the 19th Sunday
Today's Saying
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear;
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.
~John Newton
In a believer's ear;
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.
~John Newton
In many of the liturgical churches that use the Common Lectionary today is being celebrated as the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost and the Gospel is Mark 10:17-31.
Today is the day Mr. Terry Disgruntled is bound to come to Church. He hasn’t come for twenty weeks but he will be there today> This is a money sermon. There is no way around it. It has to do with God and wealth. Old Terry will go away convinced that all the preacher ever talks about is money. He won’t really listen.
Here in this text a good young man comes to Jesus. He has tried to keep the law and has done a good job of it. And Jesus sees how precious the young man is but he also sees the man has a problem. He does not depend on God he depends on his wealth. The center of his life is not God.
So Jesus offers him a cure. It is a radical cure. He has to go cold turkey and give up everything he has .
The young man is shaken by what Jesus says. He understands what Jesus says. He wants what Jesus offers . But he has great wealth and just can’t let go. He goes away knowing that he is losing as he goes away grieving.
In this country wealth is more often than not the God of choice. Compared to many people everybody reading this message is wealthy. You have a computer while many people don’t even have food. You have a house to live in while many people live on the streets. You have food to eat while they starve.
You are wealthy indeed.
But you can’t count on that wealth. Many people discovered that. A lady in California owned two million dollar homes and now sleeps in her car. Workers who thought they had jobs forever got laid off and away wen their health insurance. Pensions died up or got reduced. Economies change.
Wealth is a poor God, an undependable God.
But many today would join the young man in grieving if they had to take a vow of poverty.
They know in their heart what saves them in this cruel world.
But the truth is real salvation is found only in Jesus not in wealth.
Note Jesus didn’t call for the rich young man to give his money to the Temple or the Synagogue but to the poor. This is not the church with its hand out it God saying your wealth can do some good.
Look around you who can you help?
Yesterday my wife bought a very warm children’s coat. We have no grandkids that it will fit. When I asked her why she was buying it she said the Credit Union was having a coats for tots drive. People were asked to contribute the winter coats their kids had outgrown so some poor kid could be warm this winter. My wife said that she thought some poor kid might like a new coat. She understands that what we have is a trust from God.
Look around you who can you help.
My granddaughter Bree with the hep of her family supports a child through Compassion International. She already understands that what we have is a trust from God.
Look around you who can you help?
Pastor Joan , her husband, and new baby boy will be sitting in the pew this morning. The boy still has no name but by next week when they have the Baptism they will have one.
Herman will be preaching. He will be reminding people that it was not just the men in black that got Pigeon Falls through the recent crisis but God. God provided the sanctuary to bring people to. God gave Herman power. God cares about them and never stopped caring .He even cared for the rich young man that choose his wealth over God. Jesus says that God makes it possible even to save those who have been deluded by the god of money.
He then lead the congregation in singing praise songs. It almost sounded like a charismatic revival.
And the name Betty drew yesterday was Gattina . If she draws it again today Gattina gets what is in the treasure chest. Click on the treasure chest in the left hand column to see what is in it.
My grandkids are still here so it may be late this morning.
We got the kds up.
Betty has drawn and :
.We have a winner.
Finally a winner from the bucket.
Against the odds.
Today Betty drew Gattina for the second day in a row.
It is over .
She wins.
The treasure is hers.
All my grandchildren are cheering.
Congratulations
Gattina
Finally a winner from the bucket.
Against the odds.
Today Betty drew Gattina for the second day in a row.
It is over .
She wins.
The treasure is hers.
All my grandchildren are cheering.
Congratulations
Gattina
posted by Dr.John at 1:00 AM
20 Comments:
I give whenever I see a need I can meet. When I lived in the church rent free (caretaker's apt. -- I was janitor), I also had a full time job and plenty of disposable money.
Many homeless people came to sleep in the church parking lot at night. A good portion of it was covered and sheltered then from the weather.
Every evening at 7:00 p.m. I took a crockpot full of chili or stew onto my back porch and fed whoever came. Pastor and I had words. He said I was going to get myself murdered. I told him I thought I was probably the safest person in the neighborhood.
This treasure is becoming more treasured. If I get it, will you send it to me to the Canaries?
Hey! I don't need any condolences, by the way! (ha ha)
But yes, I am a bit disappointed with this bucket stuff...
And... It's true the name of Jesus sounds that well.
And..I MISSED your comment yesterday! Too many children around I guess..
Another sermon giving som food for thought. Thankyou.
Ohhhhhhhh AMEN Pastor! AMEN!!! What a great sermon THAT was!
Herman's service sounds ALMOST like the concert I was at last night! GOOD stuff!
Have a BLESSED day, Pastor! Enjoy those kids!
(oh - and give Betty a HUG for me! She's a good egg!)
I love the way you pointed out that Jesus didn't tell the young man to give the money to the church, but to give it to the poor.
Congratulations!!! Gattina!!!
At long last!
I'm glad she got it for she, like me, has a way with cats!!!
Now when is next contest? :)
I remind you -my dear Knight- You OWE me two comments!
Woohooo - Gattina! A winner!
And what a perfect day for a winner to be chosen. It is Thanksgiving Sunday here in Canada.
How hard it must be for the rich to give all to the poor. I don't have to worry about that, but I am rich in many other ways.
Congratulations to Gattina!
Betty is so sweet.
Ohhhhhhh YAY for Gattina! *clap*clap*clap*!!! She will be so THRILLED!
Who needs money to be wealthy...As long as I have enough to get by that's fine with me. :) Great Sermon Dr. John. Very much enjoyed the read. And I wonder what Pastor Joan and her husband call the baby now. I think that's pretty rude they wait so long to name the poor thing LOL.
CONGRATULATIONS to Gattina. WOOT!!!
Have a great time with the grand kids :)
What a great post Dr John and a wonderful Sermon. As we give Thanks this Holiday Weekend north of the 49th, we must also think of the less fortunate and help them.
A Blessed Sunday is wished for you and Betty.
Congratulations Gattina!
I didn't get to church today so I stopped by to read the sermon. Thank you.. I look forward to them.
Well, Herman's style shouldn't surprise Pastor Joan.
Hooray for Gattina!
Now I am flat like a pancake ! I never won anything in my life and now that I am in blogworld I win ! Thank you so much !! Betty has a good hand ! The only thing I want to know (I am asking modestly) but I am curious too, what did I win ??? I can't see any treasure chest in a left hand column, lol ! Maybe I need new glasses.
***
We also collect clothes and food for the poors but it's not the church which does it. We have different organizations who take care of that.
I found it !!! Thank you very much these are very special gifts !
An important message in this. I've known many who did so much to maintain a degree of wealth that, when they 'dropped out', they realised the simple act of maintaining it takes away most of the time to actually enjoy living.
The more one has, the more difficult it is to give it up.
I wish my son were here to read your sermon! He's a bit of an agnostic I suppose -not in favor of what he refers to as "organized religion" as he doesn't see the need for churches to be asking for money for this, that and any other thing imaginable although I have tried to explain to him that churches and pastors too, have expenses that must be met, somehow, someway. He's far from rich but he's also very far from being poor too -or would be if he did the math on his checking account now and then so as to not be overdrawn and paying out the nose to the bank in those fees! LOL -It's his funeral ya know, isn't it?
But your explanation about wealth, monies to the church, to the poor, etc., now that should be shown to many of those believers who think that all they earn(ed) should be theirs and theirs alone and to hell and be damned those people who don't earn enough to pay rent, buy food, cover all the other costs for the necessities in life so they want to make sure the government doesn't do anything helpful to those folks either! Faith, love, sharing -all are important components in Christ's messages to us, aren't they?
The women of our church are going to try having a freebie type thing of "gently used clothing" available to anyone -no questions asked, no identification needed one Saturday a month. I'm hoping it does well and helps a lot of folks in need that way.
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