All Nations Anglican Church

Sermons

PATIENCE IN SUFFERING

9/7/09 14 Pentecost, Archbishop John
Isaiah 35:4-7. Psalm 146, James 1:17-27, Mark 7:31-37

Be patience, then, brothers, until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for land to yield its valuable crop and how patience he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too be patience and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. James 5:7-8
Be patient
These words are for us and so many people who are going through hardships. So many people are having greater suffering than you and me. Consider people in California who have lost their home through fire.
Yesterday he was in a million dollar home. Now he has nothing. He has lost his home and all his belongings. How about the people, whose home have been repossessed. Yesterday, they had a home but now they are homeless. Think about some people who had a secure job, today they are now jobless.
Think about millions of people without health coverage. Who are in dread if a a family member get sick. The situation could end up wiping out the family savings. Consider people who live in a war zone- who have lost their loved one.
Think about Marym and Marzie, two beautiful and saintly Iranian women on our website, (www.allnationsanglican.com) who are in prison because of their faith and testimony.
These children of God were taken to court and asked to recant their faith. Instead they strongly declared:
“We will not deny Christ.” These children of God are suffering ill health, solitary confinement, and being
interrogated for many hours while blindfolded.
So whatever you are going through, you need to know that you are not alone. St. James is exalting us to be patient like a farmer. The farmer has to wait for the season. He has to clear the ground. He has to plant. He has to weed and wait for the crops to grow. As we wait patiently, St. Paul who underwent so many trails has this to say: “ No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and will not let you be tempted beyond your strength, but with temptation will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” Corinthians 10:13.
God's word assures us that:
1. Our temptations are common to man.
What you are going through someone else has gone through or is going through it right now, so you are not alone. There is someone else who can feel with you. If it is pain, Jesus went through it. If it is abandonment, Jesus went through it. And many faithful Christian have been forsake and deserted by friends or the loved ones.

2.God will not let you suffer beyond what you can bear.
He knows for sure that He and you can handle it. At times it may appear insurmountable. Yet the Lord of Host knows for sure that you are more than a conquerer.

3. God will also provide the way out. As a Swahili proverb has it, "Hakuna marefu yasionancha", Nothing is endless. Whatever you are going through, not only will it come to and end, but if you bear it with Christ, you will benefit from it. You will come out of it being more refined. As a patient father you will harvest precious fruits. The good news is that TRIALS DEVELOP YOUR CHARACTER AND PREPARE YOU FOR INCREASED BLESSING. Pain and suffering are parts and parcel of passages of life. If we bear it with God, we move from glory to glory and from grace to grace..

When going through suffering we need to cling on God's promises.
I am personally strengthened by the promises in Isaiah 41- 45

“Fear not,For I am with you,
be not be dismayed for I am your God..
I will strengthen you, I will help you
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
Be patient as a farmer because of who God is and what he can do for you. Listen what the prophet Isaiah says “Say to those who are of a fearful heart, 'Be strong, fear not! Behold your God will come with vengeance, with recompense of God, He will come and save you. Your God is the owner and maker of all things He is the one who made the heaven and earth, and all that is in them.
He is a God who keeps his promise. He will keep and sustain you. As the Psalmist puts it “(He) gives justice to those who are oppressed, and food to those who are hungry. The Lord set the prisoners free, the Lord opens the eyes of the blind ,the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down.” Psalm 146:6-7
The Gospel story tell us that God deals with you as an individual. Even though he has innumerable creatures and billion of human beings. He sees you as an individual. This is well demonstrated by the methods Jesus is used to heal the deaf.
1 He took him aside from the multitude privately. He treated him as an individual. He didn't want the healing to be a public show.
2.He puts his fingers into his ears. He new exactly where he was hurting. God knows, more than any human being, where you are hurting. Jesus feels your pain. Remember, “He was wounded for our transgression, He was bruised for our iniquities...and with his stripes we are healed.” Isaiah 53:5
3.He spat and touched his tongue. In the ancient world, people believed that the saliva of a great man had a healing power, so He did this to increase the person's faith.
4.He looked up to heaven. He wanted this man to know that his help is coming from above. He is also reminding you and me that whatever we are going through, we must “Lift our eyes on high from where you help comes. Yes, my help comes from the Lord who made the heaven and the earth. ...The Lord will keep you from all evil, he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in.” from Psalm 121
5. He sighed; that is he took a deep breath Here Jesus is revealing himself as creator.
As the Creator breathed the breath of life in the first man, Jesus is breathing to create the hearing to the deaf man. This echoes the creation story: “Then the Lord formed man out of dust from the ground, and breathed his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being." Genesis 3:7
6. He spoke: Ephphatha that is “Be open.” Here Jesus is revealing himself as the Word, the agent of creation. The Apostle John tells us in John 1, that “In the beginning was the word. And the word was with God, and the word was God. All things were made through him and without him was nothing made that was made.” Note that Jesus used six gestures in creating the healing for this person. Similar to the six days of the creation.
After he had created the hearing in this man, people were astonished beyond measure and said:
HE HAS DONE ALL THINGS WELL Mark 7:37
God made similar comment after creation: “AND GOD SAW EVERYTHING THAT HE HAS MADE, AND BEHOLD, IT WAS VERY GOOD”
Whatever we go through, if we abide in Christ, at the end of our journey,
we will say: HE HAS DONE EVERYTHING WELL!
Amen

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed!
Bishop Ruth D. Urban, Easter 2009

In the name of our Risen Lord and Savior, Greetings to all the churches connected to the Five Fold Christian Church, Lusaka, Zambia

As I was praying and pondering during Holy Week, I was reminded of a praise chorus that we sing. It is simple, but it says it all.

“I’m so glad that Jesus set me free!
I’m so glad that Jesus set me free!
I’m so glad that Jesus set me free!
Glory Hallelujah. Jesus set met free.”

God loves us so very much that He wants us to be set free from all the bondages that ensnare us. (John 3:16) Jesus came to set us free once and for all. He was born of a virgin, crucified for our sins, descended into hell to set the captives free, and arose from the dead to be the “living Lord Jesus” for us. These are some of the freedom from bondage we experience as a born again believer who is resurrected with Jesus!

1) Bondage of sin – Sin has a way of enslaving us, controlling us, dominating us, and dictating our actions. (John 8:34-35) Sin sears our conscience and hardens our heart toward recognizing and believing God. (Heb. 3:13)

2) Bondage of unbelief- Unbelief also hardens our heart and keeps us from accepting the truth. When we doubt God and His word, we negate faith. Many Christians have faith and unbelief entwined together. This causes a total impasse and therefore nothing happens when we pray.

3) Bondage to man-made rules and regulations- Jesus wants us to have a relationship with Him, with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit. This relationship is to be personal and intimate and not hindered by man-made rules and doctrine. The only rules we need are found in scripture, God’s Holy word.

4) Bondage of self-deception – God wants us to have our confidence in Him. Jesus wants us to know who we are in Him. The Holy Spirit shows us the truth. The environment in which we were raised or live may deceive us into thinking that we are something we are not. Scripture tells us who we really are.

5) Bondage of deception by Satan- Satan is the classic Deceiver. If we knew we were deceived, then we wouldn’t be deceived. We would know the truth. Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10)

Jesus came to show us the way to eternal life with the Father. Thus, Jesus, doesn’t give us freedom to do what we want to do, but freedom to follow God. As we seek to live for God, Jesus’ perfect truth frees us to be all that God meant us to be.

The freedom of following God removes the shackles of fear, anxiety, pressures, and abuse. We can rejoice to the fullest because we have a God who loves us and attends to our every need. All God expects from us in return is total devotion and obedience to His word. As we study His word, we hide His word in our hearts so that we won’t sin. (Psalm 119:11)

The love and grace of God are beyond measure and surround us many times over.
God is “able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the
power that works within us “(Eph. 3:20)

I close with a personal note to the Five Fold Christian Church. It is a privilege to be your Bishop. I am looking forward to coming to Zambia in the future. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you wish. I have been in conversation with your leader, Father George. You are all in good hands with him and with the Lord.

With blessings for a joyous Easter Season!
Your servant in Christ who walks in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Bishop Ruth

Love Song

Archbishop John, Sunday October 5 2008
21Pestecost Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80:7-14, Philippians 3:14-21, Matthew 21:33-43

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merit and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reign with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I know of an African 11 year’s old Girl who stood in the family service and read the love song in Isaiah 5:1-7. She read in Swahili as though she had memorized the song. It was indeed flowing from her heart. The message was streaming from her heart in the same way as when Jesus read a passage from the book of Isaiah which predicted his ministry:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
Because he has anointed me to preach good new to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim the release to the captives
And the recovering of the sight to the blind,
And to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
To proclaim the acceptable year to the Lord. Luke 4:18-19

Little did the eleven year old know that the love song was her song.
And that she will spend her entire life in the vineyard.
That she will be anointed to minister to the poor, the weak, the sick and the oppressed.
And while some of the vine will yield good grapes.
Others will yield wild grapes.
And that the wild grapes will at a time break her heart.
If you have been called as this eleven year old to minister- and remember you don't have to be an ordained minister- the love song is for you.
It has an outstanding message for you.
You know you have worked tirelessly to minister or to try to help out someone or some people.
This may be your friends, family or even children or even your spouse.
And yet what you have seen is bad fruits.
You might have blamed yourselves.
The love song has good news for you.
That is: it was not all your fault.
But remember you are called to do one thing.
And that is to sing a love song for your Beloved.
It is your Beloved who has called you.
And you can only move in his speed.
You have a love relationship with him.
And that is all you need.
And here is good news for you.
There is nothing! Nothing! That can separate you from love of your Beloved.

In Paul's word:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In all things we are more than conquerors throw him who loved us. Romans 8:35-39

The love song is about the relationship between God and Israel.
It is about the relationship between God and the Americans.
It about the relationship between God and the global village.
It is about the relationship between God and us.
Israel was like a vineyard which was planted in a fertile hill.
They were better positioned to be the light of the nations.
To them belonged the patriarchs,
To them belong the prophets- both major and miner prophets.
To them belonged the Holy Scriptures.
Christ was incarnated in their culture and land.
To them belong the Apostles.
And it is only their land which is called the holy land.
Yet whenever they were doing well economically, they rebelled against God.
Like the time when Isaiah was singing a love song, they were exceedingly successive economically.
Nevertheless, they reciprocated with corruption, injustice.
Exploitation of the poor and killing the prophets.
In the Gospel, Jesus is talking about them.
They are the tenants who stoned and killed the servants and finally they killed the Christ.
On the other hand our country is one of the most blessed countries.
It has people who come from all nations who are bound with one code-freedom.
She is imparting this modality to the rest of the world.
Her currency is the most valued and the most free.
There is a part of the American which is yielding wild grapes
She is working hard to remove the Creator and the Lord of all that is, from the public places.
She is even trying to remove God from the airways- radio and television
It all started with Madeleine Murry O'Hare who fought to remove God from public schools by the act of Supreme Court so as to save her son from God and religion. Did she succeed? No. Her son became a committed Christian while she mysteriously disappeared. It was later discovered that she was murdered. Yet there are a large number of people in American who worship the dead deity. To them talking about God in public is obsolete and illegal. There is also a worship of Dr. Benjamin Spock, “a specialist” who said we wouldn't spank our children (for him what the Bible says about discipline is immaterial) when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem. Dr. Spock's son, who grew in with total freedom, without spanking, committed suicide.
“Removing” God and His word in school has resulted in indiscipline, shooting and killing.
Worship of material things has ushered in economic crisis.
So many people are hurting.
Numerous people have lost their jobs.
So many working people losing their homes.
Yet, God has been talking to us by removing the hedges.
We have gone thought hurricanes -Katrina, Rita, Ike, devastating fires, earthquakes.
And incurable diseases.

The love song is for you.
It is bout your relationship with God.
Thus the question which you need to pose to yourself is:
What must I do?
The word of God is plain about what you should do:
1. Return to God.
Let God be God.
Put Him in the throne of your life.
Honor Him by your Time, Talent, and Treasure.
2. Press on toward the goal.
There is finishing line.
There is a base for you.
And that is an upward call of God in Christ.
Turn now to God.
The time to turn to God is now.

Jesus is inviting you:
Come to me all who are tired and carrying the heavy load,
And I will give you rest.
He is insisting:
I am the vine, you are the branches.
He who abides in me, and I in him,
He it is that bears much fruit
For apart from me you can do nothing.
When you come to Him and abide in Him
You automatically bear good fruit which is:
Love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness
Gentleness, self control, against this there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

GOD AND ECONOMY
Archbishop John, 10/12/08 22 Pentecost
Isaiah 25:1-9, Psalm 23, Philippians 4:4-13, Matthew 22:1-14

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, That we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ Our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God,Now and for ever

Economy is the main subject in the media nowadays.
We are hearing that things will be worse before they get any better.
There is job loss.
Hard working people are losing their homes.
Home and the family life are being affected.
The word economy derives from a Greek word oikos which means house.
The worsening economy is affecting what is going on in the house.
As the people of God we need to ask:
Where is God in all these things.
Better still: Who is God?
How should we relate to God at this time?
What is the benefit of having peace with God?
The Gospel is telling us that God is the King with a marriage feast for his son.
And that he is using the worsening economy to invite us to the marriage feast.
He is using His servant to call us to the untold blessing.
Being enslaved to materialism, God is inviting us for freedom
Yet the response of many is disgusting:
They are making light of invitation.
They are going on with their business of worshiping the green power.
They are worshiping themselves and their business.
Others are seizing God's servant and treating them shamefully.
They are deceiving themselves.
They think that by going to the marriage feasting they are doing a favor to the Servant of the King.
They are indeed abusing the mercy and generosity of God.
Little do they know that they are going to face the wrath of God.
God will send his troops and destroy them and their cities.
These rebellious people don't know that they are not worth.
On the other hand there are those who are turning to God.
Among those who are turning to God, there are those who do not given their hearts to God.
They are being with the people of God so as to exploit their fellowship.
They are very much like the church mouse.
They are at the church but not in the church.
They don't have wedding garment.
They have lock out of their lives the third person of the Holy trinity.
They don't have the Spirit of God.
The Bible makes it clear that anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. Romans
THE GOOD NEWS is that there are those who are turning to God with all their heart.
They have allowed God of all comfort to fill every fiber of their beings.
They are indeed led by the Spirit.
The Bible has good news for them.
For all who are led by the Spirit are children of God.......
And if children, the heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,
Provided that we suffer with Him in order that we may be glorify with Him. Romans *:14-17
Even during the hardships, these people are enjoying the wedding feast.
In them God is highly exalted.
They praise him in the morning.
The praise him in the noon time.
They praise him when the sun goes down.
God is doing wonderful things for them.
He is their stronghold.
He is a shelter from the storm and the shade from the heat.
He is the Lord of host who is conquering the present power of darkness.
With all powerful God, these people do not even fear death,
For the Lord their God will swallow up death for ever.
Their God will wipe away tears from their eyes.
The Lord, their God is their Shepherd.
He makes them lay down in green pastures.
He leads them beside still waters.
He revives their souls and guides them through the wilderness.
Even when they are going through the shadow of the valley of death.
they don't have to fear evil.
Since they have chosen the good side of their Creator:
Goodness and mercy shall follow them all the days of their live
And they shall dwell in house of the Lord for ever.
These folks are rejoicing with the Lord always.
They are anxious for nothing:
They believe and own the words of St. Paul's
Have no anxiety about anything,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
Let your request be known unto God.
The God of peace which passes all understanding
will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus
What does the community of God focus on?
What do they put in their mind?
He is their secret!
This is what they put in their minds:
Whatever is true, whatsoever is honorable, whatsoever is just,
whatsoever is pure , whatsoever is lovely, whatsoever is gracious
And whatsoever is excellence.
For these people the worsening economic condition doesn't separate them from the Love of God.
Like Paul, they have learned, in whatever state they are, to be content.
They know the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.
We can say with Paul and these heirs of God:
I can do all things in him who strengthens me. Amen