This is our first Sunday in February. So we we’ll be looking at the first fruit of the Spirit which is Love. This may seem appropriate since next Sunday is Valentine’s Day.

For many of you, Valentine’s Day is synonymous with love. You think about your special someone. You get a warm feeling in your heart.

However others of you just groan when you think about this holiday. To you Valentine’s is about overpriced candy and sappy love poems and cheesy chick flicks. And it makes you sick to your stomach.

Well, this morning, that’s not the kind of love we’re going to look at.

And maybe my sermon title clued you in. You might have expected “The Song of Love for You” or “The Whisper of Love for You,” but probably not “The Scream of Love for You.”

It may seem strange that with the theme of love, I’ve just asked you to turn to a passage in the Bible that’s filled with hate. That describes the gory, blood-stained, old rugged cross our Savior was brutally murdered and mocked on a skull-shaped hill full of hate.

But this morning, we’re going to see that the hate was not just from the Jewish crowd. It was not just from the Roman soldiers. It was not just from the corrupt religious leaders. The greatest hate that was aimed at Jesus on the cross was from God Himself.

Yes, there was spitting and mocking. Yes, there was beating and cursing. Yes, there was piercing and taunting hurled at Jesus by these people. But that did not compare to the revulsion, the condemning, the damning of God the Father.

This is not only the most hate-filled chapter in Mark’s gospel. These are the most hate-filled verses in the whole Bible.

And yet, in the most amazing plot twist in history, we will see that this is also the greatest display of love. And we need to see that this morning.

Because some of you are struggling to see how God could love you-when you feel so worthless, when you feel overwhelmed by your sin, when you feel like you can never be forgiven for what you did in the past or what you’re struggling with today.

Others of you in this room are so in love with yourself, that you don’t think your sin’s any big deal at all. It’s not like you’re a murderer, right? You need to see how dead serious your sin is to God. You need to see how much your sin cost Jesus.

This morning as we look at Christ’s crucifixion, we’re going see His unbelievable love for us in the midst of hate and wrath. And we’re going to hear a scream-that I hope will overwhelm those of you who are comfortable with your sin. And a scream that I hope will comfort those of you who are overwhelmed with your sin.

This morning we’re going to hear Christ’s scream of love for you.

As we look at the images that continue to come out of Haiti, it’s almost overwhelming, just the scope of the suffering.

And of course people are all ready pointing fingers trying to pin the blame for the devastation on the Haitian government, the lack of infrastructure, the UN’s response. Hugo Chavez is even insisting it was caused by America’s “earthquake machine.”

The fact of the matter is that as awful as suffering is, it cannot be avoided. Because suffering is part of the Curse. It’s a part of life in this fallen world. You cannot avoid suffering. The question is: How will you respond to it?

Ernest Gordon

Ernest Gordon was a British soldier in WWII. He was captured by the Japanese. And he was made to work with thousands of other POWs on what was called the “Death Railroad,” along the valley of the Kwai River in Thailand. The conditions were awful.

The men were forced to work for hours in scorching temperatures, chopping their way through tangled jungles. Those who paused out of exhaustion were beaten to death by the guards. They were given almost no food. Gordon who was 6′3″ weighed less than 100 pounds. They say that 1-2 thousand prisoners died for every five miles that was built-80 thousand died in those jungles.

And it got so bad that Ernest Gordon said in his memoirs that their initial response was fear, but eventually it turned to hate and envy. They became like beasts trying to survive, at each other’s throats. They went back to the law of the jungle.

He says, “Death was everywhere. As conditions worsened, our lives became poisoned by selfishness, hate and fear. Formerly we had huddled together because of our fears believing there was safety in numbers. We had still shown some consideration for one another.

Bridge over Kwai River

Now that was gone, completely swept away. Existence had become so miserable. The odds so heavily against us that nothing mattered except to survive. We lived by the rule of the jungle, the law of tooth and claw.”

Theft was as rampant as hunger and disease. Life was met with indifference, deceit, and hatred-by captive and captor alike.

In this evening’s passage, we will see three different responses to suffering. Like the men on the “Death Railroad,” one response is out of Fear. Another response is out of Envy and Hate. But the thirdresponse is altogether different. This passage brings us to the suffering of Christ’s crucifixion. At the end of v. 15, Jesus is delivered to be scourged and to be crucified.

In Mark 15:1-20, we see three responses to suffering.

One of the longest running ad campaigns in history was the Chevy truck commercials that featured the song “Like a Rock.”

… I was strong as I could be
Like a rock, nothin’ ever got to me
Like a rock, I was something to see
Like a rock

Some of you this morning may feel that way.

• Maybe you’re young. Maybe you have energy. You feel as strong as you could be. Maybe you look like a rock.
• Maybe you’re financially set. You have all you need and plenty in the bank. And everything is insured. You feel like you’re on a solid foundation.
• Maybe you feel like a rock in your ethics. Verse 4 of the song, talks about feeling morally upright.

I stood arrow straight. Unencumbered by the weight of all these hustlers and their schemes.

I stood proud, I stood tall. High above it all. I still believed in my dreams.

This is how Peter felt.

Jesus was the One who nicknamed Simon as Petra, “Rock.”

When Peter confessed Christ as Messiah, Jesus said “You’re Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.”

And if we could visualize Peter, from what the Bible tells us about his occupation and personality, we’d probably picture him as a rock.

This guy was a rough, tough, muscular man who made his living out under the beating sun, rowing massive oars, casting nets and muscling in hundreds of pounds of fish.

Peter was a man’s man. He seemed like a rock physically.

And emotionally too. Peter never seems afraid to jump into anything. To speak his mind, to challenge others, to take the lead, even to walk on water.

And some of you may say “I can sympathize. I’m strong-willed, a natural leader, a type-A personality. I have a big mouth just like Peter.

Others of you may feel anything, but rock-solid this morning.

• Maybe you’re body type is more like a marshmallow.
• Maybe you’re an emotional wreck.
• Maybe you’re very insecure.

• Maybe you’ve just lost your job.
• Or your health and your income are on shaky ground.
  • Even late show host’s jobs are insecure these days.
• Maybe you’ve just lost a loved one.

Maybe you say, “Well, I used to feel like a rock, but not recently.” The 5^th verse of the song says

Twenty years now
Where’d they go?
Twenty years
I don’t know
Sit and I wonder sometimes
Where they’ve gone

Though there are some in this room who feel like a million bucks, like they’re on top of the world, who feel like a rock.

Others of us feel very unstable. Very indecisive. Very shaky.

Today’s message is for both categories. Those who are seeking security and those who think they already have it.

In verses 53-54, we see the contrast between two men who were referred to as rocks in the Bible. Peter (we already looked at why he was called a rock) and Jesus who in 1 Corinthians 10:4 is called “that spiritual Rock…that Rock was Christ”

Verses 53-54 introduce the scenes of two simultaneous trials.

⁵³ And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes.

⁵⁴ And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.

One rock would stand secure. The other would crumble.

We’ve been turning to Mark’s gospel since back in 2006. I was in my 20s. I just turned 31 today, so I hope we’ll finish Mark before I’m in my 40s. Actually, Lord-willing we’ll be done by Easter.

I guess being the age Jesus was, it’s sobering to think that virtually everything we know about Him happened from the time he was 30-33. I’ve been convicted and inspired as we’ve viewed these three years’ of Jesus’ life through the lens of Mark’s gospel.

We’ve followed Him from the mountaintops (literally, the Mount of Transfiguration). And now we come to the valleys. Tonight we’ll go with Jesus into Gethsemane. A night so dark, that even Jesus’ faith is tested.

Some of you have had your faith tested. Maybe it’s being tested right now. Maybe you’re losing. Maybe you say, “I feel like I have more doubt than I have faith.”

Peter De Vries grew up in church and went to a Christian college, but left his faith. He then wrote books about people losing their faith. In one book, he tells the story of a father who has an 11 year old girl with leukemia. Just as the bone marrow begins to respond to treatment and she starts to go into remission, an infection sweeps through the ward and kills her.

The dad who has brought in a cake with his daughter’s name on it, leaves the hospital, and goes to the church where he had prayed for her healing. And there he hurls the cake at a statue of Jesus at the front of the church. The cake hits just beneath the crown of thorns and the brightly colored icing drips down Jesus’ dejected face of stone.

Jan. 14 Carol Guzy The Washington Post

This week I saw a picture that reminded me of this story. This a statue of Jesus crushed in the rubble of the earthquake in Haiti. And many people when they feel vulnerable, when they are devastated, begin to lose their faith. Maybe that’s you.

Mark’s Gospel is written to struggling, persecuted Christians. And it presents Jesus in all of His vulnerability and humanity-as Jesus the Servant, Jesus the Man. And tonight we’re going to see the most vulnerable picture of Jesus yet.

But I hope that rather than undermining your faith, it will strengthen it, and show you that you can find God’s comfort even when your faith is struggling. Let’s look at reasons why we need God’s comfort in this passage.

Our normal numbers should be operational around midnight tonight.

Our theme this year at Grace is Cultivating Fruit: Fruit of the Spirit Brings Fruit That Remains. In January, we’re introducing the theme with the fruits of the Spirit here in Galatians 5. As Christians we want to see the fruits of the Spirit growing in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23). We do this by abiding in Jesus, the Vine, who helps us bear fruit that remains (John 15:16).

Starting in February, we’ll go through a “fruit of the month”:

February- Love

March- Joy

April- Peace

May- Longsuffering

June- Gentleness

July- Goodness

August- Faith

September- Meekness

October- Temperance

Then at then end of the year, we’ll focus on John 15 and fruit that remains.

So that everyone can come, this year’s conference with Dr. Greg Mazak and his wife is local and very inexpensive.

• Early bird registration (by Jan. 31) is just $10 per couple!
• The location is the Cambria Suites across from the Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville (Exit 10).
• If you’d like to stay overnight, Cambria is giving us an excellent group rate for a suite.
• For meals, you can choose from 15 restaurants across the street.
• See the church bulletin board or contact the church office for more details and to sign up.

This year our theme at Grace is Cultivating Fruit: fruit of the Spirit brings fruit that remains.

And I’d like to introduce the theme by going to Galatians 5 and asking, “How do we grow spiritually?”

Does it come from resolve? I mean that’s what most people do at the beginning of January, right? Make resolutions? Some have probably already given up on their resolutions.

Maybe you were going to lose weight and you thought “If I can drop a pound every two weeks, I’ll be 25 pounds lighter next Christmas.” But thanks to leftover Christmas candy, you’ve already gained five pounds.

Maybe you were going to read the Bible through this year. Just a couple chapters a day. But instead of being to Joseph, you’re still in the Garden of Eden.

Maybe there was a bad habit, you were going to drop. But you’ve found yourself already going back.

This morning I would contend that resolve is not the answer. That more resolve, more resolutions, more rules or lists, or determination are not what we need. Instead we need to walk in the Spirit. Because the way that we grow spiritually is by the Spirit.

It’s not by the law. That’s been the whole theme of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Some Jewish Christians felt that just believing in Christ’s work on the cross and receiving His Spirit in you, wasn’t enough.

They said, “Well, what about all the rules that we had in Judaism. What about the kosher foods to eat, and festivals to keep and circumcision.”

They said, “if we don’t have all those rules and do’s and don’ts, we’ll be just like the pagans.”

And so they wanted a Christianity that was Christ plus the Mosaic law.

But Christ plus anything is not Christianity, it’s not biblical, it’s not the gospel. When you add anything to Christ (even the Mosaic law, as good as that was) you lose the gospel.

The gospel is Christ alone. He is the only way of salvation. Not Christ plus works. Not Christ plus good deeds. Not Christ plus a church. Christ alone is the way the truth and the life. No one gets into God’s heaven, except through Him.

So in today’s passage, we’ll see that the way to keep from falling to your flesh is not to put yourself under the Law but instead to be led by the Spirit.

I read a New Year’s Day prayer that goes like this:

Dear Lord, So far this year I’ve done well.

I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I’m very thankful for that.

But in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on I’m going to need a lot more help.

If we’re going to be realistic, we have to realize that 2010 isn’t going to be easy. A new year is going to bring new trials.

We look at what’s happening with our economy and the radical changes in Washington and more than likely the hard times aren’t over.

Some of us will face loss of health, loss of jobs, loss of homes, loss of relationships.

I wonder “Are you ready to face the trials that 2010 will bring?”

More importantly, “Can you trust the Lord in your trials?” And we find the answer in tonight’s passage.

Now as we’ve read through Mark’s gospel, we’ve seen some pretty dark times.

In ch. 1, Jesus is starved and tempted by Satan.

In ch. 2, he’s verbally attacked by the Pharisees.

In ch. 3, He’s accused of being the demon-possessed.

In ch. 4, the disciples are in a terrible storm.

In ch. 5, Jesus faces 2,000 demons.

In ch. 6 He’s rejected in His hometown.

And the list goes on. We’ve seen in recent chapters, that the religious leaders are plotting to kill Him.

But as bad as it’s been. The ugliest chapter yet, is here. In ch. 14, Jesus not only suffers mockery and injustice at trials by His enemies, but He’s betrayed, denied and abandoned by those closest to Him.

Remember Mark is writing these words to Roman Christians about 30 years later. And these persecuted believers are experiencing extreme trials. They’re huddled together in caves and tombs under Rome. They’re being eaten by lions in the Coliseum for sport. That’s the national pastime-watching Christians die. They’re being burned as torches in Nero’s backyard.

And so the Holy Spirit highlights the theme of suffering in ch. 14. So that the original Roman readers then (and readers like us today) would understand that no matter how severe our trials become, we can trust the Lord.

Now skeptics of the Bible and liberals would say we can’t trust Jesus during our trials because He was just a man who couldn’t even face His.

I mean if you were looking for a book at the library on how to get through trials would you really pick one up by a guy who was betrayed, denied, deserted by His own friends. And executed as a criminal. Would you really feel confident that this guy is going to have the answers?

Albert Schweitzer

One famous liberal theologian of the 20^th century, Albert Schweitzer, said that Jesus just lost control and became a helpless victim. He writes this in The Quest for the Historical Jesus.

Jesus…lays hold of the wheel of the world to set it moving on that last revolution … It refuses to turn, and He throws Himself upon it. Then it does turn; and crushes Him. … The wheel rolls onward, and the mangled body of the one immeasurably great Man, who was strong enough to think of Himself as the spiritual ruler of mankind and to bend history to His purpose, is hanging upon it still.

According to Schweitzer, Jesus overplayed his hand and so Jesus is not the sovereign God we can trust, but just a good man who left a good example, and nothing more.

Now if this is what happened, then Schweizer would be right. But we’ll see in this passage that it’s not what happened. The liberals are absolutely wrong.

In Mk. 14, we see that Jesus is the sovereign Lord we should trust in our trials, in our suffering, in our new year.

In a few days, my wife and I will get on a plane with our two girls and head down to Grammy’s house in Raleigh, NC. Now I love my in-laws. And I love southern winters. I lived in the south for eight years. And it’s nice when “a really cold day” is in the low 40s.

And yet there’s something about going out on Christmas day to play football in t-shirts and even shorts, that just doesn’t seem right to someone like me who grew up in Indiana.

A couple years ago, her family took us to see the musical “White Christmas.” You even got a free cookie and hot chocolate at intermission. But all the talk about a “White Christmas” seemed a little artificial since it was in the mid 60s outside. We weren’t even wearing jackets.

I find it interesting that Irving Berlin reportedly wrote the song, “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” at the side of his pool in LA.

Yet that’s the reason the song is so popular. Because no matter where you’re at this time of year, the song stirs up Christmas emotions.

They say Bing Crosby’s version sold 50 million copies. And when you count other versions, the song has sold 100 million. It’s ranked as the #1 Christmas song of all time.

But what really made the song popular was the way it struck a chord with the soldiers fighting in the WWII. And with their families who were waiting for them back home.

Imagine being a young kid in WWII on the other side of the world. Some of you were. You’re eating army rations or starving in a POW camp. Fearing for your life. Thousands of miles away from your family and your home. Or imagine being a family member.

And think of those words. I’ll just read them and spare you my singing.

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the treetops glisten,
and children listen
To hear sleigh bells in the snow

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white

You see the soldiers’ dream was for more than just frozen precipitation or some Yankee weather. It was what? An aching longing to be home. They wanted the war to be over. They wanted to go home and enjoy their families and live their lives.

For them dreaming of a white Christmas was a noble dream-an aching longing for a better future.

And yet long before WWII, someone else was dreaming a similar dream. Someone else had an aching longing for a better future. And that someone was God.

And here in this passage, 700 years before Christ, the prophet Isaiah tells us about God’s aching longing.

And in v. 18 we read, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

This is the white Christmas God is longing for-for us-that our lives stained by crimson-red, would be washed as white as snow.

During the Christmas season, we hear a lot of Christmas carols. But one of the most popular is, “Silent Night.” And not just for Christians, but for all Americans.

I was amazed when I went online and found it’s been performed by everyone from the Vienna Boys Choir to Willie Nelson, from Nat King Cole to Neil Diamond, from Johnny Cash to Josh Groban, from Bing Crosby to Boyz2Men.It’s a very popular song.

And to tell the truth, it’s one of my favorites. But even though it’s a popular song, have you ever thought about the words? Was it really a silent night? The night, of course, refers to the night of Jesus’ birth. And for those of you who remember your first baby’s birth, “Was it that silent?”

Remember Mary went into labor that night. And as far as I know most of us wouldn’t characterize childbirth with words like “mild” or “calm” or “silent.” And most newborns aren’t very good at sticking to noise curfews either, are they? Then you add a stable of barnyard animals, and it’s somewhat difficult to believe that it was really a silent night.Maybe it wasn’t really a silent night.

And yet all of us this Christmas want a silent night. And I don’t just mean that the neighbor kid would turn down his music.  I’m referring to the silent night of your soul. “Does your soul feel safe at night? Do you sleep in heavenly peace? What if you passed away in your sleep? Where would you go?

When I was kid I prayed “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray thee Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake I pray thee Lord my soul to take.”

I was praying for a silent night. That I could rest secure. That I could sleep knowing my soul was safe.

Do you know if you died tonight, that your soul would be safe? Do you sleep in heavenly peace?

In this sermon, we’ll look at three silent nights that will answer these questions.

We hear a lot about the worship wars between traditional music versus contemporary music. They say if you want to split a liberal church, start a fight over gender and sexuality. If you want to split an conservative church, just change the hymnal.

There’s a whole movement called CGM, the Church Growth Movement. Most CGM experts say the way to get a crowd is by using the right worship music. Some even suggest polling the crowd to choose your music.

A pastor of one of the largest churches in America said:

Years ago, after being frustrated trying to please everyone I decided to survey our church. I passed out 3 x 5 cards to everyone in the Crowd service and asked them to write down the call letters of the radio station they listened to.

Then they used the crowd’s preferences up and down the radio dial to select their worship music.

But this passage, Mark 14, shows us an altogether different approach. Tonight we’re going to see that our worship is primarily for Christ’s approval, not the crowd’s.

Every year we try to send a team of men from our church who enjoy using power tools for the glory of God. In 2006, we sent a Gulf Relief Team to help Christians and a church in Waveland, MS after Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, we sent a work team to help with the construction of the Creation Museum near Cincinnati. In 2008, we sent a Flood Relief Team to help a sister church in Martinsville.

Last spring we sent a work team to the Wilds Christian Camp and Conference Center in Brevard, NC. On November 29th, the team gave a report. Here are pictures from their trip.

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Thanksgiving is known as one of the main times each year when families get together.  In fact, the Thanksgiving weekend often sets the record for flights and other travel as people make a great effort to be with their relatives.

This morning, Pastor will finish the third in a series of three messages from Ephesians 5 which shows a connection between thanksgiving and family-  theologically as well as the way we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday.  The applications to each of our lives are significant and so relevant.

The evening service begins early, at 5:00. Then at 6:00, members of our church family host other families in their homes for a time of icebreakers, food and Christian fellowship. Each family brings food to enjoy together and break bread just as the early church did in Acts 2:42 and 46.

The first time I visited NYC was in 1991 with my family. We stayed with my aunt Debbie who lived in the city. And each day we’d put on our tennis shoes and she’d take us on the subway and give us tours all over the city. Now on the day that we went to see the World Trade Towers, as we were looking up admiring their architectural wonder, imagine what we would have thought if Debbie had said, “Don’t be too impressed. In a few years from now they are going to be destroyed. This city block will just be a gaping crater of rubble.”

How do you think we would have reacted? “Uhh, what!? Are you crazy? Are you a medium? Are you a terrorist? And if we thought she was a credible source, what would we have asked? When’s it going to happen? What signs can we expect that it’s about to happen? This is a very close analogy to what happens with Jesus at the beginning of our passage (verses 1-4).

There are two problems Christians have when thinking about the end times. Some only think about the end. They’re fascinated with eschatology. They’re obsessed with prophecy. Others never think about the end. They’re indifferent. They’re apathetic.

Jesus corrects both wrong attitudes in this Olivet Discourse. Chapter 13 is Christ’s roadmap for the future, but it’s not a heavenly horoscope. We’ll see that God gives us signs about the end, but He doesn’t give the exact time.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving as a nation and individuals, our church family has much to be thankful for. I recently found a link to the Good Morning America interview with our pastor. Three years ago, when medically it looked like he was going to die, God intervened. The Lord brought glory to Himself by raising him up. Three years later, Pastor Crockett is still cancer-free. Watching this interview again reminded me of the goodness of God and how much we have to be thankful for!

We honor Veterans at Grace!  In light of the recent tragedy at Ft. Hood, this sermon deals with the importance of loyalty.  In serving in our country’s forces or in Christ’s forces of light, loyalty is becoming increasingly rare but is still crucial.

It seemed like a simple email. I was in my first year in grad school. Karie had just one semester left to complete her degree, and we would be married in December. At this point I didn’t realize I’d be staying for a second masters degree, a master of infinity. So we were thinking we might look for a job that May.

And every week I’d get a mass email from the office of Career Services telling me about recruiters who would be on campus interviewing for different jobs. And one day I saw what looked like some interesting positions. So I decided to forward the email to Karie. I typed, “Hey Babe, want to meet at the Student Center to check this out? Love, Josh.”

But to my horror, I saw that instead of forwarding the email to Karie, I had replied to secretary. A few minutes later I got a second email from a middle-aged woman in Career Services informing me that she was happily married and didn’t appreciate students calling her “Hey, Babe!”

Now I was mortified. I replied again (this time on purpose) and said things were not what they seem. I too was about to be happily married. I was not trying to seduce her into a rendezvous in the Student Center, I merely pressed “reply” instead of “forward.” It was an accident. I meant to email my fiancée. I hoped she understood.

I didn’t hear back from her. But I hope she wasn’t offended. And I really hope her husband wasn’t waiting for me in the Student Center. Things were not as they seemed.

And same thing is true in this passage. Things are not as they seem, on the surface level. There’s more than meets the eye.

A professor was assigned to teach a class on time management to a group of freshmen in Orientation.

So he walked into the classroom and set a glass jar on a table. Then he carefully placed, one at a time, a dozen large rocks, inside the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked a question, “Is the jar full?”

Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”

“Really?” he asked. Then he reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel into the jar and shook it, so the pieces of gravel worked themselves down in between the big rocks. Then he smiled and asked once more, “Is the jar full?”

By this time the class was starting to catch on. “Probably not,” one of them said.

“Good!” he replied. Then he reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it filled all the spaces between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked, “Is this jar full?”

“No!” the class shouted.

Again he said, “Good!” Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour in the water until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked back at the class and asked, “What is the point of this illustration?”

One eager student raised her hand and said, “The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard, you can always fit something more into it!” Several classmates nodded in agreement. It sounded like a good answer.

But the teacher said, “No, that’s not the point. This is a lesson in priorities. And the lesson is this: if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”

And so this evening we ask ourselves: When it comes to our lives (our Time, Talent, and Treasure), how do we know what our priorities should be? How do we know what the big rocks are?

Life can become so busy with work and school, with home and church, with hobbies and sports. So how do we know where to start? How do we know what to put at the top of the list?

The standard answer is, “Well, what does the Bible say?” That’s good, but my Bible has over a 1,000 pages and that’s my small-print, ultra-thinline edition. My study Bible has almost 3,000 pages. It’s a monster. I use it to work out.

Sometimes you sit down to read your Bible, knowing you need help. And it’s overwhelming. There’s so much in here.

So if you could sit down across from God and ask Him what matters most to Him, what would He say? What are His top priorities? If you’ve ever wondered this, you’re not alone.

Jewish rabbis had identified 613 commandments in the Old Testament– 248 “dos” and 365 “don’ts”-one for every day of the year.

And so with all those “dos” and “don’ts,” rules and commandments, they then asked the question: “Which is the most important?”

Join us for our annual Thanksgiving Dinner.  It will be held at 6pm on Monday, Nov. 23^rd, in the ICA gym.  Immediately following the meal will be a special program, “Kids Praise- the Cutest Things.”

People have always had unique ideas about what happens to us when we die.

The Egyptians buried the great pharaoh Cheops with a solar boat to sail to the next life.They had already gone green 5,000 before Al Gore was born.

American Indians would bury a pony and bow and arrows with a dead warrior. They wanted him to be prepared for the happy hunting grounds.

Eskimo children who died were buried with a dog who could guide them in the afterlife. Had they thought of it, they should have buried one with men too. Since they obviously wouldn’t ask for directions.

Greeks would place a coin in the mouth of the corpse so he could pay the fare to cross what they believed was “the mystic river of death.” Somehow that sounds more like Chicago, than heaven, with a toll booth. And if I woke up in Chicago, I’d probably think I’d gone the other direction.

People today have some interesting ideas about heaven. When Princess Di was killed in 1997, British people wrote memorials to her in public places.

Some said they thought she’d become a star in the sky. Some said she’d been an angel in disguise and now she went back to being an angel again. Others said she was an angel-in-training and now at death she got promoted. Kind of like Clarence from “It’s A Wonderful Life”-just a little prettier.

Many Hindus believe in reincarnation. That they will come back as something else. Other people believe that everyone will to heaven. Many are so consumed with the here and now that they never even think about heaven.

Many today believe in annihilation-that they will simply cease to exist. This is what the Sadducees believed.

We will look at other passages that not only encourage us but teach and inspire us how to be optimistic in such dark days, and why positive hope is valid if based on the right foundation: “Life’s Problems: A Matter of Focus.”

We say the only two things certain in life are death and taxes, but there’s a clear connection between politics and taxes. Without taxes we wouldn’t have politics. It takes tax dollars for government to function.

Recently we’ve seen Americans outraged over taxes and government spending. They’ve protested in the tea parties and demonstrations across America- from hometowns to Washington. We’ve seen people of all ages wearing placards like this:

Many Christians are concerned about government’s misusing our tax dollars. But some Christians have gone so far as to advocate tax evasion.

And so we ask ourselves, “How should Christians respond to government? How should Christians respond to taxes?”

In this passage, we see what Jesus says about taxes and politics.

Remember this is the Passion week. It’s Tuesday. Jesus will be betrayed and unjustly tried Thursday night and crucified on Friday.

He is standing in the Temple. His enemies, the Jewish religious leaders, are trying to trap Him with a series of questions, so He will lose popularity with the crowds, or better yet from their perspective, even lose His life to the Romans.

Don’t miss this heartwarming new program.  It is a time of kids praising the Lord for His good works.  Come for the Thanksgiving Dinner @ 6 and stay for the blessings!