposed to believe about the Holy Spirit. This is deliberate. The point is we are to believe in the Holy Spirit so we can be led by the Holy Spirit into a deeper and eternal relationship with God. This process of developing a deeper spiritual life is called being born again.

1.    The Holy Spirit is the part of a God who is with us in our lives

a.    Trinity Sunday is a good time to learn how God works in our daily lives as Father, Son and Holy Spirit

b.    The Holiness of God is something we sometimes forget

c.    God the Father is the creator who creates a holy world

d.    God includes freedom of choice in His creation

e.    Rebellion -à Sin à Guilt à un-holiness à separation

f.      Like Isaiah we have unclean lips and need healing

g.    Cannot be in the divine presence until we are clean

h.    Fire burns up un-holiness, old self dies, new self born

i.      God intervenes as Jesus, Redeemer to pay the price

j.      Again freedom of choice on Jesus part and ours

k.     God also intervenes by coming as the Holy Spirit

l.      Holy Spirit is the Sanctifier who makes us holy

m.   Helps us see our sin and decide to repent to Jesus

n.    Holy Spirit is the Comforter who teaches and heals us

2.    Belief In is more than acknowledgement

You Are My Wtnesses

(Teaching notes for Ascension, 2009 revised 2012, by Rev. John Gishler)

The Ascension of Jesus marks the end of Jesus visible ministry on Earth until His coming again in the End Times. There is a lot of interesting speculation in some churches as to whether or not we are currently entering this End Time. This speculation can be a distraction unless it motivates us to re-focus on the work that Jesus gave to us as our Baptismal ministry. The Readings tell us our ministry is to proclaim repentance and forgiveness in Jesus name to all nations. (Luke 24.47)

1. Will you proclaim the good news of God in Christ?
1. This is one of the questions you were asked at Baptism
2. The Readings (Acts 1.1-11; Ephesians 1.15-23 and Luke 24.44-53) define this as the mission of every Christian
3. No exceptions for when this will offend people or result in your following Jesus to a painful death
4. Many people have compromised on this and taught political correctness instead – this is abandonment of ministry
5. The consequence is many churches are divided and have lost their way and their spiritual authority
6. They are not “…clothed with power from on high…”( Lk1.49)
7. This power from on high is the Holy Spirit – the Teacher
8. Paul prays for the Ephesians to be given the “Spirit of Wisdom and revelation, so you may know Him better” (1.17)
9. We may need to repent, be more obedient and wait till we have this power before we can be effective witnesses

2. A witness has special knowledge

Spiritual Life Is Like Being Part of A Vine

(Homily notes for Easter 5, 2012, by Rev. John Gishler)

(Readings: Acts8.26-40; 1 John 4.7-21; John 15.1-8)

If Jesus is like a vine, our spiritual life begins when we make a serious decision to be a Christian and love and depend on Him. The point of the Readings for today is that we grow spiritually as we remain connected by our love to the vine called Jesus. There is also a warning that if we fail to produce fruit (love) – to share the Good News of forgiveness and eternal spiritual life, we can cut ourselves off from Jesus, like a branch from a vine, and loose our eternal spiritual life of love.

1. Baptism, Eucharist and prayer connect us to Jesus

·        In our Baptism we enter a covenant love relationship

·        More serious than a legal agreement – with God

·        Renounce evil and put our trust in Jesus to save us

·        Saves us from the natural consequence of sin

·        Sin normally makes us unholy, unable to be with God

·        Depend on Jesus sacrificial death for our forgiveness

·        In Baptism we pledge our loyalty and our love to God

·        Participation in the Eucharist re-connects us

·        Worship and daily prayer life strengthens us

·        Our love of God grows and is the essential connection

·        A real connection – like the branches or juice in a vine

·        Live “in Christ” and become ‘clean’, whole / holy

·        Holy Spirit can come an live in us

·        When we die we already have eternal spiritual life

He Is Risen!

(Teaching notes for Easter, 2012 by Rev. John Gishler)

These words “He is Risen!” announced a change in human history. No longer would humans have to live their lives in fear of the inevitability of death. If the promise of Jesus to rise from the dead after three days was true, all the other promises of Jesus were also true. Easter is a time to celebrate this Good News. Two very important questions arise:

·         Can we really believe God raised Jesus from death?

·         What does the Resurrection mean for us in our lives?

1.     Can we really believe God raise Jesus from death?

·         Modern people have questioned this since the Enlightenment

·         Modern people are skeptical about miracles – believe in their heads but don’t really believe in their hearts

·         Critical issue - our Faith in the reliability of the Teachings of Jesus as Lord and Saviour depend on the Resurrection

·         Without the Resurrection Jesus is at best a wonderful teacher

·         The alternative is fraud – Bible gives us no middle way

·         Evidence of no body – we can be sure the religious authorities who had Jesus crucified would try to refute the Resurrection

·         Evidence of the Bible – authentic confused human account (alternative of a fraud would be much more grandiose)

·         Evidence of changed lives – post-Resurrection Disciples were changed men – confident, fearless, determined, ready to die

·         Evidence of our own experience – many of us have personally experienced the supernatural or know someone who has and have no difficulty believing in the Resurrection

·         The news of the Resurrection is so good it is hard to believe – why it is called the Good News

2.     What does this mean for my life? (WIIFM): Resurrection Life

Palm Sunday Is the Roll-out Of the New Covenant

•  Chose these powerful and exciting Palm Sunday Readings for my Ordination 20 years ago
•  Words ‘set His face like flint’ gave me the courage to seek ordination
•  Roll-out: new word for introducing a new program / computer system
• Readings roll-out - reveal who Jesus is, how to respond & how to celebrate
• I pause at Eucharist Prayer words “New Covenant” to let them sink in - very dramatic moment

1.     On Palm Sunday Jesus reveals who He is publicly

a.     The disciples had begun to see this but were still  confused

b.     Many people had figured it out when He raised Lazarus

c.     Riding a donkey into Jerusalem was a claim to authority

d.     This was a claim to the religious authority of the Messiah

e.     Riding a horse would be a claim to political authority

f.      Even the crowd figured it out as fulfillment of prophecy

g.     Revelation includes quoting the Isaiah 57 Prophecy and throwing the money changers out of Temple – “my Fathers’ house”

2.     Jesus defines the New Covenant

We Are Saved By Grace Received Through Faith

 

•  God’s grace saved the rebellious Hebrews from physical death as they trusted God and gazed at the image of the snake on a pole.
• John 3.16 promises faith saving “whoever believed in Him” (Jesus)
• It is important to know how this really works – what it means to us

 1. What do we mean by being saved?

1. Photo of ‘Safeway saves you more sign’ in Edmonton
2. Paul -“you were all dead in your transgressions” (Ep. 2.1)
3. Problem is God is holy and separated from the unholy
4. Any rebellion against God’s Commandments is sin
5. Augustine taught ‘Original Sin’ – born in sin and w/o hope which we can interpret as a dangerous tendency to sin
6. Pelagius (c 400) debate ended in heresy charge for teaching rational humans could save themselves by a perfect life
7. Pelagianism has re-surfaced in our time in Liberal Theology that denies the need for repentance and for God’s grace
8. Good News is that God “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ep. 2.5)
9. ‘Saved’ means being saved from separation from God (i.e. hell), receiving the Holy Spirit and eternal spiritual life