10th Sunday after Pentecost
Focus statement: This sermon will show that, if we believe and expect God to work miracles in our
church
and lives, God will.
Function statement: As a result of this sermon, the congregation will understand that we can make a
difference today if we believe and will leave with more of a determination to make that
difference.
Matt. 13:53-58
Text:
"And he did not do many deeds
of power there, because
Of their unbelief." v. 58
Prayer
1st movement
When I taught High
School math, I made some interesting observations about students. Let me tell you one of their stories. We will call this student Bill. The first year I had Bill, I observed that he
could be a pretty likeable person. He
minded reasonably well, and he was pretty respectful, which was different than
some that I had. He wasn't very strong
in math, and before it came time for parent/teacher conference, he had begun to
fall behind in his work. He had several
assignments that he had not turned in.
For parent/teacher conference, both of his parents showed up which is
always a good sign. They asked me how he
was doing and what his current grade was;
I told them, and they were not pleased.
They assured me that he would catch up and that I would see a difference
because they were going to take his truck keys away until they got a positive
report from me. He had a nice, pretty new model truck, that they had bought
him. He got to work, and his grade came
up very rapidly. When I sent the note home
and he was able to get his keys back he let up, but he did pass that year by
the skin of his teeth.
The next year I
had Bill again. He began to follow the
same pattern again. Parent/teacher
conference came and his mom showed up. I
shared how he was doing, and she said, "I don't know what we are going to
do with Bill." "There doesn't
seem to be anything that we can do!"
She followed this with many excuses about his behavior. She no longer expected or believed that Bill
would succeed, and Bill dropped out of school that year!
2nd movement
I can see a
connection between what happened to Bill and what happened in Nazareth in our
scripture for today. The people did not
expect or believe that Jesus would work any miracles, and Jesus did not. They didn't trust in Him or put faith in Him
because He was just the carpenter’s son!
They knew Him from birth; they did not believe He was any different than
them! They had watched Him play in the
streets as a little child. They had
heard all the stories and talk about His questionable birth! He couldn't be the Messiah!! They didn't believe Jesus could work the
miracles of which they had heard. They
didn't get to experience his miracles because they didn't believe! Jesus was no different; He had worked many
miracles in other places, but the people were different. Jesus is not an at-risk student who if we do
not motivate will not perform, but the message in this scripture is that Jesus
does not work miracles where there is unbelief.
Some of us have
known Jesus a long time; we have grown up with Jesus. I, for one, have gone to
church most of my life! Have we gotten use to not seeing much church growth or
not seeing many be saved to the point that we no longer believe that Jesus can
work these miracles? We no longer expect
it? We have heard all the stories about
rural decline, lack of growth, lack of Jesus working many miracles in rural
churches. Have we become disillusioned by people who claim to be Christians but
have taken advantage of us or who we see taking advantage of others? Have we experienced churches really not
making much difference in our world? Have
we seen Christians who seem to be only concerned with themselves and what they
can get? Are we going to believe these
stories and the realities of what we have seen in other people and talk about
what Jesus cannot do, or are we going to look around at all the people who
could be in church and believe and expect Jesus to be able to make a difference
through us? Are we going to expect and
believe Jesus can do something about the situation in which we live?
Jesus said in John
4:35, "But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting." Let's believe in what Jesus says here! Let's believe or continue believing that
Jesus can work miracles through us! Let’s continue to believe that if we love
people, letting Jesus love through us, it will make a difference and people
will respond. If we do, I believe we’ll continue to see God do some miracles in
Forsyth! Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, today, and forever! We can
count on it! Claim the promises of God
as we encounter Christ at the table this morning and let’s leave this morning
expecting Jesus to work some miracles!
Prayer of Confession
Service of Communion
