You are priceless! God created you as his workmanship. At each stage of our life we find ways to showing evidence of God’s work in us through Jesus Christ! You have ideas? Doing homework? Cleaning your room? Helping a neighbor of grandparent to the car? Taking the dog out! Saying kind things to others. Each of us can show God’s workmanship, its like he has signed you as an original! And that’s what you are! Now, this week, let’s show what God can do!
This week we are departing from the lectionary readings to talk about the roots of faith and how our faith can be rebooted for the future as we build on the promises of God. The theme is the Olive Tree. From Genesis to Revelation and everywhere in between, the olive tree is a metaphor for our faith. From the olive branch returned by the dove to Noah to the great olive tree in the new heaven and earth of Revelation, anointing oil inaugurated kings, blessed believers, and it was on the Mt. of Olives that Jesus wept over Jerusalem. You will never look at the olive the same way again!
Our faith is rooted in God’s promises and the saving work of Jesus Christ. What is the last promise you made? How did it go? Sure, sometimes we make promises and don’t keep them. When that happens what do we do? That’s right. We apologize and ask forgiveness. Figure out what may have interfered with keeping those promises and keep them next time! Promises are the roots of faith. From Genesis to Revelation and everywhere in between, the olive tree in the Bible is a metaphor for our faith. Taste these amazing olives. The Olive Tree has deep roots. Try one. Next time you see an olive, remember God’s promises for you in Jesus Christ! God loves you!
People don’t usually ask, “What costume are you going to wear for halloween?” No, instead we ask, “Who are you going to BE this year?” Halloween isn’t just about putting together a clever “costume.” It is about creating a personal “image.”
Mask wearing is always associated with this time of year for more than two millennia, and ironically, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther pulled the “mask” off of the Church when he posted his 95 complaints on the neighborhood billboard. He saw the Church hiding and pretending to be something very unlike Christ. Along with John Knox in Scotland, John Calvin in Switzerland, and other reformers, he fanned the flames of the Great Reformation across Europe.
We all wear masks, and some masks are authentic and appropriate ways for us to interact in the world. But some masks we wear mey help us hid or pretend to be something we are not and not be part of a costume, at all. In this week’s text from Mark 10:46-52, we meet a man named Bartimaeus who becomes “uncloaked.” He shows us that when we come “face-to-face” with Jesus, any mask or pretense must fall away and our most basic needs and desires are revealed to the Son of David who has the power to heal us and heal the world, transforming us to be our real selves.
Romans 8:29-30 The Message (MSG)
“God knew what he was doing from the very beginning. He decided from the outset to shape the lives of those who love him along the same lines as the life of his Son. The Son stands first in the line of humanity he restored. We see the original and intended shape of our lives there in him. After God made that decision of what his children should be like, he followed it up by calling people by name. After he called them by name, he set them on a solid basis with himself. And then, after getting them established, he stayed with them to the end, gloriously completing what he had begun.”
Now, that’s transformation!
Who are you on Halloween? You look costume looks great, by the way! What does your very cool image say about you? Bright colors? Character-like qualities? Stylizing for attention? Sure. All these things. If Jesus were to dress up for Halloween, who would he be? Well, he’d be who he was all the other days of his life, too. Jesus was authentic. He presented himself as he was. He treated everyone with dignity and respect. He showed amazing love for everyone, all the time, and in every context of life. The Bible says he is the true image of the invisible God. If we have seen Jesus, we have seen God! So this Halloween, be creative with your cloaks and masks. It’s good fun. But who we are for Halloween, and every other day of our year ahead, can also be who we are for real! A child of God who looks like Jesus. Be uniquely Christ for Halloween, and every other day!
Remember growing up with the Sears Christmas Wish Book? I do. Flipping through pages filled with toys and gift ideas delighted kids of all ages as they marked their favorite items, hoping mom and dad noticed in time for Christmas. What did you wish for?
Beginning in 1886, 22-year-olds Richard Sears and Alveh Roebuck did more than wish for a brighter future when they started a retail business that sold, well, anything. Whatever you wanted, watches, clothes, furniture, chances were that Sears, Roebuck, and Co., could deliver it to your door. In fact, they could deliver the door, too, attached to the pre-fabricated house you purchased out of the catalogue! The business seemed to peak in 1969, ironically as it built what was then the “largest skyscraper in the world” in Chicago.
Diversifying into other product lines from brokerage, insurance, and pre-internet services failed to improve the company’s health, and by the 1990’s, Walmart, and later internet companies like Amazon, made the Sears and the Christmas Wish Book obsolete. Desperate attempts to stay afloat couldn’t save the struggling retailer, which listed $6.9 billion in assets and $11.3 billion in liabilities. An economist explained the retailer’s demise: “Sears and Kmart simply trudged along and thought that was good enough.” Good enough is rarely good enough, and on October 15, the Sears Holdings Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after 132 years in business. While sad, there’s more for us to learn from the wish book story.
What do you want? Jesus asked this question of his good friends, James and John, and you wouldn’t have guessed what was on their wish list! This Sunday, let’s get our wish lists out for Jesus to examine. We will also take a look at Job’s wish list, too, and we’ll discover that God delivered more than Job bargained for!
2018-10-21 Message for Kids- I have the faith of a mustard seed, and I’m not afraid to use it
By Communications Team SermonsWhat do you need when you go trick or treating? Candy, right? What’s you favorite? Sure. Twist. Snickers. Skittles! But, what do you need? Not candy! How about faith? Jesus said that if you have faith even a small as this mustard seed, you can move mountains! Here is a mustard seed. Can you even see it? It’s super small. It’s one of the very smallest of the seeds, yet it grows and produces a great plant. You probably don’t need more candy, and guess what? You don’t need more faith, either. All you need to do is trust in God and know that God loves you more than you could possibly know, and wants your very best and has given you all you truly need in Jesus Christ. So this Halloween, as you fill your bag with candy, fill your life with faith and see what God will do!
What do you want for halloween? Candy?
What do you need for Halloween? Faith!
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