YouVersion

Ive set up an account for the youth ministry on YouVersion.com, a ministry tool that will provide a window into the youth ministry that would otherwise not be involved!

Its easy:

1) Click on this link: http://www.youversion.com/groups/sothumc

2) Click on "Events" to your right.

From here, you can choose to look at the lesson for the up-coming Sunday in the Current tab or browse previous lessons under the Past tab.

This new tool will allow you not only to view the Scriptures we are visiting on Sunday night, but also the notes being taught alongside the Scripture. You will also be able to answer questions associated with the material!

My goal is to have something labelled "Pre-Sunday (Insert Date)" accessible by Wednesday night of each week will serve as a prep tool for the coming lesson. There might be questions, polls, videos, thoughts, Scriptures, etc., for you to access and participate in - youth AND adults, alike.

The actual Sunday night material will not be available for viewing until 6pm the evening of, but even then you can log in and participate! Its all done live and if you answer a question during my talk or the time leading up to it, we, as a group, will be able to view your submission.

I hope you will participate in the teaching of the youth in this interactive environment!

After all, we ARE on the path of life together!

- Adkins

What the Pumpkins Teach Us

Ephesians 4:15-16 (The Message)

No prolonged infancies among us, please.

We'll not tolerate babes in the woods, small children who are an easy mark for impostors.

God wants us to grow up, to know the whole truth and tell it in love—like Christ in everything.

We take our lead from Christ, who is the source of everything we do.

He keeps us in step with each other.

His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love.

"God wants us to grow up..."

What a great line of scripture. And it's a lesson that we all have to learn in God's time.

"Pumpkin day" is such a reminder of this for me. A mountain of large pumpkins fills the trailer. As the sun is starting to rise, the volunteers assemble.

My kids are absolutely overflowing with excitement. "Pumpkin day," for whatever reason, is right there with Christmas morning and birthdays for them. It builds anticipation like almost nothing else.

And without fail, they have one question..."can we get in the trailer?"

This year, my oldest, Will got to get "in the trailer" and help the line of men who passed the pumpkins from one to another.

He must have passed a good dozen pumpkins (of about 1500). Then he had enough. He quickly jumped down, back into the patch to play with his friends. He wasn't quite ready to grow up just yet (it's work after all), and I'm not really ready for him to grow up, anyway.

What about the rest of us?

The pumpkins teach us that it's a wonderful thing to be surrounded by a family who's willing to do grown up work.

Without each and every person, the pumpkin task would be near impossible.

We learn to "keep in step with each other" as the pumpkins pass from hand to hand. We learn that when part of the team breaks down, everybody has to stop. We see firsthand the incredible value of team work and a shared goal.

For a couple of hours, we truly have to be one body. And this is the picture of church.

There is a trailer full of potential ministry opportunity that greets our church family, each and every morning.

We give, serve, and push one another...because it is our calling. We work together, because in grace, that work is our very identity.

"His very breath and blood flow through us, nourishing us so that we will grow up healthy in God, robust in love."

This is what the pumpkins teach us. May we learn new lessons like this one every single day.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Meet Your Maker, Vol. VIII

Are you ready to believe this statement?:

"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God."

Sounds radical, doesnt it? When we first read that, our first reaction might be (and mine was), "I believe myself to be 'born of God' and I know that I still sin."

Well, the statement in question is actually a bit of Scripture (1 John 3:9) that Wesley addressed in a sermon in 1748.

He breaks it down into two parts - first addressing what it means to be "born of God" and secondly addressing what it means not to sin thereafter.

Born of God

Wesley describes this process as "a vast inward change; a change wrought in the soul by the operation of the Holy Ghost, a change in the whole manner of our existence; for from the moment we are 'born of God' we live in quite another manner than we did before; we are, as it were, in another world."

To flesh this description out some, he compares being born of God to the process of the natural birth we are all familiar with. He explains that before we are born of God, we exist in a similar state to that of an unborn child. We live, to be sure, but our senses are dulled and we know not what exists just beyond the womb. But the process of being born of God is just as drastic a happenstance as that of being born naturally. Senses are heightened and strengthened and it is unfair to make a comparison between that life and the one experienced in the womb; that simply is not an apples to apples comparison.

For Wesley, being born of God means that where we were once unable to see, we now are capable of seeing "Him that is invisible." Where once we were unable to hear, we are now "know the voice of [our] shepherd." Where once our senses were incapable of experiencing or imagining the world on the other side of the womb we now know "more and more of the things which before "could not enter into [our] hearts to conceive."

Put simply: We become distinctly aware of and connected to God.

Cannot go on Sinning

Wesley is careful to address what our hang-up with this phrase most certainly is: that those born of God most certainly do go on committing sins. He explains the discrepancy in this way:

"I answer, what has been long observed is this: so long as 'he that is born of God keepeth himself' (which he is able to do, by the grace of God) 'the wicked one toucheth him not.' But if he keepeth not himself, if he abide not in the faith, he may commit sin even as another man."

He gives a nine step digression from grace to sin (The following quoted directly but with the omission of quotation marks):

1) The divine seed of loving, conquering faith remains in him that is 'born of God.' 'He keepeth himself,' by the grace of God, and 'cannot commit' sin.

2) A temptation arises, whether from the world, the flesh, or the devil, it matters not.

3) The Spirit of God gives him warning that sin is near, and bids him more abundantly watch unto prayer.

4) He gives way in some degree to the temptation, which now begins to grow pleasing to him.

5) The Holy Spirit is grieved; his faith is weakened, and his love of God grows cold.

6) The Spirit reproves him more sharply, and saith, 'This is the way; walk thou in it.'

7) He turns away from the painful voice of God and listens to the pleasing voice of the tempter.

8) Evil desire begins and spreads in his soul, til faith and love vanish away.

9) He is then capable of committing outward sin, the power of the Lord being departed from him.

So it comes down to this:

Once being born of God, we are capable of committing sin. Our free will is not removed from us during the birthing process. And so it is with our will that we sin. Conversely, though, it is with our will that we can avoid falling into temptation. The phrase Wesley uses to describe this utilization of our will is "keeping" ourselves to God. It is when we choose to turn our attention to God and His desires for us that we necessarily turn away from other desires and, therefore, away from potential temptation and sin. And it is in those moments that we are sinless, if only for a moment.

9/27 worship preview

It's been quite a week in Douglas County. Flooding like we've never seen. Tomorrow morning at 8, folks will begin being helped at The Pantry (if you get the SOTH emails you know the details). A Gift of Love and Faith in Action are also working hard to help those in need and SOTH will support their efforts 100%. The future will hold mission teams and wonderful stories of the way that God works.

Wednesday night we gathered and had a powerful time of prayer for the community.

This Sunday we'll be having services of healing at both 9:30 and 11:00 am. Now really, anytime that Christians gather for worship, what happens should have a healing quality. I'm very excited about this Sunday. God's timing is amazing. We planned this service weeks ago --- little did we know how much healing our community would need after these floods.

So, here's a peek at some of the songs, the scripture, the sermon and a time of prayer and anointing.

See you Sunday!

Adam

James 5:13-15 (NRSV)

Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven.

Sermon thoughts: what's this anointing with oil all about? Do prayers in church somehow work better than when I do it on my own? Why do some folks not get better? How does forgiveness really work? What does it mean to let someone pray for me?

If you've ever had those questions...they're the ones we're diving into this Sunday.

Some thoughts on the United Methodist healing service from Daniel Benedict, former worship resources director with the General Board of Discipleship:

Ours is a hurting and broken world. It is no wonder that there has been a very positive response to opportunities for healing prayer and anointing.

Many United Methodist congregations now include healing prayer in worship services. Some offer healing prayer as part of services of Holy Communion. Some schedule weekly, monthly, or quarterly services of healing, depending on the needs of their particular church and community.

Basic Understandings of Healing and Worship

The Bible affirms spiritual healing.

"Are any among you sick? They should call the elders of the church and have them pray for them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord" (James 5:14).

When pastors and laity pray for people with the laying on of hands or anointing with oil, they are not claiming that they are doing something for the sick. They are not claiming that God will make everything better. They are seeking to be faithful to continue Christ's threefold ministry of teaching, preaching, and healing.

The Bible clearly calls disciples to pray with and for one another, and this faithful ministry of touch with prayer pleads and performs (enacts) the grace of God. This touch bridges alienation, swallows isolation, breaks suffering, and opens discouraged human spirits.

Services of healing are not services of curing. Rather they "provide an atmosphere in which healing can happen." (See The United Methodist Book of Worship, 613-614.) All healing is God's work, and worship settings where God encounters people are intrinsically healing.

When people are hurting, and when there is an invitation to share the pain, people respond. It is very natural and an act of hope in God. The ritual practices of healing prayer in the context of worship do not embarrass or expose people. United Methodist healing services use a simple sacramental approach to healing that expresses compassion, hope, grace, and a quiet confidence in God. There we can bring our insufficiencies to the all-sufficient Christ, who understands our need for wholeness.

Love

A wonderful post from Joy Shaver, disciple of Christ and active member of our church's prayer ministry.

This was written for "affirmation Sunday," a time of encouragement for our leaders, and will be used at our next Church Council meeting.

What great writing! Joy, I'm proud of you! Grace & Peace, Adam

I Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy going or a clanging cymbal.

If I know all the words to all of the songs the Praise Band plays, but have not love, I am only a loud and off key singer.

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge such as how we're going to afford everything we need and the answers to all the other budgetary questions, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains trusting that the monies will be there to cover the budget as well as unexpected expenditures, but have not love, I am still nothing.

If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

If I tithe 20% of my income, work at The Pantry, serve on three committees, volunteer to feed the youth and pray for turkeys (Thanksgiving mission outreach) but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful;

Love is patient and kind even when you prepare the most exciting programs and trainings and nobody shows up. Love is not jealous or boastful, even when you think that you give more time than anybody else in your church.

It is not arrogant or rude. Love keeps no record of wrongs; it is not irritable or resentful;

Love is not arrogant or rude; it keeps no record of wrongs even when you have 8 meetings at church, you are the greeter at both services for a month, and you also bring snacks for the Women of SOTH meeting. Oh...did I mention that we need you to call people for the Listening Sessions?

It does not rejoice at wrongs, but rejoices in the right.

Love does not rejoice when Adam has to be at the hospital with one of our church family because they're sick or hurt, but does rejoice that we have a prayer team and a bunch of members in our church who are ready to love and support, and cover anything that needs to be covered.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things, even a yard sale in the rain or a dunking booth for a cancer drive, and unloading what feels like thousands of dirty pumpkins (Adam's note: that's because it is thousands of dirty pumpkins, and they're coming October 10th ;)

Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Love never ends, but after worship, SOTH families will go home or to Kroger or to Golden Corral. The band will pack up their instruments and rest their voices. Adam will finally get to spend some time with his family.

For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

For our church is imperfect, and our discipleship, ministries, and leadership skills are imperfect (hate to say it, but it's true). But when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

When I was a youth, I spoke like a youth, I thought like a youth, I reasoned like a youth (can you reason with a 13 year old?). When I got confirmed, I gave up childish ways (hmmm, not really!).

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.

For now we see as if we have just shared in Adam's sermon, been in prayer, sung our hearts out and greeted everyone we know and love but soon we will see so much more clearly. Now we know a little, and then will more clearly understand even as we have been clearly understood.

So faith, hope love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Amen!

Cave

Mark 9:30-32 (The Message)

Leaving there, they went through Galilee.

He didn't want anyone to know their whereabouts, for he wanted to teach his disciples.

He told them, "The Son of Man is about to be betrayed to some people who want nothing to do with God. They will murder him. Three days after his murder, he will rise, alive."

They didn't know what he was talking about, but were afraid to ask him about it.

It makes me feel good to know that Jesus sometimes didn't want to be found.

Now, I know that may sound odd.

But it makes me feel good because sometimes, I don't want to be found either.

What about you?

Jesus should always be available and at the ready, shouldn't he? On the one hand, I suppose it's pretty disturbing that he hid from the people of Galilee. After all, they really needed him and they were drawn to him.

But still...there were those moments when he needed space and time.

In this passage, he wanted to be alone with the disciples to teach them. At other times in the Gospels, we're told that he withdrew to a quiet place for prayer and solitude.

Could Jesus have been an introvert at heart?

The picture above is of a very special place. It's a cave on a hillside, just below the "mount of the beatitudes." Legend has it that this cave could have been one of those "quiet places" Jesus liked to go to on his own.

Holly and I got to sit in this cave during our trip to the Holy Land, back in the spring. We looked out upon the beauty of the Sea of Galilee.

What a place, and what a blessing.

And for this introvert, what a comfort to know that sometimes it's ok to be away from the crowd. God is always with us, sometimes we just need a little quiet to hear his voice.

Where's your cave?

Grace & Peace,
Adam

Knit

From Proverbs 31 (The Message)

A good woman is hard to find,
and worth far more than diamonds.

She shops around for the best yarns and cottons,
and enjoys knitting and sewing.

She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast
for her family and organizing her day.

She looks over a field and buys it,
then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden.

First thing in the morning, she dresses for work,
rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started.

She senses the worth of her work...

She keeps an eye on everyone in her household,
and keeps them all busy and productive.

Her children respect and bless her;
her husband joins in with words of praise:

"Many women have done wonderful things,
but you've outclassed them all!"

Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.

Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!

My wife loves to knit. She really, truly does. I can only imagine that she must love this Proverb about knitters.

I don't know anything about knitting. Well...I know a tiny bit that I've been able to decipher when she tries to share with me about it, but mostly it's like hearing someone speak a foreign language.

I have no idea how it works. To me, it looks like she systematically ties knots in yarn, and then at the end, it comes out as a baby sweater, or a blanket, or socks, or any number of other things, all of them really useful items that will be adored for a long, long time by the lucky people who receive them.

I think she loves knitting because it perfectly fits with who she is. It's useful and productive. It's artistic, and it's a skill that can grow and be continually refined and challenged over time.

Whether I can tell what's happening with all that yarn or not...she "senses the worth of her work."

And that sense can grow, and it pervades every part her life. It can do the same for all of us, knitters and non-knitters alike.

Proverbs 31 reminds us how good it is to get up before dawn. How lucky we are when we rise with a sense of purpose...to go out and "find the best yarn," to produce something of value.

It's how God has made us, and thank God for the women in our lives who show the way.

Grace & Peace,
Adam

Chew

From Psalm 1 (The Message)

...you thrill to God's Word,

you chew on Scripture day and night.

You're a tree replanted in Eden,

bearing fresh fruit every month,

Never dropping a leaf,

always in blossom.

^4-5 You're not at all like the wicked,

who are mere windblown dust—

Without defense in court,

unfit company for innocent people.

In seminary, I was blessed to take a class with Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, who was serving as a visiting professor.

I remember many things he said, but Psalm 1 puts me in mind of one in particular: "The Scripture is like dynamite! It can blow apart the things of this world!"

I had never thought of scripture as "explosive" before.

"During our struggle against apartheid," he said, "every time we opened scripture, it was as though God had written the words just for us, and it gave us the strength we needed to continue."

I know that every time I've spent even just a few moments with scripture, I come away with a sense of greater peace and joy.

What is peace and joy worth to you? Give it a try. Here's a good resource: www.biblegateway.org

Grace & Peace --

Adam

Unspoken

From Psalm 19 (The Message)

^1-2 God's glory is on tour in the skies,
God-craft on exhibit across the horizon.

Madame Day holds classes every morning,
Professor Night lectures each evening.

^3-4 Their words aren't heard,
their voices aren't recorded,

But their silence fills the earth:
unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.

I need you to do something. Urgently. Right now. Do this.

Get up and go outside. Look up. Just go.

"God's glory is on tour in the skies."

This seems especially true at sunrise and sunset...but it's true all the time.

We just tend not to look. The things right in front of us demand our attention. But we really, really need to look up.

Find some woods. Walk into them. Listen. Watch. Life is happening, and it happens out there, all the time, no matter what important thing we think we're doing.

The tiniest flowers are in that place, pushing their way up from the forest floor.

Life. Truth. Unspoken.

"Unspoken truth is everywhere."

Grace & Peace --
Adam

Wisdom

Proverbs 1:20-33 (The Message)

Lady Wisdom goes out in the street and shouts.
At the town center she makes her speech.

In the middle of the traffic she takes her stand.

At the busiest corner she calls out: "Simpletons! How long will you wallow in ignorance?
Cynics! How long will you feed your cynicism?
Idiots! How long will you refuse to learn?

About face! I can revise your life.
Look, I'm ready to pour out my spirit on you;
I'm ready to tell you all I know.

As it is, I've called, but you've turned a deaf ear;
I've reached out to you, but you've ignored me.

"Since you laugh at my counsel and make a joke of my advice, How can I take you seriously?

I'll turn the tables and joke about your troubles!

What if the roof falls in, and your whole life goes to pieces?
What if catastrophe strikes and there's nothing to show for your life but rubble and ashes?
You'll need me then. You'll call for me, but don't expect an answer.

No matter how hard you look, you won't find me.
"Because you hated Knowledge and had nothing to do with the Fear-of-God,
Because you wouldn't take my advice and brushed aside all my offers to train you,

Well, you've made your bed—now lie in it;
you wanted your own way—now, how do you like it?

Don't you see what happens, you simpletons, you idiots?

Carelessness kills; complacency is murder.

First pay attention to me, and then relax.
Now you can take it easy—you're in good hands."

My freshman year of high school, I worked hard in practices (and I went to a really small school), and I landed the job as starting catcher on my varsity baseball team. I was really proud of myself.

Until, early in the season, leading off an inning, my coach gave me the bunt sign.

The bunt sign!

Let's just say that "speed" was not my game. I wasn't a bunter.

But hey, he's the coach. I bunted. They threw me out, of course. I made my way back across the infield to our dugout, pretty proud of myself. It was a good bunt, I thought.

My coach was a deep shade of purple. Veins stood out in his head and neck. He came close to me, straining to keep control. "What kind of idiot do you think I am," he breathed.

No answer from me.

Yeah, I missed a sign. There was no bunt.

After the inning, he took me aside and screamed at me like no coach had screamed before. Obviously, I still remember it. I got the message.

Baseball is a team game. Sometimes, you make mistakes. But if you're not sure what to do, the remedy is simple. Even the pros do it. You stop and ask. You get clarity before acting. You call time and walk down to your coach.

That may seem embarrassing, but it sure beats missing the sign.

I didn't enjoy being called an idiot...but look what happens in this proverb? "Wisdom," personified as a woman in the street, calls out to people...and says that they're idiots because they won't listen to her.

Humility is the beginning of wisdom. It means we can stop and ask directions. It means we can get clarity.

What does God want? What is Wisdom trying to teach us today? Do you know where you're heading, and why?

Let's stop and make sure. Ask for Wisdom's help, and she'll surely reply.

Grace and Peace,
Adam

Meet Your Maker, Vol. VII

For some reason this post didnt publish when I scheduled it to on Friday, so here is a happy Tuesday surprise for you!

Ha, I feel as if I should post a warning for you, the reader, as to the contents of this particular sermon of Wesley's. It will challenge your thoughts, I believe; I certainly hope it does. He brings into light a facet of Christianity that we often, according to him, misinterpret and mislabel. Today, he asks us if we really are Christians.

Wesley cites Acts 26:28 from the KJV to kick this one off:

"Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."

From here, he outlines two implied categories: The almost Christian, and the altogether Christian.

The Almost Christian

Wesley details the almost Christian as someone of "heathen honesty." They have "the outside of a real Christian...and does nothing which the gospel forbids." He then proceeds to present a rather impressive list of activities the almost Christian participates in or abstains from, and the list is what I have termed in my head "hauntingly Christian according to perception." He "profanes not the day of the Lord," "taketh not the name of God in vain," "abstains from 'wine wherein is excess,'" "does not willingly wrong," etc. Then the list gets even more "hauntingly Christian:"

"...constantly frequents the house of God..."

"...approaches the table of the Lord..."

Participates in "family prayer"

Sets time apart for "private addresses to God"

And ALL of this he does with sincerity which Wesley defines here as "a real, inward principle of religion from whence these outward actions flow."

You did realize that we are still under the heading of the almost Christian, right?!

I will utilize none other than Wesley's own transition here:

"Is it possible that any man should go so far as this and nevertheless be only 'almost a Christian?' What more than this can be implied in being 'a Christian altogether?'"

The Altogether Christian

He lists three expressly stated requisites:

1) "First, the love of God. For thus saith His Word: 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all they strength.' Such a love of God is this as engrosses the whole heart, as takes up all the affections, as fills the entire capacity of the soul, and employs the utmost extent of all its faculties."

2) "The second thing implied in being 'altogether a Christian' is the love of our neighbor. For thus said our Lord in the following words: 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'"

3) "The right and true Christian faith is not only to believe that Holy Scripture and the articles of our faith are true, but also to have a sure trust and confidence to be saved from everlasting damnation by Christ - it is a sure trust and confidence which a man hath in God 'that by the merits of Christ his sins are forgiven, and he reconciled to the favour of God."

According to Wesley, and I agree with him, Christianity is not merely a model of morality as the almost Christian puts it to use. While it is true that it is part of Christianity, it is not, ultimately, what defines Christianity. Other practicing religions have similar if not more stringent ideals of morality, and yet they are not entitled the same as ours. Christ defines Christianity, and beyond that, our belief and acceptance as truth of Christ - His life, His words, His sacrifice and the implications thereof. As Wesley words it:

"May we all thus experience what it is to be not almost only, but altogether Christians! Being justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus, knowing we have peace with God through Jesus Christ, rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, and having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us!"

- Adkins

Meet Your Maker, Vol. VI

I know, I know. "Mike is still doing these?!" Yes. Yes, I am. Cant a working man take a vacation?!

Im back from a hiatus, and returning to the trendy SOTHblog scene. I was predestined to take a break and predestined to return. Nothing could have prevented either.

Well, actually, the predestination talk above is nothing more than a segue into this week's Wesleyan wisdom:

In this sermon, Wesley presents counter arguments to the idea of predestination, also referred to as "election," "preterition," and "reprobation." These all give name to a school of thought that essentially states that God has selected, as per His will and His will only, some people to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven and others He has chosen to bar from the gates of Heaven forever. It is a predetermined list which cannot be added to or subtracted from.

Wesley takes vehement opposition to this theology. While he lists several reasons with support in the sermon, I will directly address only a chosen few (get it?!):

1) Wesley states that if "one part of mankind are infallibly saved, and the rest infallibly damned" then "all preaching is vain" because it is "needless to them that are elected...and useless to them that are not elected." This hinges on his premise that the end or ultimate goal of preaching is "to save souls." So folks like Adam and I would be out of a job. There is a written note (Im assuming of Adam's) in the margin of the book I am reading these sermons from that reads "Calvinists preach'n helps elect see implications and obligations." But given Wesley's argument, even this is non-sensical and ultimately pointless, for the elect have no need to fear falling out of favor whether they are aware of the implications or meet any obligations thereto associated with being an elect.

2) It takes the passion and activity out of our relationship to God. He writes: "For if a sick man knows that he must unavoidably die or unavoidably recover, though he knows not which, it is not reasonable for him to take any physic at all. He might justly say (and so I have heard some speak, both in bodily sickness and in spiritual), 'If I am ordained to life, I shall live; if to death, I shall die. So I need not trouble myself about it." Essentially, our relationship to God is moved out of the loving father realm and into a relationship that more nearly resembles the one shared between the young child with a magnifying glass and the ants below him on a sunny day. Or, for those interactive learners in the crowd, its just like this game: http://www.addictinggames.com/godsplayingfield.html. Yeah, I went there.

3) Wesley argues that the supporters of such a theology pull their ideas from a select number of verses while seemingly ignoring the greater number of verses that directly contradict the former. He lists these among them (emphasis is Wesley's; no translation listed):

"The Lord is loving unto every man, and his mercy is over all his works." Psalm 145:9

"He is the Savior of all men." 1 Timothy 4:10

"He gave himself a ransom for all." 1 Timothy 2:6

"He tasted death for every man." Hebrews 2:9

As Methodists, as followers, then, of Wesleyan theology, we do not subscribe to the idea that there is a chance that we do not and can not find favor in the eyes of God. By that statement, I do not intend to submit that we, as Methodists, believe we are all "elect," either. We believe instead that all have access to God's graces because He so freely gives them. As Wesley exclaimed in his opening statement:

"How freely does God love the world! While we were yet sinners, 'Christ died for the ungodly.' While we were 'dead in sin,' God 'spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all.' And how 'freely with him' does he 'give us all things'! Verily, free grace is all in all!"

- Adkins

Sermons

So, SOTH...what do you want to hear me preach about?

I'm open to suggestions, most definitely.

Here's the thing: I had September all nicely planned...and then plans have changed. We made an adjustment on the church calendar with regard to the timing of some things that we're going to do in October/November, and now my September preaching calendar has suddenly become wide open.

Here's the other thing: I don't think it ought to be just up to the preacher to decide what parts of the "bread" get broken each Sunday. I'd love to hear from you.

What sermons do you need to hear? What parts of our faith are you curious about? What do you think would help our congregation?

Come on...feedback, feedback in the comments below. I'm going to post over on facebook too so we'll bait the hook in a couple of places and see what comes.

Peace --- Adam

Waiting and Watching

Psalm 130 (The Message)

^1-2 Help, God—the bottom has fallen out of my life!

Master, hear my cry for help!

Listen hard! Open your ears!

Listen to my cries for mercy.

^3-4 If you, God, kept records on wrongdoings,

who would stand a chance?

As it turns out, forgiveness is your habit,

and that's why you're worshiped.

^5-6 I pray to God—my life a prayer—

and wait for what he'll say and do.

My life's on the line before God, my Lord,

waiting and watching till morning,

waiting and watching till morning.

^7-8 O Israel, wait and watch for God—

with God's arrival comes love,

with God's arrival comes generous redemption.

No doubt about it—he'll redeem Israel,

buy back Israel from captivity to sin.

I remember one of the fancy words I got taught in seminary (well, I remember more than one, but I generally try not to use them).

My Pastoral Care teacher taught us about "liminal time." She said, "it's the hardest kind of time of them all."

The phrase actually comes from astronomy. It describes the turning of the earth, and the time that is neither quite day nor night. Dusk. The time of change and waiting. What will be is not quite yet.

It is the time of "waiting and watching." It's the hardest.

So, what are you waiting and watching for right now? Whatever it is, Psalm 130 reminds us that, "morning is on the way."

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Clean

So...how are you?

A good question, one to be answered honestly.

When the Psalmist asked that of himself, his answer was the brutal truth.

Better question: How is God?

See below...I think Psalm 51 says it all..

Psalm 51:1-17 (The Message)

^1-3Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
Scrub away my guilt,
soak out my sins in your laundry.
I know how bad I've been;
my sins are staring me down.

^4-6 You're the One I've violated, and you've seen
it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
You have all the facts before you;
whatever you decide about me is fair.
I've been out of step with you for a long time,
in the wrong since before I was born.
What you're after is truth from the inside out.
Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

^7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean,
scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life.
Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
set these once-broken bones to dancing.
Don't look too close for blemishes,
give me a clean bill of health.
God, make a fresh start in me,
shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don't throw me out with the trash,
or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from gray exile,
put a fresh wind in my sails!
Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
so the lost can find their way home.
Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
and I'll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
Unbutton my lips, dear God;
I'll let loose with your praise.

^16-17 Going through the motions doesn't please you,
a flawless performance is nothing to you.
I learned God-worship
when my pride was shattered.
Heart-shattered lives ready for love
don't for a moment escape God's notice.

Grace & Peace,

Adam

You are the Man

Revised Common Lectionary entries for this week:

August 2, 2009 [Green]

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a

Psalm 51:1-12 (UMH 785)

Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35

Let's Roll:

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13 (The Message)

^26-27 When Uriah's wife heard that her husband was dead, she grieved for her husband. When the time of mourning was over, David sent someone to bring her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son.

^27-3 But God was not at all pleased with what David had done, and sent Nathan to David. Nathan said to him, "There were two men in the same city—one rich, the other poor. The rich man had huge flocks of sheep, herds of cattle. The poor man had nothing but one little female lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up with him and his children as a member of the family. It ate off his plate and drank from his cup and slept on his bed. It was like a daughter to him.

⁴ "One day a traveler dropped in on the rich man. He was too stingy to take an animal from his own herds or flocks to make a meal for his visitor, so he took the poor man's lamb and prepared a meal to set before his guest."

^5-6 David exploded in anger. "As surely as God lives," he said to Nathan, "the man who did this ought to be lynched! He must repay for the lamb four times over for his crime and his stinginess!"

^7-12 "You're the man!" said Nathan.

How well do we see our own sins?

Sometimes too well. Certainly one struggle that people have with Christianity is daring to believe that God really loves them and is willing to forgive them.

But maybe even more often, our self-deception can be so complete that only drastic measures will break through and free us from ourselves.

King David had even managed to justify killing another man (by sending him into a hopeless battle) and then taking his wife.

God decided to break through. He sends the prophet Nathan to tell David the truth. The King was ready to condemn the evil man in Nathan's story. He had to learn that "you are the man."

What things do we stand ready to condemn with our own kind of kingly authority? Where might God say to us, "you are the one." How could God call each of us to deeper self-examination, and real repentance?

Grace & Peace,

Adam

Just In Case You Missed It

Here is a link to the joke David told on Sunday morning:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMm5wk28GPQ

Destination:Unknown Pictures!

Check out the recently-updated Flickr account we share as a church for new photos of the youth's recent outing at Turner Field!

Meet Your Maker, Vol. V (The Long Awaited One)

Sorry, O gracious and ever-thirsting audience of the SOTH blog, for the absence of this particular post from the page you no doubt check everyday! I have been away both of the last two Fridays. Forgiveness is mine, though, so its time to move on.

In today's Wesleyan wisdom, I read his explication on Ephesians 2:8 which reads like this:

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith..." (TNIV)

Wesley, after stating the scripture, poses this question:

What faith is it through which we are saved?

An interesting thought that may not have crossed our minds previously. He draws out four different "kinds" or "levels" of faith and determines whether or not each is the faith by which we are saved.

"The faith of the heathen" - This is merely an idea of who God is, largely based on heresay. Wesley states: "A Greek or Roman, therefore, yea, a Scythian or Indian, was without excuse if he did not believe thus much: the being and attributes of God, a future state of reward and punishment, and the obligatory nature of moral virtue." Though we may have this faith, it is, quite obviously, not the grace by which we are saved.

"The faith of a devil" - This is knowledge of who God and Jesus are. In Luke 4:34, you can read the account of a demon that declares: "I know who you are - The Holy One of God!" In this one exclamation, that demon shows knowledge of the Father and the Son. But it is silly to say that this kind of faith, though we possess it, is the faith by which we are saved.

"The faith of the apostles while Christ still walked the earth" - This is faith by seeing and not faith of heart or belief. Sometimes we find ourselves convinced that had we walked the earth when Jesus did and followed him around, watching him perform these miracles of which we read, we would, no doubt, have greater faith. But if you read the story of the disciples closely, we see quite the opposite from time to time. Wesley cites one instance in particular, Matthew 17:14-21, where the disciples are unable to cast out a demon. They ask Jesus why, and his responce is, "Because you have so little faith." This, again, is not the faith by which Wesley believes we are saved.

"The faith in Christ" - This is to be distinguished from the knowledge of Christ. Wesley says, "it is not barely a speculative, rational thing, a cold, lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head; but also a disposition of the heart." So this is the "everything-and" faith. It is the sum of the first three with an addition - belief coming from the heart. Wesley leans on Romans 10:9:

"If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (TNIV)

Where in the faith-chain are you?

Its great to be able to tell me who God and Jesus are, but I know athiests, agnostics, and even Muslims who can tell me as much, and are we not claiming to be different than they? The faith by which we are saved is that faith which comes from the heart; a faith that is more than academic, it is essential in the definition of who we, as individual Christians, are. It is a faith that calls forth the desire for devotion to the one towards whom it is directed.

Seven Years

The title to this post is not to be confused with the chilly line from the horror movie The Ring. It does, though, carry with it some significance.

During my devotional this morning, I read Deuteronomy 15, the first eleven verses read like this:

¹ At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. ² This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. ³ You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you. ⁴ However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you, ⁵ if only you fully obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commands I am giving you today. ⁶For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.

⁷ If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. ⁸ Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. ⁹ Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: "The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near," so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the LORD against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. ¹⁰ Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. ¹¹ There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

The ideal set forth about the cancellation of debts is a difficult one for us to wrap our heads around in our day and age. If enforced today, everything from credit card debts to student loans and even whole home mortgages and car bills would be wiped clean every seven years! That just doesnt seem sensible, does it? I mean, it seems very appealing to us, the folks with these kinds of debts, doesnt it?!

And did you catch verse 9? It hints that there will be times when debts are incurred right before the seventh year, and we are still to oblige. Everyone would be purchasing their new cars and homes and maxing out their credit cards THEN, wouldnt they?

None of this seems logical in today's economic world. We do, admittedly, operate is vastly different ways than the world did back when Deuteronomy was written.

But I think that the seventh year isnt the point. The point trying to be made here, I believe, is this:

God has blessed us all with much, and He doesnt want us to mistake His blessing for our property. This exercise for the Israelites was one of humility and recognition. It wasnt intended for financially sound reasons, but for spiritually sound ones. And God calls us to much the same. Even beyond that, He promises in verse 10 that He will not leave us with empty pockets should we choose to empty them for the right reasons for which He details in this passage.

Old school economics: Less reliant on our hands and more reliant on His.