Broadway Christian Church · Columbia, Missouri

Morning Worship · January 11, 2009

First Sunday After Epiphany

Prayer of the Day

Dear Lord, as we follow you into this new year, help us to live life to its fullest. May we be aware of your power and presence as we encounter problems. Teach us to trust you with complete confidence as we live as disciples. Through daily prayer, may we stay in constant contact with you. Amen.

Scripture

Mark 1:4-11

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Message

A New Beginning

Larry Gallamore

In 2009, wouldn’t it be amazing if you could become the person you’ve always wanted to be? You could live the life you’ve always dreamed of living. You could do all those things you’ve always wanted to do. Sounds pretty exciting; doesn’t it? Well, you can, and I’m not exaggerating. Everything I’ve said is possible if you follow Jesus Christ. You can live triumphantly, you can overcome your problems, you can make a new start, you can have a better life, and a more rewarding day-to-day existence.

Remember Jesus said, “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). I’m thoroughly convinced that Jesus came to give us life, and to teach us how to live. This is why Mark’s gospel starts with the words “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ…” (Mark 1:1).

This is why, in today’s Scripture lesson, we find Jesus being baptized by John in the river Jordan. This is why he dies on the cross to save us from our sins. Let me assure you living can be exciting when you follow Jesus.

Now I want to let you in on a little secret. I haven’t always felt this way. As a teenager, when I first started following Jesus, I thought following Jesus meant giving up lots of things. I quickly discovered that the things you give up are the things you’ll be much happier without; things like fear, selfishness, belief in limitations, destructive thinking, resentment, anger, and envy. As I gave those things up, I replaced them with courage, faith, confidence, self-esteem, good will and patience. I fell in love with life. I could affirm myself. I could affirm others, and I started immediately on the journey to discover the reason God put me here on Planet Earth in the first place. I knew I was baptized like Jesus and, therefore, I had a reason for being. I must admit I had no idea I was going to become a preacher. That was the last thing I would have imagined.

The old saying that God has a plan for everyone is quite correct. Philosophers, historians, academies of all kinds have written about this since the dawn of creation. Mankind has always had a reason for being. And when we discover our reason for being, I know God is well pleased. As Mark says, “As Jesus was baptized and he came up out of the water, the heavens tore apart and the Spirit descended like a dove on Jesus. And a voice came from heaven saying ‘You are my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased’” (Mark 1:10-11). It doesn’t get any more dramatic than that. When Jesus discovered his purpose, God was elated. Don’t you think God feels that same way about you and me when God is pleased with us? You are special to God. God is immensely interested in your welfare, your development, your life, and your spiritual growth.

You have a special natural endowment, unique capabilities, and special inherent gifts. You are equipped to express life in ways no one else can. When you find your niche, you’ll begin to feel your importance in the scheme of things. What I’m suggesting is that if you’ll find your gifts, you’ll find your calling.

Some of you are saying, “How do I do this?” I knew you would ask. Here is how it works. First, you must recognize the Presence of God within you. It is God that gives you your gifts in the first place. As God gives you gifts, God will also help you to develop them. Your part of the process is to be willing to allow God to work in your life since God has given you a free will. 

Someone said, “The door to our heart opens from the inside. You must open the door to allow God to work in your life to live victoriously. When you do this, you can have complete confidence that God will work with you. You start living by faith. To live by faith means that you trust God. In fact, you develop complete confidence that God can do anything. You shut the door to doubt, you abandon poisonous living, you stop counting the impossibilities, and start counting the possibilities. 

This is what I call constructive thinking. There is no fear where faith in God dwells. The minute you start living with that kind of confidence, your whole life will change. When this happens, your friends, who are doubters, will try to cut you down to size. Don’t let them influence you. You need to influence them. You are following the Prince of Peace not the Duke of Doubt.

Every day you live by faith, you increase your hope. Hope is the foundation upon which everything is built. Do you know what hope is? Hope is trust, reliance. Hope is expectation of obtainment. You’re expecting something good to happen. Often we hear someone say we don’t want to give false hope. There is no such thing as false hope. Let me explain.

The root word of hope is “hop.” To hop is to make a leap to jump from where you are to a better place. There is no such thing as a false hop. You either hop or you don’t. The same applies to hope. There is either hope or no hope. If you hope, you’ll take a leap of faith. God will see to it that you get there. With hope, you are never alone. God is with you. The more you know God, the more hope you have. Makes sense; doesn’t it?   That’s why I say you must recognize the Presence of God within you.

Your next step is to get to know that Presence and rely on it day by day. To get to know someone, you must spend some time with them. Your life will change dramatically if you recognize the Presence of God daily. Try spending more time with God and see what happens. Every day, plan a God’s hour. It will be the most important event of the day. Read the Bible and other spiritual books or sermons, meditate, and pray. Let me tell you what will happen. You’ll forget about your own problems. You’ll start accomplishing more, and you’ll have more happiness. You’ll feel better, and you’ll be transformed. You’ll close the door to all the negativity and cynicism in your life which, by the way, is denying you real life. You’ll recognize that whatever problems you have today, God has a solution.

If you want to receive any benefits from your religion, you must practice it, and the place to practice it is right here. The time is right now. God’s power is the only real power that can transform your life. If you realize that fact, even dimly, and start to practice the Presence of God in your life, it will begin to heal and harmonize every condition in your life within a few hours.

Here is how this works. When you start to think about God instead of your problems, your problems lose the power to drag you down. You start to think on the higher things of life. You stop allowing your job, your boss, your neighbor to create anxiety, neurosis, or hypertension in your life. You are focused on the higher things of life. You anchor your mind and heart on God, and God starts the process of sustaining you. Your thinking takes a paradigm shift.

Before you allowed God into your life, you were thinking in the wrong direction. As you listen to people, you’ll hear this kind of thinking loud and clear. You’ll hear, “I’m not good.” “I was born on the wrong side of the tracks.” “I don’t have a good education.” “I didn’t get to go to college.” 

This is all destructive thinking. The Presence of God can change all this. Ask God to come into your life to change your thinking.

The Apostle Paul had to tell the early Church to change their thinking. He told them to think on the higher things, to focus on the good things, and to take control of their minds.

If you align your thoughts and feelings on harmony with God, you will change your world. People get into trouble because they limit the power of the Holy One. Once you learn to rely on the Presence of God, you’ll pray every day for guidance. Prayer always prospers. Prayer heals. It stops the mouths of lions. It opens prison doors. It turns water into wine. It heals broken hearts. Shut the door of doubt in your mind and pray. 

Let me explain how effective this is using an Old Testament story.   Some of you remember the story of the prophet Elijah and the widow. God told Elijah to do some weather forecasting. A great drought was coming, a long period of dryness. For a long time Elijah drank from a stream, and the ravens brought him food. When the stream dried up, the ravens stopped bringing food to Elijah. God told Elijah to go to a widow in a nearby community, and she would give him water and food. Elijah arrived at her home and asked her for a drink of water. As she was on her way to get some water, Elijah says, “Please bring me a scrap of bread also.” The widow says she has no bread, only a handful of meal and a small jug of oil. She is going to prepare this for her and her sons to eat. This is their last meal. Listen carefully to what Elijah says. Here is where faith in God really shows. Elijah tells her to prepare the meal and oil. He asks her to bring him some, her sons some, and herself some, reassuring her the Lord will provide. She does exactly as he says, and the oil and meal never run out.  She is rejoicing, and then her son dies. The distraught widow asks Elijah, “What have you caused to come upon me?” Elijah brings her son back to life – resurrects him from the dead – and the woman sees, first hand, the power of God works.

None of this would have been possible if Elijah had doubted the power of God. Nothing like this is possible in your life until you shut the door of doubt and open the door of belief. What you believe is what you experience. Elijah knew what God could do. He knew when he aligned his belief with God, anything was possible. All things come to him and her that believe.

Elijah got credit for doing a miracle, but let me share something with you. Elijah didn’t do anything that you can’t do. Elijah became a channel through which divine action takes place. All Elijah did was believe. All he had to do was stop thinking about the difficulty and start thinking about God. This is the rule. If only you’ll do this, the trouble, whatever it is, will disappear. Stop thinking about the difficulty and start thinking about God instead.

God couldn’t have made this any simpler. It never fails when we give it a fair trial. The rule is to think about God. If you are thinking about your problem, you are not thinking about God.  I must warn you, you’ll have to train your mind to do this. You start by practicing the Presence of God in your life. Practice conscientiously every day and stick to it long enough to get results. Tell yourself again and again when problems arise that God is bigger than any of your problems, and you are going to focus on God’s power instead of your problems. You have to rehearse this to increase your faith. You don’t expect to play a violin after two or three attempts or drive a car without a little practice. You have to practice the Presence of God and get your mind off your problems to get your faith to work.

When you suppose that, by a wave of your hand or the repetition of an incantation, your circumstances would change for the better without any corresponding change in your own thinking, you are doomed to disappointment. You haven’t come into the truth yet.

If you really want the new life, there is one thing you have to do. You have to seek a more spiritual life. Some of you know the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus had the thirst for divine things that he felt he couldn’t live without, yet moral courage was not his strong point. He sought Jesus by night. Clearly he was dissatisfied with his life. He felt Jesus might be able to show him why he had so far failed to attain what he really needed. The answer from Jesus is classic. Jesus told him “You must be born again.” In other words, you stand where you are today because you are the man you are. If you wish to go up higher spiritually, you have to become a new man and be born anew. God is still telling people the same thing today.

Why is it you make so little progress in your present lives? You are in love with the present man/woman and all things that constitute who you are. To change things, you must be born again. Without this, you’ll never really get anywhere. You can start this amazing transformation today. It can be an absolutely tremendous journey. Day by day, God will help you rebuild your life. You are a child of God and destined some day to be what God intended you to be: a happy person, a joyous person, a powerful person who knows how to love and live with a new lease on life. As you live by faith, shut the door to your doubts, and witness a new you.

So be it. Amen.

Benediction

Jesus, you are our savior! You are our Beloved Christ. Thank you for counting us worthy to be called your beloved. May all that we do be pleasing to you, through the power of your Holy Spirit. Amen.