First United Methodist Church
Stafford Springs, CT
5/17/2020
6th Sunday of Easter
Hymn-#369—Blessed Assurance
Good Morning Everyone,
Call to Worship:
God made the world and everyone in it.
Our life and breath come from God.
God made all nations under heaven.
We are all God’s offspring.
Search for God in our time of worship.
When we search, we find God ner.
Let us begin with prayer:
Hear our prayers, O God, as we come to sing your praises. Bless us with your steadfast love, in times of peace and in times of trial. Make your presence known to us this day, for we seek to know you better. Enliven us with your Spirit of truth, and increase our faith, even as we place our hope and trust in you. Amen.
Today’s Scripture: John 14: 15-21
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will send another Companion, who will be with you forever. This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.
I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live Too. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
From my book—Christ-centered Exposition—Introduction to John 14: 15-31
I wonder if the disciples’ anxiety in John 14 is due in part to the change taking place in their relationship with Jesus. For months they’ve experienced everything from the mundane to the miraculous with Him. They’ve attended weddings and funerals. Some days they’ve eaten little, and some days they’ve had their fill of wonder bread created by Jesus’s own hand. Now they fear it’s all changing. Jesus is leaving them, and there’s no way their relationship will survive.
But Jesus assures them their relationship with Him is not finished. Their relationship will continue to grow and develop. Plus, it will be marked by a single, defining characteristic: love. They will grow in their love for Jesus and will demonstrate it through their actions. Jesus will continue to love them, and his love will be experienced through the gift of His Spirit.
Jesus begins this farewell conversation with His disciples by promising they will be with Him in the future (14:1-3). Jesus doesn’t only offer them promises about the distant future. He also assures them of what will happen in the near future. His promise of a future in heaven doesn’t mean they’re cut off from Him until then. Though He is going before them, preparing their way to the Father, their relationship will continue. He describes how this relationship will continue in the future by focusing first on the disciples’ love for Him and then on His love for the disciples.
Sermon: Someone to Watch Over Me
My Thoughts:
Today’s scripture follows last week’s gospel lesson where Jesus is trying to comfort His disciples. I love the part where Jesus tells them they know the way to heaven. Thomas asks how can we know the way? Jesus answers “I am the way and the truth and the life. Then Philip asks to see God the father, and Jesus says if you have seen Me you have seen my Father. I wonder if this only confused them more!
So in to today’s gospel lesson we find Jesus talking about their relationship. I’m going away—-You can’t come now, but in the future, you will be with me forever. In the present I’ll be with you—-you can’t see me—but you will know it is me because of the Holy Spirit—The great comforter. This comforter will lead you, guide you, strengthen you and give you knowledge and the peace of God.
So, today’s Gospel reading is all about, as I always say, relationship, relationship, relationship to Jesus. How are you doing with your relationship to Jesus?
I talked with Will Jobbins the other day and this is what we talked about. You can tell a mature Christian by their Joy, Peace, their Actions. You see if you have relationship with Jesus—even though you don’t see Him you feel Him through the Holy Spirit. I believe the reason it is this way is because God wants relationship with you. Personnel relationship. I know we’d love to pass God around to others—but they also need a personnel relationship with Jesus. This is the work of the Holy Spirit—–we just need to point them in the way—then the Holy Spirit takes over—connecting them to God, to Jesus and miraculously to each other. We become a family, a family of God.
So how are you doing, in this time of change, corona virus, looking for work, waiting on the government, and worried about tomorrow. You see the best thing about this time off from society is that you can build a better relationship with God. Focus on God and you will overcome your anxiety, depression, and fear of what is coming tomorrow. Because tomorrow is only about getting closer to God, and as Jesus promised the disciples, to spend eternity with Him. How do we get there—-it’s simple—Relationship to God trough the Holy Spirit, who is with us always—how do I know this—-Jesus promised it—The Holy Spirit—Relationship, Faith, Comfort, Peace, Joy, Hope and a future with Him.
The Holy Spirit does this by being our Advocate—bring us before the throne of God and representing us.
By counseling us—Knowledge of God, Jesus Christ, knowledge of God’s will for us, source of Peace and all that Jesus promises us, growing our relationship to God. I wonder if this is why Jesus said You must be born again—of the Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit is the great comforter that brings peace in the chaos of the everyday.
Conclusion: Let the Spirit also work through you to be an advocate, counselor, and comforter in the lives of others.——-In other words—Happy fishing for God!
Let Us Pray:
O Loving God, we come to you today in love. Praying that your Holy Spirit we abide with us and in us always. We praise you for your love poured out on us through the gift of your Son and we pray to you for our lives and our world. Help us to not be afraid of the changing times because we know you are with us. And lead us into ministry for you through your Holy Spirit this day Amen. Amen.
Please meditate and pray for all the prayer concerns on the list included—Amen.
Please recite Lord’s prayer: Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Hymn # 472 Near to the Heart of God
Benediction:
Go in the name of God,
the one who created all the nations of the earth.
Go in the name of Christ,
the one who abides in love and abides in you.
Go in the name of the Spirit of truth,
the one who advocates for you and guides you. Amen.