What's Next?

Yesterday I was surprised to see this Sand Hill Crane standing all alone in our Still Waters Pond.

It is very unusual to see one alone. They are usually seen with their mate close by. This one kept looking back toward the shore, as if he was listening and watching for someone to join him.

But the longer he stood there, the more apparent it became that there was no one else coming.

Finally he started moving on across the pond, as if he was in a hurry to go somewhere.

As he reached the other end of the shore, he stopped and stood at attention, again listening and watching and waiting. I wondered if he was listening for a call from his mate, telling him where she was or that she was waiting for him on the other side. I didn't hear any sound...and if there had been any it would have been quite distinct....if you've ever heard their call, you would know what I mean. 

But he stood there listening intently, as if he could hear something that I could not. And then, suddenly (before I could get my camera focused of course), he flapped his mighty wings and lifted himself up and flew away in a hurry.

Today, being another Sunday that we cannot join together in person with our dear church family, my heart and mind is tuned in to worship.  I was thinking about this Sand Hill Crane standing there alone on the shore, waiting and listening for a call from his mate...and I thought about the church...and about myself personally.  It is as if we are all standing and waiting, listening for God's voice to give us directions for our next step.  We've been set apart for a little while, and we are getting anxious to get back into action together as The Body of Christ.

But before we can come back together, my heart tells me we need to be listening for God's voice in our own personal lives.  

We need to be seeking His direction, and preparing our hearts for the "what's next". 

I was reading in Isaiah 6, and the verse that stood out in particular for me this morning is

Isaiah 6:8

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

"Whom shall I send,

and who will go for Us?"

Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." 

Also I was reading in the Gospel of John 20:19-23, when Jesus appeared to His disciples after His resurrection, and in verse 19 it tells us that "the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, and Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 

"Peace be with you."

And then in verse 21, Jesus said to them again:

"Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

22. "And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 

"Receive the Holy Spirit."

Jesus gave the disciples a command in Matthew 28:19-20 to:

"Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son 

and of the Holy Spirit,

teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you;

and lo, 

I am with you always, even to the end of the age." 

Amen.

We have this commission to go.  We've been resting and waiting and hopefully preparing our hearts for the "what's next".  God has work for us to do when we come back together. The way things are going in this world, we may not have much time left to keep sharing the Gospel freely.

  

This little song came to mind this morning as I was sitting here thinking about these things, and this is the prayer of my heart today.  What about you?  It may help us to figure out the "What's Next?" question as we ponder and pray and LISTEN for God's voice.  

Here I Am, Lord, Is It I, Lord?

Praying you have a blessed and beautiful SONday. Let us not forget Whose day this is.

It is the Lord's Day.

Amen.

Sermon Notes and Exciting News

This has certainly been a whirlwind week for us! I cannot even begin to tell you how exciting this week has been...because we've truly seen God at work in all the fine details of our lives...and also in the perfect timing of some very important events...

As most of you know, we have been trying to sell our home for quite a while, and we were just about to the point of giving up on the whole idea.  But then we found a house for sale in the area where we have been searching that pretty well met all of our criteria for what we were looking for in a "new to us home".   The price was right, the location was good, and the size of the house was better than we expected to find...and it was next to a little pond...what I've been dreaming about.

 It isn't perfect in that it will need some TLC, but it had more things right about it than wrong...and so we prayed. And we felt led to go ahead and make an offer after consulting our bank, etc., and determining that we could do that in good faith.   And they accepted our offer!

FYI, I am not going to show any pictures of the house just yet, as the outside needs some TLC, and I'd prefer to wait until we can get some things done before I show it...then maybe I'll post some before and after pictures.  So for now, just enjoy "the View", which you've already seen some of on my last blog post, https://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2019/06/friday-foto-friends-and-thankful.html
You just didn't know it yet!

While we were going back and forth with the seller about closing dates, etc., and making sure this was really something we could do even if our house did not sell right away...(but still praying it wouldn't be very long before it was sold...) our realtor called and said she had someone interested in looking at our house.  Of course we said yes, and hurried up and got the house cleaned up and ready for prospective buyers.  Much to our amazement, only a realtor showed up representing her clients, who were out of state. While we toured the house together, she was texting them on her cellphone, and they were asking her questions in her ear in her bluetooth! Oh the marvelous ways of modern technology! Hate it or love it...it really does make a big difference in how we do business these days. The clients had already seen pictures of our house online, but they had never been here in person...so they must really trust the judgement of this realtor!  Anyway,  to make a long story short, within an hour from when she left our house, our realtor called us to ask if we could be out of the house in 3 weeks, and if so, they would buy the house!!!  After a big gulp, we said "yes to the dress!" Or something like that...oh, that's a different kind of offer.  LOL.

So now, the next issue is passing inspections and the timing of closings...we will most likely close here on this house before we can close on our new house, so there will be a little gap in between where we must find a place to stay and figure out what to do with our furniture.  Well, again, God already had that worked out as well.  Our church parsonage will be empty in a week upon the departure of our present pastor, and our new pastor will not be using the parsonage since he already has a home nearby. So, we have been granted permission to stay in the parsonage until we can move into our home!  We are still working on what to do with our furniture, but have a plan in mind that we hope will work out.

All in all, we are just amazed at how God has brought all of these details together right on time...in His perfect timing, just like so many of you have reminded me throughout these long months of waiting. Thank you for always bringing me back to that truth when I seemed to be in despair. You have been such a blessing to me, and I thank the Lord for each one of you.

Now...on to the sermon notes for this week...First, a picture of our Pastor...today was his last Sunday with us, and he wanted to give the kids the usual "High Five" as they left the sanctuary for Children's Church... He was wearing his padded oven mitt to protect his hand as the kids love to take advantage of the opportunity to give him a real good swat on the hand as the congregation is singing "Jesus Loves Me" while they march out...

And here he is afterward examining his hand, which was still stinging even with the use of the oven mitt...but these are precious moments that these kids (and the pastor) will always remember.  We are all going to miss you, Pastor A.C.!!

Our speaker today was actually our director of music and worship, and she gave an excellent lesson from John 20:20...talking about "perfect vision"....

Starting at John 20:19 - 22

19.  "Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, 

"Peace be with you."

20.  When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.  Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

21.  So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you."

22.  And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 

"Receive the Holy Spirit."

Isn't it interesting that John 20:20 talks about sight?  "...The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord..."  Another translation says the disciples were "overjoyed" when they saw the Lord!  

We think of perfect vision, or visual acuity to be 20/20...

This story takes place after the crucifixion of Jesus, and the disciples were confused and unsure about their future.  But then they saw the Lord up close...and He offered Peace to them, and then breathed on them the Holy Spirit...

Then the disciples' vision increased...they could see everything more clearly...

Their vision was corrected to 20/20 by the Holy Spirit.

How do you see Jesus?

People in the world who do not know Christ cannot see anything clearly.

They have no clue what they are missing because of their lack of sight...

The Sadducees from last week's message couldn't see Christ or His resurrection...

People who do not know Christ have short-sighted vision. (near-sighted)

Sometimes we try to help people with food and shelter and things, but we tend to hold back and are unsure about sharing Christ with them

We need to keep a better focus on Jesus, and don't be discouraged...

There are others who may have accepted the Lord but have but have never truly walked with the Lord. They are farsighted.  They may dwell on the thinking of the tribulation and the end of the world, but they have vision difficulties when it comes to living in the present and serving God now. They go into hiding and don't share Christ but sit back and wait for the second coming.

We are supposed to preach the Gospel...

 In Mark 16:15 Jesus says to His disciples:

"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

Hebrews 12:1-2

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race 

that is set before us,

Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down a the right hand of God..."

• Fix our eyes on Jesus...keep on keeping on...
• Try to have no visual limitations...have 20/20 vision.  Use the corrective lenses of prayer, Bible Study, fellowship, attending church, and communicating with God.
• Our goal as Christians is to have 20/20 vision...
• One day in heaven we will see perfectly...(and see the bigger picture that God has been seeing all along...)

As we closed the service today we sang the following song. I've never heard this one before and it really blessed me, especially as we sang it all the way through.  I hope you will enjoy this song as much as I did...  "Have You Seen Jesus My Lord?"

I know I've seen Jesus My Lord in plain view this past week... how about you?

Final question: "Are our eyes fixed on Jesus?"  Something to think about...

Sermon Notes: FUMC, Interlachen, FL, Guest Speaker: Mrs. Carol Miller, 6/30/2019

Please Note : I want to repeat this disclaimer here...the notes, outline, and content included here are based upon my own personal understanding of the message that was being given. I am not attempting to completely quote or reproduce this message or any other message I've shared previously. Just as each person reading these notes may glean insights and thoughts that seem to directly apply to one's own situation and interpretation, my own delivery of these messages is skewed by my hearing and translation of what is being said. Some may read my notes here and wonder if they were hearing the same message as I...and I say, God speaks to each of us as He wills...there are things He is trying to get across to each individual that may be entirely different than what the person sitting next to you in the pew is needing to hear... That is how the Holy Spirit works! He knows what we need to hear and how to apply it to our hearts. So it is with that understanding that I present these sermon notes to you.

Sermon Notes: Here I Am, Lord

Isaiah 6:8

"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:

"Whom shall I send,

and who will go for Us?"

Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

We sang the following song as a hymn today at church, and it was all I could do to get through the whole song without choking up and crying...

"Here I am Lord"

I, the Lord of sea and sky, I have heard My people cry. All who dwell in dark and sin, My hand will save. I who made the stars of night, I will make their darkness bright. Who will bear My light to them? Whom shall I send? Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord? I have heard You calling in the night. I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart. I, the Lord of wind and flame, I will tend the poor and lame. I will set a feast for them, My hand will save Finest bread I will provide, Till their hearts be satisfied. I will give My life to them, Whom shall I send? Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord? I have heard You calling in the night. I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart.

The disciples were crouched in fear in the upper room...waiting for whatever would come next...fearful that they would soon be the ones to be killed for their relationship with Christ...and then...

A sealed tomb could not hold Jesus in...a locked door could not keep Jesus out...Suddenly everything changed...Jesus appeared in the locked room after His crucifixion and resurrection...He said to them, "Peace be with you." (John 20:19)  Jesus Christ had conquered death...He conquered their fear...and He gave them a job to do...and He gave us, His followers a job to do as well...

John 20:21

"So Jesus said to them again,

"Peace to you!

As the Father has sent Me,

I also send you."

But we are not expected to follow Jesus alone...

John 20:22

"And when He had said this, 

He breathed on them, and said to them,

"Receive the Holy Spirit."

Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit onto the disciples that day...equipping them for service and for all of the things that were yet to come...and Jesus Christ has also breathed His Holy Spirit upon us, filling us with His very Presence...giving us all of the gifts and tools that we need to go forward into the world in His Name...He goes with us...we are not alone.

So, what's next, Lord?  I've been at this place before...many times...and whenever I (we...hubby and I are a team, but You know this already, Lord) heard You calling "in the night", I/we responded, "Here I am, Lord."  And You always took me/(us) at my word, and there was always "a plan"... so, again, here we are, Lord...You know we are retired, right? I have a feeling that is something that is an advantage for You, Lord...not a disadvantage...so...what's next, Lord? 

"Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord? I have heard You calling in the night. I will go Lord, if You lead me. I will hold Your people in my heart."

Stay tuned for further developments...

God always has a plan...

Sermon notes from FUMC Interlachen, April 22, 2018, Pastor A.C. Myers