Third-Last Sunday in the Church Year
Sunday, 9, November 2003
Daniel 12:1-3
Hebrews 12:26-29
Mark 13:1-13
Psalm 16
Sermon: (Frank Eberhardt)
People look at the big pipe organs in some places, or the huge choirs, and they say, "Wow, if we had that, we'd really be a church." A businessman might say, "As long as Sprint doesn't downsize, we'll be okay." We have plenty of these "as long as (whatever) life will be good." It is our comfort zone, our security system. The temple was the security system for the people of ancient Jerusalem. The Roman empire brought the temple down. One good storm could knock in Our Savior's stained glass window. You take a big church, move it to the inner city, and stay there for 75 years, and it will struggle. Everything you can depend on will change, your health, your job, everything. Our security. The scholarship is taken from the university. The kids move out. Is your life over? Or do you have a kingdom that cannot be shaken?
At a certain highschool, a young beautiful girl got palsy. Her comfort in her own beauty was lost. The other girls at the school asked themselves, "what would I do if I got palsy?"
God has given me a weapon. Empathy. We can feel empathy for all other sufferers. We have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. (Cites Hebrews 12:26-29). To shine like stars, that is our kingdom. We can either do that, or we can whine about how "God ruined my life."
Many peoples' relationship to God is based on superficial things. What we should be valuing is the bible, the cross, and our salvation, and let the word of God dwell within you. God will never forsake you.
A man was shot down over Veitnam. He was separated from his family and imprisoned. He prayed for his family. The people who captured him told him not to sing and pray, or they'd beat him. But he disobeyed and was beaten. He inspired other prisoners to do the same. The beatings stopped.
Death is ended through Christ.
How would we fare without the church building, the hymn books, and all that?
A talk show was discussing the fires in California. They blamed the Democrats for not wanting to do any clear cutting. Others said the Republicans were greedy, and they had misidentified the cause of the fires. There will always be a California fire of some sort. Material possessions aren't really that important. We will always have wars and rumors of war. That's reality. But we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. If you're hopeless, think about the kingdom that cannot be shaken.
In Pakistan, Christians are shot. Some places they even kill Christians. It's strange for them to understand these people who put faith in the trappings of religion. Thank God that we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.
Old women who were once young and pretty are now just plain old, but they were our mothers, sharing the word of God.
When Paul prays to God, he expects quick answers, but sometimes he has to wait. He always finds that God knew best. Sometimes God says no. But stand firm in his name.