Feverish Ways!!! - Wednesday Prayer

Wednesday night prayer service was peaceful - a resting place for all of us. Bro Mike read scriptural selections that made us pause and ponder God's control of all events. We prayed between his readings.

If his goal was to lead us to search out an inner place of peace and serenity -- then, at least for me, it worked.

It reminded me of that old hymn "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind". Feeling an urge to re-visit the
words of this fine old hymn, I turned to it in our hymnal.

All of a sudden I didn't feel such peace and serenity -- the wording is wrong! It was so upsetting!

What an awful surprise!  The first lines in the hymnal are "Dear Lord and Father of mankind, forgive our foolish ways."


That's not the way it goes....It is supposed to say:   forgive our feverish ways...it fits the context so much better. The author was the Quaker (Friends) John Greenleaf Whittier, and he was also talking about pausing in our frantic busy-ness and feeling God's "still, small voice of calm."

Certainly our ways are foolish and we need to seek forgiveness for that. But he is not talking about our foolishness. He is talking about our feverish activity -- our greatly excitable and agitated motions -- our inability to sit still and hear God's voice. Our feverish spirit expresses our restlessness and impatience. Our frantic frenzies do not display God's calm and assuring peace that  "passeth all understanding."

That's what Bro Mike wanted to convey to us. He wanted us to stop -- to block out all the turmoil around us -- and feel God's peace and assurance. To be thoughtful, not impulsive and frantic.

 Don't just do something -- stand there!

Anyway, I looked at some more hymnals -- they all said "foolish." Then I was really agitated...I went back to Whittier's original poem -- it said "feverish.."  People, listen to me, read my lips....it is supposed to be "feverish.."  "FEVERISH..." I'm getting really upset now.

Good grief, is everyone in this world nuts?

I guess I should go back to prayer meeting.....maybe Bro Mike will do the same thing next week, because I think I need a second dose.

In the meantime, I will read Whittier's original lines...that should help...

Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, forgive our feverish ways

Reclothe us in our rightful mind, in purer lives Thy service find

In deeper reverence, praise.

In simple trust like those who heard, beside the Syrian Sea,

The gracious calling of the Lord, let us, like them, without a word

Rise up and follow thee.

Drop Thy still dews of quietness, til all our strivings cease

Take from our lives the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess

The beauty of Thy peace

Breathe through the heats of our desire Thy coolness and Thy calm

Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire, speak through the earthquake, wind and fire

A still small voice of calm!

You know, I feel better now.

Those words: let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace..

Looks like I have a long way to go.





..

Do We Really Want to Know...? Sermon Notes

Sunday, July 10



Bro Mike went back to Moses again. This time the question of the day was "Do we really want to know God's Will?"

Hear the full sermon on our website: fbc-bc.org.

These are just some notes that I felt I needed to pay particular attention to:

The context is Moses at the burning bush. Moses approaches the bush and hears God's voice.
(Exodus 3)

GOD'S WILL

1. His will always reflects His heart.  

    Exodus 3:7. "The LORD said, I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering..."

God had seen. He had noticed. He cared. This is where it gets dangerous. Do we really want to pursue? Do we really want to know God's heart?  That means we have to care about what (and who) He cares about.

Aren't we usually interested mainly about our own situations and problems?

Bro Mike encouraged us to run a check on our prayer life. Is it 90% about us? Do we really want to seek God's heart and how to please Him?

2. His will always involves us - our service.

   Exodus 3:10. "So now go. I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."

Every believer will be asked to do something. Opportunities are open for everyone. Seeking God's will brings us into the picture.

3. His will always challenges our faith.

Exodus 3:11.  "But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?'"

There is a fine line between our "comfort zone" and being exactly where God wants us and loving it!
Is it OK to love where we are?

See verse 12 where God tells Moses that "I will be with you." And notice the sign God gave Moses: And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.....

The sign comes after obedience.

When Moses said to God (verse 13): "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me, 'What is his name? Then what shall I tell them?'"

God's answer in verse 14: "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites:"

"I AM has sent me to you."

It's the Hebrew statement of God. There is no one like Me.

It is vague. It leaves us with questions., as it should.

It's a leap from serving God on Mt. Horeb and doing something in the local church.

The promise is the same: I will be with you.

Moses had excuses. God answered them all.

Bro Mike's original question was: "Do we really want to know God's Will?"

It's going to involve service....

.What God wants us to do will (1) reflect God's heart (2) involve service and (3) challenge our faith.

When we  say no is it:

Humility or unwillingness?
        Humility or pride?
                   Humility or fear?
                           Humility or unbelief?

Sermon Notes: Believers Living in a Free Society

Sunday, July 3

What a great Independence celebration! We sang important songs and expressed our gratitude for God's provision in the history of our country.  I am thinking I should go back and re-read the American Revolution and count again how times our little fledgling army was saved by those unprecedented weather conditions - fogs and rivers freed of ice and rivers solidified by ice....and more fogs....

But the greatest example of God's providence was the leadership -- the great intellects and strong believers who were gathered on this small shore at that precise time in history -- "in the fullness of time."

One of them was Samuel Adams, The "Father of the Constitution," as he is known.

Bro Mike included in his message an important quote from Sam Adams. I didn't get the entire quote, but you can hear it on our fbc-bc.org website.

Anyway, the quote had to do with Sam Adams' observation that the success of the new government hinged entirely on the capacity of all the people to govern themselves.

Not on the President, nor the Congress, nor the army or the police. But on the requirement that we can govern ourselves.

The text Bro Mike used was Romans 12:18:

If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men

We must:

1. Be aware of what is not possible. We are interacting with people who do not believe in the way we do. They do not vote as we do. They see the world differently. We must get along with people we disagree with in a free society.

But a mature Christians knows that is not possible to be at peace with all people. We must not be naive. If this is not heaven, then we will face conflict.  "If" in the verse is a big word.

2. Accept the greater share of the burden.  In a time of conflict, as in our nation's capital today, with anger and tension and apparent stalemate, we must voluntarily take a greater burden. Another phone call. Another letter. More times on our knees in prayer. More patient and reasonable discussion with those who differ.

This new government  is still an experiment.

3. Never be the source of the problem. Never exclude anyone from our area of responsibility. We need to treat people peaceably, not contribute to the hostile climate.

We concluded the service singing The Battle Hymn of the Republic -- what a great title of this grand hymn!

I was looking at the lines of the last verse: "In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me..."

I don't know about the lilies part -- but certainly we can't live as Christ wants us to live without being "transfigured" by the Holy Spirit. And at the beginning of Romans 12 Paul says we should not live conformed to the world, but "transformed" by the renewing of our minds.

Wednesday night at  prayer service we looked at that verse (Romans 12:2), and recognized that we conform ourselves to the world, but the transformation has to come from the Holy Spirit.

Isn't it wonderful of our God to, along with urging us to be holy, provide for us a way to become more holy, and then on top of that, promises us holiness when we go to be with Him!

reflecting on reflections

Reflections -- This is how we think of our Sunday evening service. We find ourselves looking forward to seeing what God is going to show us....shared truths that we can reflect on. Bro Mike sometimes expands his morning message,  sometimes takes a slightly different twist, and sometimes just does something in a completely different direction.

All Sunday services are memorable in that we are all together, praising and worshipping God as a body of believers. Last Sunday we sang Blessed Assurance and I was struck again by these words; angels descending, bring from above, echoes of mercy, whispers of love.  I think we all heard the voices of those angels --- The Holy Spirit quietly speaking to our hearts, reminding us of His grace and mercy and soothing us with His whispers of love. What a great way to begin the service!

The message was about our life story -- how it doesn't begin with us -- example was Moses. His life story didn't begin with him - it began with his parents who secured him safely in that little basket, and placed it on the Nile, and with his sister who silently watched from the shore, and with his grandparents and back into the far, deep past. So it goes for us.

He used a really compelling illustration to start the topic. The whole sermon is on the church website -- just go to fbc-bc.org and click on Sermons. I can't adequately write notes on it. But you will benefit, I know, from hearing it for the first time (if you missed it) or from hearing it for the second time.


In the evening service he picked up the theme again.

He referred to Jeremiah 29:11 and wove it in with Romans 8:28.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28

So God has all these plans....but what if we mess up? What if others mess us up? Have we lost the connection to God's plan? Have we lost our place?

It doesn't matter how we mess up. Or how others mess us up. God has already taken all that in account.


God is working out His plan.....

1. Even when His enemies are working against Him. Ex: from Moses' life.  Pharoah ordered all the baby boys killed. But Moses' parents concealed him for 3 months and then placed him in the little basket (ark) and placed it carefully on the river.  Moses was rescued and his own mother became the nurse. So he learned his real "roots."

2. Even when others do not directly cooperate with His will. Again from Moses' life. When he went out to observe his Hebrew brethren and witness their burdens, he was not recognized as being their "leader" or "savior." The two men fighting actually rejected his position..."Who made you a prince and judge over us?"

3. Even when we are not conscious of His efforts. Moses was a baby. He had no way of knowing how God was working out His plan. How often we just keep working out own own lives..doing our own thing..and later we see how it all dovetailed into the one perfect plan.

Like when we sold our rent house in West Columbia and the buyer just happened to be a retired Baptist minister who had a daughter in that same neighborhood and who would welcome the chance to serve at Sargent? I mean, was that truly amazing or what???

No one could ever have dreamed up that scenario. We just needed the money and they just needed a house in that neighborhood! And Sargent just needed a preacher! And Terry just needed someone to explain the gospel .And Mark just needed a Savior! And Carol needed someone to talk to...And on and on and on.....

4. Even when we actually rebel, sin, ignore or flee from Him and from His will. It still all works out.
Example: Joseph. Sold by his brothers into slavery. Circumstances lead him into a place of high authority in Egypt, just when his family needed help and how it all then led to the exodus of his descendants form Egypt (and the mighty revelation of God's power over all the Egyptian gods) and their arrival at the Promised Land..and on..and on..and on..And Jesus to come from the tribe of Judah....and Rahab to be saved and become an ancestor of the Messiah....It was all worked out just the way God intended.

Joseph's words to his brothers: Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day; to save many people alive." Genesis 50:19-20.

It was all factored in then. It is all factored in now.

But...I'm no Moses.

 But it's not about you and me. It's about God and His plans.

This was a really great message. I just called the church and asked Kay if it could be put on the web site. Usually only the morning messages are available on the website. CD's are always available for both services, and so anyone can call and request a CD of any service. But it would be great if Sunday's evening message were available on line.

And so it is. Just go to fbc-bc.org and click on Sermons and both the AM and PM are there.

I woke up with a song this morning -- one of those gifts of  "songs in the night" that God gives us...

God is too wise to be mistaken

God is too good to be unkind

So when you don't see His plan

When you can't trace His hand

Trust His heart.

All things work out for our good

Though sometimes we can't see how they could

Struggles that break our hearts in two

Sometimes blind us to the truth.

Our Father knows what's best for us

His ways are not our own

So when your pathway grows dim

And you just can't see Him

Remember you're never alone.

God is too wise to be mistaken

God is too good to be unkind

So when you don't see His plan

When you can't trace His hand

Trust His heart.

He sees the master plan

And He holds our future in His hands

So don't live as those who have no hope

All our hope is found in Him

We see the present clearly

But He sees the first and the last

And like a tapestry He's weaving

You and me to someday be just like Him.

He alone is faithful and true

He alone knows what is best for you

So when  you don't understand

When you don't see His plan

When you can't trace His hand

Trust His heart.