Sermon 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5

Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon 2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
October 21, 2007

Tomorrow evening we will have a very important speaker here at Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church. Sue Kinsler will be here to tell us about her work as a PCUSA missionary to North Korea. This will be a time when we will hear about what God is doing in a part of the world that is usually off limits for Christians. Sue is doing tremendous work with orphans and the disabled. Please come tomorrow night at 7:30 to hear this important guest.

Will you pray with me? Holy Spirit we ask you this day to be with all those who are proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world. Be with us now as we read God’s Word and use it to transform us into the image of God as we were created to be. We pray this in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen.

2 Timothy 3:14 - 4:5 ¹⁴ But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, ¹⁵ and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶ All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. ^NRS 2 Timothy 4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: ² proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. ³ For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. ⁵ As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

Timothy was used to conflicts. He had grown up in a mixed family. His father was Greek, and his mother Eunice was Jewish. She saw to it that he was well instructed in the Hebrew Bible, what we know as the Old Testament. So when the Apostle Paul came to Lystra, Timothy’s home town, he was impressed with the young man and his knowledge of Scripture. Paul realized that God could use Timothy so he asked the young convert to accompany him and Silas on their missionary journey. But first, Paul had Timothy circumcised so to not offend any of the Hebrew Christians he might meet.

As Timothy’s experience grew Paul was able to use him for special missions. He was sent to Thessalonica to encourage Christians who were being persecuted. Timothy was with Paul in Corinth and Ephesus and was sent on an important mission to Macedonia when he was called to return to Corinth. There he experienced conflicts within a church and became quite unsettled. Eventually he was replaced in Corinth by Titus.

Timothy went with Paul to Jerusalem and helped Paul to write Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians while Paul was in prison. Eventually Paul went back to Ephesus and left Timothy there to deal with a church troubled with false teaching. As Timothy became discouraged with this assignment, Paul sent a letter from prison to encourage him in his important ministry.

Paul reminded Timothy that the foundation of all ministries is the Word of God. For Timothy the Holy Scripture was the Hebrew Bible that his mother and grandmother had taught him in his youth. It is very important to teach Bible stories to youngsters because it gives them a biblical foundation to work from as they get older. I have been privileged to attend chapel services at our Westminster Child’s Center. Elder Caroline Harris brings the two, three and four year olds into this sanctuary. They sit in a circle arranged by rooms with their teachers. Caroline leads them in song, singing a tune that I remember from that age, “Yes, Jesus Loves Me”. Then she tells them a Bible story. Think of the hundreds or thousands of children who have passed though these doors over the last four decades and the biblical foundation that this church has given them. When they experience death or disease or loss of any kind, because of our work, they remember these simple words, yes Jesus loves me.

But Paul knew that Timothy’s faith was far stronger than just being able to remember a few words of comfort from his youth. Timothy had spent a lot of time around Paul and had heard the stories about Jesus over and over. He knew the good new that forgiveness of sin was available though faith in Jesus Christ. This is the true gospel that Timothy was left in Ephesus to proclaim. But by what authority could he proclaim it? He knew the importance of the Hebrew Bible as God’s Word. But this new Gospel of Jesus Christ was not in the holy writings; it came from the lips of Paul.

Paul’s response was that just as the Old Testament scripture was inspired by God, literally God-breathed, so too was the wisdom that Timothy had heard about Christ from the Apostles who had witnessed the resurrection. Both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospel message were authoritative in all matters of faith. By the end of the first century the church was accumulating many of the writings about the good news of Jesus Christ that would become the New Testament. And in the second century, by the time of Irenaeus, the New Testament was established and considered the inspired Word of God.

Paul told Timothy to use the Old Testament and the Gospel to teach the congregation at Ephesus how God expected them to live their lives. And if their lives came up short then Timothy was to use Scripture and the Gospel to show them where they went wrong and how they could do better so they could live lives in a way pleasing to God. That way the people of Ephesus would become what God had created them to be and they would be prepared to do God’s work in the world.

Of course it is easy to write these things in a letter, but it is difficult to do them with a congregation. Am I really to stand up here and compare your lives to the ideal in scripture? Do you really want me to point out your flaws and tell you to change? According to Paul I don’t have a choice in the matter. You see when I stand here and proclaim God’s Word to you I am standing in the presence of God and Jesus Christ. And they demand that I be faithful to Scripture whether you like what I say or not. I have to tell you when you go wrong. I have to scold you. But I also have to encourage you when you need encouragement and comfort you when you are down. I have to patiently walk with you though your journey of faith.

I know that many people will not want to hear what God has to say to them. Like Adam and Eve in the garden we prefer to hide from God in the bushes. We desire to hear affirmations of our own behaviors and lifestyle, but we don’t want to be challenged to change. And if we attend a church that does not affirm our own behavior we can simply move to another church that does. We often prefer false myths that don’t offend us to a true gospel that does because we have been tricked to believe that sin does not exist. But sin does exist and it has to be confronted by God’s people.

This seems like a hopeless proposition. I am to stand here and proclaim what you don’t want to hear. Why would anyone want to go through something like that? The prophet Jeremiah had the answer. God has written the new covenant on our hearts. So even if the message here is one that you don’t want to hear you came here anyway because God wants you here to hear this message today. You have been chosen by God and brought here today to listen to His Word. And the Holy Spirit, working within you, will take the words you hear today write them on your hearts and use them to make you what you were created to be whether you like it or not.

So I must persist in the proclamation of God’s Holy Word because your life depends on it. If I move away from the gospel and give you what you think you want then no transformation takes place and you have been cheated. But if I boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ then I am confident that you will walk out of here a little different than when you came in. And, if like Timothy, you spend a lifetime hearing God’s Word you will approach perfection as one created in the image of God.

How does all of this happen? First of all, the Holy Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God. God has revealed himself to us, though the writings of men and women who were inspired by the Holy Spirit. God has given us, in this revelation, all that is necessary for our salvation though faith in Jesus Christ. And in Scripture God has taught us how to live godly lives in accordance to His will. Therefore whenever I faithfully preach the Word of God my preaching becomes for you the Word of God. Now you may object to this. What if, you might ask, a scoundrel of disrepute preached faithfully the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Would that still be the Word of God? Well, yes because preaching that is faithful to the Bible becomes the Word of God not because of the character of the preacher, but by the faithfulness of God. So long as I faithfully proclaim to you the Gospel of Jesus Christ, God will transform my words into God’s own words and will write them on your hearts.

So if God writes his Word directly on our hearts why do we need to go to church? Can’t we simply stay at home and have the same effect? Of course not. As Paul told the church at Rome, faith comes from hearing. Thus when we hear from preaching the Word of Christ the result is faith. This in no way limits what God is able to do. God can speak to anyone at any time. But speaking to people through the preached Word of God is the usual method God uses to reveal himself to the world and effect the transforming work that God’s Word has on God’s people.

So rather that trying to win friends by preaching what people want to hear Paul’s instruction to Timothy is to preach the Gospel and expect to suffer hardships. He is to continue proclaiming the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ as an evangelist to the people of Ephesus. This is the best service the Timothy can provide to these people who desperately need the hope that only faith in Jesus Christ can bring. And this faith comes from Timothy’s faithful preaching of God’s Word where God is revealed to us in the Old and New Testaments.

So continue to come to Church each Sunday to experience the transformative effect that God’s Word will have on you. I promise to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ as faithfully as I can. The Holy Spirit has promised to work transformation in your heart. And together we will experience the growth of our faith and the transformation of our lives.

Holy Spirit, we thank you for this opportunity to come into the presence of God in worship to hear God’s Word proclaimed. Use the Word of God that has revealed God to us this day, and work in us the transforming power of Jesus Christ. Amen

Sermon Luke 17:11-19

Jeffrey T. Howard
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
Sermon Luke 17:11-19
AIDS Awareness Sunday[1]

October 14, 2007

Today is HIV/AIDS Awareness Sunday. This is the day that churches think about their response to what is arguably the most important heath issue facing the world today. Before we look at this enormously important issue will you pray with me? Lord Jesus we know that while you walked on this earth an important part of your ministry was to heal those with chronic illnesses. We are grateful for all the healing you still do around the world. And we ask this day for health for all the patients and families that have been adversely affected by HIV/AIDS. And we pray for all of the people who are doing your ministry for the sick today. In your strong name we pray, Amen

Today 40 million people are living with HIV /AIDS. Of these five million were infected within the last year. 23 million lives have already been lost. This disease has a disproportionate effect on the poorest countries of the world who find themselves less able to respond to its devastation. It is a disease that strikes the most able bodied people in a society, those responsible for providing food, money and care leaving behind the elderly, the widows and the orphans. Let’s look at some of the victims and how Christians around the world are responding.

Wayo was a seventeen year old Christian living in Thailand. Like seventeen year olds everywhere Wayo thought he was invincible. He and his friends began visiting brothels. This was considered a right of passage for young men in Thailand. Then Wayo got sick. Because Thailand is a society with a Confucian world view Wayo was more concerned with the shame he and his family would experience if his illness ever became known than with seeking treatment for the disease. So he kept silent. When applying for a job Wayo was required to have a blood test. He was HIV positive. His father was told. But to prevent shame from affecting the family his father decided to keep it a secret even from Wayo’s mother. As the disease progressed his mother found out and decided that as a Christian it was more important to care for those with the disease and to work to prevent further infections than to worry about shame. So she told her church about her son’s disease and started an HIV/AIDS support group in her home. Other families with infected children came as did an infected elder of the church. Her church realized that it was not immune to AIDS. Other churches in Thailand started their own groups and the movement spread all over the country. As a result of this activity by the Christian minority the Thai government belatedly acknowledged the problem of HIV/AIDS and began programs for prevention and care. Christians are now leading the way toward the prevention of terrible disease and the treatment of its victims.

Here is another story. PS grew up in small farming village in India. He began learning carpentry at 14 and was married at 15. Their first daughter was born the next year. Trying to earn more money to support his family PS moved to Mumbai. At first he tried to visit home often, but this became more and more difficult so he spent the last 5 years living away from his family and sending money home every week. While in Mumbai PS began visiting prostitutes and he got sick. In a society were karma and rebirth are guiding principles there is no reason to prevent illness or care for the sick. Disease is considered punishment for sin in either this or a past life. The appropriate care for chronic illness is to let the patient die so that he or she may try again in the next life. This way of thinking is unacceptable for Christians in India because God created the material world including our bodies and called it good. In our scripture today Jesus was not interested in just spiritual matters; he healed leprosy, a terrible chronic skin disease. One Christian group in India responding to this problem is the Emmanuel Hospital Association. EHA is a charitable group that has responded to the HIV/AIDS crisis in India guided by three principles. First they develop relationships with people that focus on long term behavioral change rather than spouting “safe sex” slogans. Second, the care they provide is holistic; it cares for the body and the soul and recognizes the important role of the family in providing care. And third, their goal is to bring those infected with HIV/AIDS the abundant life that is only available in Jesus Christ. Christians are leading the way toward the holistic treatment of AIDS victims that treats both their bodies and souls with God’s love.

Here is another story. Patrick Dixon was a hospice doctor in England who remembers vividly the first HIV/AIDS patient that he ever saw back in the 1980s. What was unusual for this patient was that he had no support, no family, no friends, and no visitors at all while he was dying. Dixon realized that this person had been created in the image of God and was appalled by the way Christians in his own country were dealing with those with HIV/AIDS. When the disease first appeared in the West it was found predominately in the homosexual community. Christians there began to associate AIDS with homosexual behavior which was considered a sin. Many considered AIDS to be God’s punishment on a sinful lifestyle. So in 1987 Dixon wrote the book The Truth about AIDS, and the church in Great Brittan refocused its attention away from the condemnation of sinners to the prevention of this terrible disease and care for its victims. Christians began to see the pressing need around them and looked beyond statistics to feel the pain of others. Christians began to look at AIDS from a global perspective. The gospel was seen not just as the Word of God but as their calling to love those in need.

Now let’s look at Africa where the need is greatest. Almaz is a twenty-five year old Christian living in Ethiopia. Ten years ago her husband infected her with HIV/AIDS when she was only sixteen. Two years later her husband left her and her young son to fend for themselves. To make money for food Almaz went into prostitution. She has no idea how many men she infected before finding out about her own infection. When it was discovered that she was HIV positive her family threw her out of the house. She put her HIV positive son in an orphanage and went to Addis Ababa, the capital, to find work. There she found the Mekanisa New Covenant Baptist Church. This church has 250 members and 300 children. The average income of the members is $2.50 per month. They started an HIV/AIDS center for women like Almaz to treat not only their physical illness but their spiritual needs as well. So far they have enrolled 32 people in the program. Over 200 are on a waiting list for home care and counseling. To find the resources to keep the AIDS program running the pastor called together the leadership for a day of fasting and prayers. They decided to put the building repairs they had waited so long to do on the back burner to devote even more of their limited resources to provide food, housing, rent, school fees and medicine for AIDS patients. Churches all over Ethiopia have similar programs despite limited resources. Yet the infection rate of HIV/AIDS has risen to 11% of the population and is growing.

The infection rate of HIV/AIDS is growing throughout Africa. More and more people are getting sick. But there is one country in Africa where AIDS prevention is working. Let’s look at Uganda. According a survey 95 percent of Ugandans in 1988 were aware of what HIV/AIDS was and how it was transmitted. But this knowledge did not change their behavior. The infection rate continued to increase steadily in Uganda into 1991. Then things began to change. Uganda turned the corner on AIDS; infection rates began to fall. This surprised the Christian and governmental aid workers in Africa. What happened? Prior to 1991 the strategy for ending the AIDS epidemic in Africa focused on flooding the continent with condoms and a message of “safe sex”. Enormous resources were spent distributing condoms with little or no effect on infection rates. In fact infection rates continued to rise. Churches throughout Africa avoided the problem. Some wanted nothing to do with condoms. Other churches assumed that AIDS would have no effect on them because they were free from the sinful behavior that characterized the high risk AIDS groups. But these churches were soon proved wrong as their own members began to die in large numbers and they were forced to deal with the poverty and orphaned children that resulted. President Museveni of Uganda turned the corner on AIDS by emphasizing the ABCs. “A” stands for abstinence. The message of “safe sex” was replaced with the message of “no sex” because any sex outside of marriage with the kind of AIDS infection rates in Uganda was deadly. This message was targeted on the youth of his country. “B” stands for “be faithful”. The married couples in Uganda were told to be faithful to one another. Do these sound like Christian principles to you? They sure are. And “c” stood for use a condom only when “A” and “B” failed. Museveni and his wife went all over the country emphasizing A and B. The reason Museveni’s programs was so successful was that he emphasized big A and big B and little c. Hope was placed on behavioral change rather than condom distribution. And it worked. The churches in Uganda participated in Museveni’s “Why Wait?” program. An HIV/AIDS infection rate that peaked at 15% in 1991 fell to 5% within ten years. We need to pray that other African countries follow Uganda’s example. It is as easy as ABc.

Presbyterian missionary Dorothy Hansen is currently working as an AIDS consultant in Ethiopia and is concerned that western influence among the youth of that country will encourage risky behaviors. Ms. Hansen asks us to pray. “Pray that youth leaders will receive God’s direction to provide the youth with tools to show friendship without intimacy and to abstain from sex until after marriage. Pray that the youth will be selective in their activities, including their choices of videos. Pray that the women of Ethiopia will learn how to refuse excess work, abuse, violence, and unwanted sexual advances.”[2]

Today in the United States we have a variety of antiviral drugs that prolong life for HIV/AIDS patients. Until recently these drugs were prohibitively expensive for use in the third world. So prevention and care for the sick have been the Christian responses to the crisis. In recent years, however, the cost of these drugs has fallen. But many of the Christian aid organizations are still reluctant to use them because of concern for long term availability and affordability. The fear is that if a patient begins using these drugs and then stops, the virus will develop ways of resisting the antiviral medications. So there is reluctance to begin antiviral treatment until supplies are assured and behaviors are in place that guarantees continued use of these important drugs. We need to pray for ways that the cost will come down, more resources will be available and proper treatment methods will be developed for those who need them.

If you would like to make a contribution to the work the PCUSA with HIV/AIDS around the world just make a check payable to Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church and in the memo line write in “Peacemaking – AIDS”. If you would like to know more about the HIV/AIDS crisis and what the church is doing about it, pickup the “AIDS and Peacemaking” flier which you will find on the back table. And keep our missionaries and the victims of HIV/AIDS around the world in your prayers.

Lord Jesus, just as you healed those lepers long ago we ask you heal those with AIDS today. Help us to learn how to prevent and treat this awful disease. And help our church to know how to do Christ’s work among AIDS patients and families here in Los Angeles and around the world. We pray in the confidence of your strong name. Amen.

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[1] Adapted from Tetsunao Yamamori, David Dageforde and Tine Bruner, the hope factor, Engaging the Church in the HIV/AIDS Crisis, (Waynesboro GA: Authentic Media 2003).

[2] http://www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/letters/hansond/hansond_0706.htm

Sermon Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26

Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon Lamentations 1:1-6, 3:19-26
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church
October 7, 2007

Churches throughout the world today are gathering together for World Communion Sunday. Already churches in Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe, South America and North America including Los Angeles have been celebrating the diversity of our churches and our unity in Jesus Christ. We especially rejoice in the diverse congregation here in Eagle Rock as Anglos, Filipinos, Koreans, Japanese, Hispanics and other all join together arm in arm to worship our risen Lord. Will you pray with me?

Lord Jesus, we approach your throne of grace united by you across ethic, language and cultural barriers. We are grateful for the unity you provide for us. Bless our relationships across the barriers that usually divide us. And be with us as we come together around your table today. Amen.

587BC was a bad year for Jerusalem and it inhabitants. The army of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had come with full force and besieged the city. For over a year his army encircled its walls. Nothing and no one could enter or leave the city. The rural population from the vast countryside had taken refuge inside. Now the food was running out. One evening the Chaldeans breached the wall; the destruction of the city was immanent. King Zedekiah and the Judean army fled out of one the city gates leaving the defenseless city behind. Somehow they passed by the Babylonians, but the element of surprise did not last long. The Babylonians pursued Zedekiah and found him near Jericho. His army fled and Zedekiah was captured. His last sight before the Chaldeans put out his eyes was the sight of the death of his sons.

The Babylonian army returned to Jerusalem and entered the city. They burned the king’s palace and Solomon’s temple. They burned down all the homes and broke down the wall surrounding the city. And they carried back to Babylon all of the wealth of the city along with all of the artisans, administrative workers, tradesmen and merchants, and anyone else who could help the Babylonian economy. They left behind the desperately poor, the disabled, the very old and the very young.

How could this happen? God had promised David that his descendents would sit on his throne in Jerusalem forever, but now they were gone and Judah was ruled by a Babylonian governor. The Temple of Jerusalem, which was the dwelling place of the Creator God, was now a pile of rubble. There were no more festivals, no more Sabbaths. Where was God? Why had God forsaken his people?

In the midst of all this Jeremiah was having a really bad day. Listen again to his words, “The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall!” His mind was racing though all that he had been through. He was focused on his own problems which were many and he was fighting despair. Then he said, “My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me.” Jeremiah tale is relentless. His life had turned upside down.

I remember one evening when a good friend of mine called because his life had turned upside down. He had been preparing to ask his long time girlfriend to marry him, but instead she came over to break up. She had found someone new. My friend was devastated and heartbroken. His life was upside down. He desperately needed a friend to talk to. We talked for hours.

I remember another time when a woman at my church, a close friend, called. Her mother had collapsed in the bathroom that morning and was rushed to the hospital. She had just heard the bad news; her mother had a brain tumor and just a few weeks to live. She needed a friend to come to the hospital to be with her because her life had turned upside down. She needed someone to sit with her in waiting room silently as the hours passed.

Have you ever experienced your life being upside down? Most of us have at one time or another. But even if it has never happened to you or your family it happens every day in places like Myanmar, Sudan, Gaza and Iraq. The epidemic of HIV/AIDs turns lives upside down for millions of people and their families. And Sunday after Sunday we gather here to offer up prayers for families and war torn countries whose lives have turned upside down.

At times like these we have to wonder what happens to our prayers. Do prayers actually reach God? Last year a fisherman found 300 letters to God floating in the ocean. These letters had been written by church members and mailed to the pastor to be placed on the communion table and prayed over, not unlike the prayer cards in your bulletin today. Some of the letters went back to 1973. It has been suggested that someone was cleaning the pastor’s former home and decided to give the letters a final tribute by sending them off to sea.[1] Some of the letters were prayers in the form of “Hey God, let me win the lottery”. But most were from people like you and me whose lives had turned upside down.

Are our prayers simply cast on the waters like this? This is the biggest fear of Christians, that our prayers never find their way to God. But listen to Jeremiah’s great reversal, “but this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” In the middle of Jeremiah’s life turning upside down he began singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness”. He did this because his mind was turned from his own upside down life to the faithfulness and love of God who hears every prayer.

Jeremiah knew that there was no reason to send letters to the pastor because God already knows the prayers that are written on our hearts. God’s love was not dependant on things getting better and better. God’s love did not depend on our hard work or our success. Jeremiah knew that the Hebrews would never be cutoff from God’s love because God’s love only depends on God’s faithfulness which never ends.

We can’t earn this love. There is nothing we ever do to deserve it. Jeremiah tells it just shows up every day. Who of us by our hard work made the sun rise this morning? How much did you pay for the air in your lungs? Who of us deserves the love we receive from the person closest to us? None of us do. Jeremiah tells us that we receive God’s love by God’s mercy, a free gift of God’s grace.

For many of us we are so busy each day we never notice what God has freely given. Here in Eagle Rock we live with warm temperatures, a blue sky, and flowers blooming year round. Do any of us ever stop to thank God for all that He has done each and every day? We are so busy trying to make our own lives that we don’t even realize the wonderful life that God has given us.

So when our lives turn upside down what should we do? Jeremiah says to wait patiently. Just wait in silence waiting for God to act. It is only while waiting in silence that our souls go looking for God. Waiting is after all the only thing you can do when your life turns upside down. But in the silence God reminds you of your hopes and dreams and the blessings you have received throughout your life.

The Hebrews in exile were richly blessed by God. After a Sabbath rest of 70 years they were permitted to return and rebuild their city and God’s temple. The one blessing God withheld from them was having their own king. But they were filled with the hope of the faithfulness of God. So they longed for the day when God would fulfill his promise and restore David’s kingdom. They waited and hoped for 400 years for a descendant of David to return as the messiah. God is faithful. Around 4BC a descendant of David was born, not as the king of an earthly kingdom, but as the king of the heavenly Kingdom of God. In Jesus Christ all of God’s promises were fulfilled to those who had waited and hoped. Great is God’s faithfulness.

We experience God faithfulness every time we gather around this table. God never cuts us off. Rather we are invited to come to taste and see the mercies that never end. Great is God’s faithfulness.

Thomas Obediah Chisholm was born in a log cabin in 1866. He experienced a conversion in his 30’s which led him to become a Methodist pastor. But shortly after becoming a pastor his health began fail. This forced him to leave the pastorate and led to a difficult life of poor health. His life was turned upside down. At age 75 looking back over his long life he saw not the numerous health problems that had plagued him, but the blessings that he had received from God each day. To celebrate his blessed life Chisholm wrote a poem. Here it what he said:

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

Father in heaven we thank you for your great faithfulness which you renew in us each day. Amen.

Nicene Creed, pg 15 – Ecumenical version

"We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

"We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen."

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[1] http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2633602

October Vision Column

Vision – October 2007

From the Pastor’s Desk

This month over 30 PCUSA missionaries will be visiting churches and presbyteries all over the country. Together they have 622 years of experience serving the church in all parts of the world. They serve in Korea, Mexico, Hungary, Northern Ireland, Cameroon, Pakistan, Thailand, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Bolivia, Egypt, Peru, Malawi, Nepal, Germany, China, South Africa, Zambia and Lebanon. Their ministries include education, evangelism, health, development and peacemaking. Sue Kinsler, PCUSA Missionary to North Korea, will be visiting Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church on Monday October 22 at 7:30

Sue and Art Kinsler have been working with the Presbyterian Church of Korea since 1972 as evangelists. They have established new churches in rural areas of Korea as well as in new factory towns. Since 2003 Sue has begin working in North Korea through the Lighthouse Foundation providing soybean milk and bread to young children. Sue has also established medical facilities for the disabled in Pyongyang, North Korea with the Potonggang Welfare Center for the Disabled.

On her most recent trip to North Korea, in August, she delivered food, medicine, and towels for victims of the recent floods which damaged the Potonggang sheltered workshop. She also arranged for several tons of wheat to be delivered to her bakery and milk factory. She is currently arranging for 1004 wheel chairs to be delivered to North Korea. The number 1004 has special significance in Korea because it is pronounced “chun sa” which means “angel”. “This shows that the peace and reunification of the South and North is coming in our hearts,” said Sue. “By our love and sharing of God’s blessings there is power!”

Please join us on October 22 at 7:30 to welcome this important guest.

Blessings,

Jeff Howard, Pastor

Sermon 1Timothy 6:6-19

Jeffrey T. Howard
Sermon 1 Timothy 6:6-19
Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church

September 30, 2007

This week churches throughout our denomination are talking about evangelism. Evangelism is our way of reaching out to people with the love of Jesus Christ. It all starts with each of us talking with our friends and inviting them to walk with the Lord. Invite your friends to church on Sunday. Tell them about the love you have found in this church. Invite them to worship and Bible study where they can experience for themselves God’s love. Will you pray with me?

Father in heaven bless us this day with an understanding of you word. And send us into the world to proclaim your good news and as bearers of your love. Prepare our hearts to minister to those in the community who long to know you. And bless us with more members of this church so that we can do better in your mission to the Eagle Rock community, in the strong name of Jesus, Amen.

When I was growing up I heard that the best way to get ahead in life was to pursue an education. I was told to work hard in school. Then I would get a good job at a big corporation where with hard work I could work my way up. Along the way I would be able to purchase larger and larger homes and nicer automobiles. This was the American Dream and for a kid in the suburbs it seemed like the path to riches.

By the time I graduated from college in the mid 1970’s the path to riches was in owning your own business. In a job you worked for someone else and got paid whatever that person offered. In a job you could never get rich. Your only hope was to make enough to pay the bills and maybe have a little left over for savings. But it you owned business and worked real hard to make it successful then you could make a lot of money and become rich. So I started my own business and worked real hard because this seems like the path to riches.

In recent times people have believed that the path to riches was by investing in tech stocks, or speculative real estate deals. This belief led many people to go further into debt than they should have. As a result, now that housing prices are going down, many people find it impossible to sell their homes or refinance there home mortgages. Many now face the prospect of losing their homes to foreclosure and bankruptcy. In most of these instances people saw a home investment as a way of providing their family shelter. But in far too many circumstances the motivation for real estate speculation was simply the desire to be rich.

In our Old Testament reading today Jeremiah made a terrible real estate deal. The Babylonian army had arrived at the gates of Jerusalem. The puppet king Zedekiah whom they had placed on the throne ten years earlier had revolted again Nebuchadnezzar. He had to be punished. So the army had occupied the farmland surrounding Jerusalem and now encircled and besieged the city. Hanamel, Jeremiah cousin, had fled from Babylonians and had taken refuge in Jerusalem. Once a proud land owner, Hanamel was now penniless. Normally in this situation he would sell his land to an older member of his family who would be obligated to buy the land. But in this case the land was gone. It had already been captured by the Babylonians. The old concept of tribal ownership of the land had been shattered by the invasion. The land no long belonged to the people of God, but to Babylon the conquerer. So the land was worthless. But Jeremiah bought it anyway. He knew that it was a terrible real estate deal, but he did it because he knew that he could depend on God. This is how faith works; you can rest in the knowledge of God’s faithfulness. Jeremiah believed God’s promise to restore His people to the land, and bought the field based on this faith.

For Jeremiah the purpose of money was to express his faith. But in first century Ephesus there were people who reversed this and exploited faith to get money. They were motivated by the desire to get rich. So the Apostle Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus to correct the situation and told him that the purpose of money was not to make someone rich, because when you use money to become rich the result is envy and dissension, and you become trapped by foolish and harmful desires. A desire to become rich is especially dangerous because it leads you into temptation, destruction and ruin and leads you away from faith. Paul said, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”

Jesus once told a story about a rich man. He wore the finest clothes, had a large Malibu estate, ate at the best restaurants and flew around the world in his private jet. But he never noticed the homeless man who sat outside his gate every day hoping to sneak inside to eat a few scraps of food from the dumpster out back. Never once did the rich man give the hungry man something to eat. Never once did he give eternity a thought. But when the rich man died he was sent to Hades for eternal torment, and he looked up to see the hungry man in heaven with Abraham. The first had become last and the last first. The sin that sent the rich man to hell was not his wealth. Rather it was indifference. He was only concerned for himself and failed to see the need around him. It was too late for the rich man to change his ways. But he wanted others to hear about his story before it was too late so they could change theirs ways and avoid his fate.

Let’s face it. We love money. It gives us identity, power and the ability to accomplish our dreams. But the love money has power over us. If forces us to expend energy pursuing unrealistic dreams; we work all the time just to wake up to find that our spouses and children are strangers. The love of money often leads us to the addiction of ever increasing debt which now even plagues college students.

Consider for a moment the plight of OJ Simpson. He grew up here in Los Angeles and was a football star at USC winning the Heissmann Trophy. He went on to work as a television sportscaster, had major roles in movies, and acquired great fame and wealth. But all of his riches never brought him contentment. He was never satisfied with what he had. And out of his riches grew evil that shocked all of us. Don’t ever let a love of money cloud your judgment and lead you to evil like this. And pray that somehow OJ will experience the transformative power of the love of Christ.

Paul’s message to Timothy is that to be rich is to be content with what we have because when you combine faith and contentment you become richer than you could ever imagined. The riches we receive are faith, love, endurance and gentleness. And the ultimate riches were secured for us in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, eternal life. So rather than pursue riches we should pursue righteousness. And we should place our hope not on the uncertainty of wealth but on the faithfulness of God, realizing that we are rich because we have been blessed by God. Paul has a special message for those who do have money, and have been blessed with substantial incomes and years of rising real estate prices. We need to be generous and willing to share with those in need. This is really a good investment because helping people to live quality lives in the present is a solid foundation for our future.

Speaking about the future, it has been shown that six out of ten Americans do not have a valid will. Many people have no idea how much they are really worth or how their wealth will be distributed when they die. The only way, that you can be certain that your estate is distributed according to you wishes, is to have a carefully constructed legal will. If you don’t have a will state law takes over and this could cause your family many problems and expense. Without a will no gift to the church will be made. There may be dissension among your heirs. Additional fees, taxes and expenses may subtract from your estate. And California law rather than your desires, values, beliefs and intentions will be followed.

With a will you decide to whom, how and when your property will be distributed. You determine who the guardian will be for minor children. You select who will administer your estate. You can reduce taxes and administration costs. And you can make charitable contributions to the church and other organizations. If you need to write a will I urge you to contact legal counsel, and consult a lawyer.

One thing you should put into your will is a Statement of your Christian Faith. This will be a great comfort to your family and friends by assuring them that a loved one died in faith, confident of Christ’s promise of eternal life. In a Statement of Christian Faith you can provide your family with encouragement by urging them to trust in Jesus Christ and strengthen their own faith. And your statement will be kept forever on file in the courthouse possibly providing someone far in the future with the encouragement of your faith.

Of course you can make a gift to the church in your will. This is part of your faith commitment to use the gifts god has provided to you for God’s work and mission in the world. Gifts by will have been an important part of our philanthropic tradition because you are able to make the kinds of gifts that are not possible in your lifetime. You might consider a general gift of money or a percentage of your estate. You might also contribute specific investments like real estate or stock. And remember that what you write in a will can be changed right up to the time you leave this life to be with the Lord.

So the message for us today is to be content with what we have. Don’t crave money so much that your life is consumed with accumulating riches, because riches will never satisfy you. The only true satisfaction that you have is the love of God which has blessed you richly. Money is like a rose. It is beautiful to gaze at but you have to be careful not to be pricked by the thorns. If you are rich then be generous to those who have little. This is a good investment in heavenly assets. Caring for those less fortunate than you is what you were created to do; it is your real life.

We confess Lord that we have not loved you with our whole heart and we have not loved others as we love ourselves. We have placed our own silly desires and self interest before the needs of others. Forgive us and pour out your spirit among us that we may serve people in need. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.