One
of the reasons I’m a pastor is to help people discover their Inspirational
Intersection. God wants us to discover
this place. It’s an intersection between
what God wants us to do and be and what we want to do and be. At this intersection is a place of tremendous
power and passion and satisfaction. This
place is the like the sweet spot on a golf club. When we discover this sweet spot things just
fly.
On
our journey it’s easy to get bogged down.
We get snagged from discovering this place. Often these snags are thoughts that go
through our brain. Everyone has these
thoughts. These snags hold us back. They can bog us down for years.
A
key part of our journey is to unhook ourselves, so that we can discover our
Sweet Spot.
For
two Sundays I’m sharing a sermon series called, “Snag.” We’re going deep into two snags. Last week we looked at the snag, “I don’t
need to worship God with other people.
Today on Super Bowl Sunday I’m looking at the snag, “God is really not
super.”
With
that introduction let me encourage you to get out this brochure that is in the
bulletin. Every week I write a devotion
that ties into the week’s message. This
week I shared six stories of how God truly was super. I encourage you to read these stories this
week as I believe the stories themselves can ignite something in us. In the middle is a place to take notes. I believe that God might say something to you
that you’ll want to remember. On the
back is a place for prayer requests. Let
me say share a story about what happened in my prayer life this week. Next week is an extra special day at Chain of
Lakes. Mary Johnson will be here to
share a story on forgiveness. As I was
working on this sermon of God being super I felt inspired to participate in a
prayer initiative that I’m calling 10 for 10.
I am praying for ten minutes every day that ten guests come to worship
next Sunday. That is a high number. We haven’t had that many guests in a couple
years. When something seems
extraordinary, it’s time to prayer. I encourage
you to join me in this 10 for 10 prayer initiative this week.
Today
billions of people around the globe are going to watch the Super Bowl.
How
many people will watched the game last year? 108
million
How
much does a Super Bowl commercial cost 4
million
The
average Super Bowl commercial costs 1 million to make
How
many chicken wings people consumer while they are watching the Super Bowl 1.25
Billion
Of
the ten most watched television shows in the history of TV, nine of them were
Super Bowls
The
Super Bowl is the second biggest day of food consumption of the year
Domino’s
Pizza will deliver 11 million pizzas during the Super Bowl
Underside
to the Super Bowl. Big increase in sex
trafficking in the city of the Super Bowl.
Today
over a 100 million people are going to watch the Super Bowl.
How
many of us over time have had the thought go through our heads that God does
not really want the best for us? I know
that I have. Something bad happens and
we wonder if God is on our side.
It
wouldn’t surprise me if all of us at some point have the thought go through our
mind that God is not really super. As a
result we have a hard time giving ourselves over to God. We would rather keep God at arms length. We don’t stop believing in God, but we’re not
going to let God get too close.
We
just stop believing that God is super.
This is a snag. It’s almost
impossible to find our sweet spot if we don’t trust God.
It’s
my experience that unanswered prayer is a big factor. As a pastor I’ve walked with many people who
struggle with unanswered prayer. When I
was a seminary intern my boss retired. His
name was Ken. He was so looking forward
to retirement and spending that time with his wife, whose name was Maren. He really worked really hard and didn’t spend
as much time as he wanted with her. A
few months after their retirement Ken & Maren went on a bike trip on the
west coast. Maren as riding down a
hill. She fell off her bike. She didn’t have a helmet on and went into a
coma. Everyone back at the church was
devastated. We prayed and we prayed and
we prayed for Maren. I still remember
one vigil when the Music Director stood up and in the most defiant voice that
she had said, “I’m going to pray for a miracle.” We all agreed and prayed with all of the
passion that we had.
Maren
died shortly afterwards. When we have a
prayer that is not answered there is a part of us that says, “where were you
God?” We held up our end of the bargain,
God. We prayed and prayed and
prayed. Why didn’t you answer?
You
might wonder, “questioning God like that.
Is that okay?”
We
can see this questioning about God in the story that Amy read. We might not be all that familiar with this
story, but it’s a really fascinating story.
The people had been in the wilderness for a long time. They had a case of the grass is greener on
the other side. They were just
tired. They wanted to go back to
Egypt.
SLIDE
The
rabble among them had a strong craving; and the Israelites also wept again, and
said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We
remember the fish we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the
melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our strength is dried
up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” Numbers 11:4-6
God
heard the complaining to the Israelites.
God told Moses to tell the people that God would provide them meat. Moses delivered that message. The people didn’t believe Moses. Even Moses had questions. Moses said to God.
SLIDE
The
people I am with number six hundred thousand on foot; and you say, ‘I will give
them meat, and they may eat for a whole month’!
Are there enough flocks and herds to slaughter for them? Are there enough fish in the sea to catch for
them?”
Moses
wondered. Then God said.
SLIDE Is the Lord’s power
limited?
This
is the key question. Do we believe that
God’s power is limited? I think this
question that God raised is a question that goes through all of our minds. Do we believe that God is not super? Do our unanswered prayers or difficulties in
life lead us to believe that God is not on our side.
The
story gives a response to the question.
It’s a powerful response. We
could spend a long time looking at the different parts of this question.
Today
let’s keep it simple. Let’s go back to
the story.
A
wind went out from the Lord. This wind
is translated from the word Hebrew word, Ruah.
Ruah is the wind of God. When
this Ruah blows amazing things happen.
This
Ruah brought quails to the Israelites. Quails—plural. There were a lot of quails. Quails
fell about two yards deep around the camp.
I’m about six feet tall. Imagine
quails six feet deep around the camp. Every
person had about ten homers of quail. A
homer is about 9 bushels of quail. Every
person in the camp had 89 bushels of quail.
Mark Batterson who wrote the Circle Maker wrote a chapter in his book
about this story. He did the math. If there were 600,000 people were in the camp
and each person had 89 bushels that is 105 million quail. Is God’s power limited? God brought 105 million quail to the
Israelites.
The
point that I’m driving at is this. I
want you to write this down. God can do
things that go far beyond what we can imagine.
This is what makes God super. That’s
why I want you to read these stories this week.
In these stories God does something just extraordinary—super. God raises the stakes with the people. It’s like God is playing poker with the
people and says, “I’ll raise you a million.”
Then God comes through.
God
can do things far beyond what we can imagine.
Often this happens when we are in a jam.
In
my own life I’ve experienced moments when God did something that far surpassed
what I could imagine. Almost everytime
it’s happened when I’ve been in a jam.
When
I first came to the church I served in Plainview the first year I was there the
congregation gave $40,000 to the budget.
Wow. We have some significant
work to do. Seven years later we broke
ground on a million dollar building. If
you had told me that year that this would happen, I would have been like the
Israelites. No way. God did something that far surpassed what any
of us could imagine.
I
went through a time in my life that I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t
going to be married. I was stuck in a
small town working 50 to 60 hours a week and hadn’t had a serious date for five
years. One day I picked up the newspaper
and three days later I was in love with the woman who would become my wife.
God
can do things that far surpass our imagination.
Here
at Chain of Lakes I’ve seen God do things that far surpassed my
imagination. A summer and a half ago we
started to hire a Music director. I
wondered if we would get any strong candidates to apply. I decided to pray on my knees for 15 minutes
every day until we hired a Music Director.
Once I started praying I had this sense of peace that everything was
going to be all right. Then one day a
woman living in Bemidji got a message from a friend living in the Cities about
a flyer she saw at a coffee shop. What a
great marketing plan. If someone had
come up to me and said that all we had to do to hire a music director was put a
flyer in a coffee shop and then a friend would tell someone in Bemidji. Only god.
People
didn’t think we had any musical talent in our congregation. Last week we had seven people in a Blue Grass
band.
God
can do things that far surpass our imagination.
We’ve
gone through a dry spell in receiving new guests to worship. I’m going to go back to God. I’m praying ten minutes a day every day on my
knees—and my knees aren’t as strong as they used to be—that we will receive ten
guests will come. I believe with our
prayers and with all of you inviting people that we can do ten. God can do that.
God
can do things that far surpass our imagination.
Our
task is to have faith. Our task is not
to be God. It’s to have faith in
God. No human could have arranged 105
million quail to come to the Israelites.
We just have to have faith. The
good news is we don’t even need a lot of faith.
Jesus said, “have faith the size of a mustard seed.” A mustard seed is the one of the smallest
seeds that exists. Just keep having a
small amount of faith.
You
see when we are backed into a corner we’re exactly when God works in a super
way. When we’re in this place we realize
that we can’t solely rely on ourselves any more—on our own gifts or our own
creativity or our own thoughts—then we realize that we need God. God is especially super when we are at the
end of our rope and looking down at a great fall. When that happens we realize that it’s not us
who got us out of a jam, it really was God.
Have faith the size of a mustard seed.
The
challenge is not whether we believe God is super. The challenge is whether we are going to have
enough faith to allow God to do something super in our own lives.
This
week I had the opportunity to be touched by someone who is a role model of
faith for us. Most of you know Ruthann Coburn. She has lupes. She really has struggled with her
health. Recently she is suffering from a
large wound on her leg. She is homebound
during the winter. By the way she loves
to receive visitors and phone calls.
Please do visit her and give her a call.
I
talk to her about once a week. Last week
she asked me if I would bring by Communion for her. Of course I said yes. On Tuesday Val Owens and I went to
Ruthann’s. she was so happy to see
us. We talked and talked and
talked. She told us about her struggles
with her health. But she never
complained. She doesn’t have a woes is
me attitude; she isn’t mad at God because her body is not working as she would
like; she isn’t complaining because the only time she leaves her house is
because of a doctor’s appointment.
Most
likely her health is not going to get better.
She is at a point of trying to avoid getting worse. But she still smiles and is positive.
She’s
not mad at god; she’s not bitter about what is happening to her; she is
suffering from health maladies that she didn’t bring on herself, but she still
want to receive Communion.
Who
knows maybe God will deliver Ruthann from her health problems. Whether that happens or not Ruthann has the
mustard seed type of faith that is an example to the rest of us.
God
is super. We’re called to have a
mustard-seed amount of faith.
Today
we’re going to celebrate Communion.
We’re going to remember that Jesus died for us so that we are released
from the weight of our own sins; we’re going to remember that during the
Passover meal—the very meal that celebrated what the Israelites
experienced—that Jesus said that people could come to God through him; we’re
going to remember that God took Jesus from death and placed Jesus at his right
hand in heaven so that all of us can receive the gift of salvation; and we’re
going to remember that God can surprise us in a way that we can’t even imagine.
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