Untitled Sermon (2)

Jan 1, 1956

Nowunto Him that is able to keep you from falling-Judc 1 242

This is the begnning ofa New year It is a hme whcn the startling Facts of yes- terday and the hightening expectauons of tomorror join hands in the pressing urgency of today There is no better way to bepn this year than wth the conwction that there is a God of Power Who is able to do exceeding abundanly thing in our lives and in the life of the universe To believe in and to live by the fact that “God is able”pe9istotransformlife’simpendingsunsetsintoglittenngsuiinses Thecon- vlchon that “OurGod isable”is a convlction stressrd aiid exulted in,overand over again in [both?] the New and Old Testaments This conmction stands at the cente ofourChnshan faith

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Story about his kid and his dad

Sitting on the rocks of Colorado in the mountains. His dad said son Look up.. Look at the mountains and how Big God made them. Look at the sky and how high God made it... look at the way the snow forms the mighty headwaters of the rivers... look ... and his kid looked down ... and his kid looked down ... and his kid looked down... Dad.. How does God make all those ants walk in the same row... I’ve counted 143 so far ..

I don’t know lets start there

Where do we start this year? In Dr. Kings words Our God is able ... In Pauls words ... for those who love him .. Our God is able do to good intermingled in their lives ..

It’s our first Promise... That God is able ... to do good through those who love God ...

What is that promise not ...

Driving on the road and I got lost and missed the party ... two freshman on the road boy friend and girlfriend and they were limping a long ... arm over his girlfriends shoulders... walking to a friends house and tripped into a hole ... Later I found out damage that they couldn’t fix

1st Super mad I missed the party

God intermingles good in the lives of the people who Love him. .. Doesn’t promise that we will make it to every party

This year has been defined by bad things that have happened to us... I don’t have to list them for you .. mask in my pocket, ropes our our pews, and people at home that can’t come out yet ... divided country... Martin Luthers Dream on the steps of the Lincoln memorial haven’t quite come true yet .

So clearly God’s promise doesn’t mean that God is going to do everything that we want ... we’ve confirmed that much... but 55 years later I believe in the words that Martin Preached for us ... God is able ... I believe the words Paul wrote for us .. God is able to intermingle good in the lives that love God .. that are looking for God ..

How does that define us ...

LATER IN Sunday School ... What good did God do through you this year

Told the story ... about something I hadn’t planned, hadn’t’ prepared for...

wasn’t expecting

But I had forgotten about the party

Moment that I realized that despite all the hardships, parties I had missed, Calculus tests I struggled through ... God had done something Good in me .. and bc I came to ss.. I remembered it ... I can’t remember whose house I was trying to find .. but I remember what God did in a lost moment in my life

If we were going by 2020 principles and celebrated MLK day tomorrow remembering the bad things in his life... 29 times, had his house blown up by a bomb, shot at 39 and killed far too young ...

But as Christians we see tomorrow differently .. we remember a man who believed that God was able ... who marched Peacefully on the sidewalks of cities and down the mall of Washington DC... who had a dream... where people would find love in each others hearts ...

For a man who believed God was able... we believe and see God intermingled immeasurable good though his life ...

And someday when I go ... I don’t want my life to be defined by the hardships of 2020 ...

And maybe Someday I’ll be able to look up and wonder at the grandeur of the mountains and the vastness of the sky that God was able to make.. in the meantime I’m still stuck on how God makes all the ants go in a row.

But no matter where I find myself in the question of WHAT God is able to do ... I believe for all of us that love GOd ... that GOd is intermingling Great good in our lives... by how we love ... sit down wit all the people God brings into our lives and love them deeply

To believe that GOd is able to transform Life’s impending sunsets into Glittering Sunrises