May
the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your
sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. AMEN.
With
the recent years of Super Bowl Commercials we always think of the fun ones that
tug at our heart strings, whether it is the Budweiser Clydesdales now being
paired with a dog that believes it is one of them. To the Geico commercial where the Gecko talks
about car insurance. When I was a kid
one of the Super Bowls introduced a new perspective on an animal that still
endures to this day. It is the Energizer
Bunny, who keeps going and going and going.
I can still see it even today the Energizer Bunny banging the drum and
it keeps going. The bunny not only is
relatable for adults and children, but kids NEED batteries for their
electronics, especially in my day growing up.
And the Energizer Bunny with the ‘banging drum’ was a welcome funny
addition to the Super Bowl Commercials.
As
Christians we like the Energizer Bunny have a God that keeps going, by
continuously giving and giving to us.
Whether in the air we breathe, the food that we eat, the jobs we have or
the crops that grow in the field. God
gives us what we need even without our asking it. In our conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer today
we give God the greatest affirmation of Who He is and what He does for us on a
daily basis. Let’s pull out our bulletin
insert for this morning and read responsively as a congregation the “What does
this mean?” section. “The Conclusion of
the Lord’s Prayer, For thine is the
kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
What does this mean? This means that I should be certain that
these petitions are pleasing to our Father in heaven, and are heard by Him; for
He Himself has commanded us to pray in this way and has promised to hear
us. Amen, amen means “yes, yes, it shall
be so.” With the conclusion of the
Lord’s Prayer may we firmly believe in our AMEN.
Gracious
Father in Heaven, hallowed by Your Name for when we pray Your prayer taught to
us by Jesus Christ, we begin to understand that You hear us as we pray. Sometimes Your response is unheard or unseen
by us, because it was motivated by our selfish desires, but in Your time You
fulfill our prayer in ways that glorify You.
May we daily understand You give to us out of Your bounty and power and
we can glorify You with our life, because of what Jesus Christ did on Calvary
for all of mankind including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this
morning. AMEN.
Before
us this morning are Batteries, A Bunny and a few Presents. Each of these are expressions of what the
Lord’s Prayer concludes with when we pray it.
It is clear from the Batteries and Bunny we think of what God
continuously gives us. Yes we have to
change the batteries or hook our device to a charger in order to insure it is
fully charged, but God daily refills our needs even without our asking. Consider if you will, God even when we do not
come to church whether for a ‘personal day’ or even for a sensible reason like
a farming or family emergency, God still gives us what we need.
Sarah
has a Leap Pad that takes Batteries.
Instead of buying batteries every time, which gets expensive, we have
gone to rechargeable batteries. It does
require us to know where the charger is and does mean when she may want to play
with the Leap Pad and the batteries are on the charger that she has to wait. And this waiting for Sarah, though
frustrating at first has a positive benefit, it helps her to learn that unlike
in our society when we ask God for something we may not immediately hear a
response, but just as with batteries eventually they will be charged and
replaced in the device and she will be able to play her games like
“Doodleville” or “Pet Shop”. And the
same is true with God’s answering prayer, eventually God answers our prayers,
but again in a way that insures His Glory is revealed.
Thus
in this final petition of the Lord’s Prayer we affirm what we are asking for from
God with a simple response of “Amen”. “Yes,
Yes, it shall be so.” We say this
response in firm faith trusting in what God will provide for our best interest
at the proper time. It won’t necessarily
be what we asked for nor want, but what we are given is God’s gift to us at the
proper time and in the way in which we needed it. Personally, this was a hard pill for me to
swallow. When I worked at the Community
College in North Carolina, I thought I would be there until I retired. In my praying this prayer and the “AMEN”, God moved me out of my comfort
zone there. It was not a gentle move,
but caused me to question God and try and make sense of why. I struggled with God and wrestled with Him,
because I looked at it from a human perspective, not a God perspective. Looking back now nearly nine years later, the
reason for my being let go was in order for Michele and I to have Sarah and for
us to come to Western Kansas. Looking
back it was painful, but I trusted God then and continue to now and God was
faithful and gave us Sarah and you the people of God and I wouldn’t change
anything. But this took a measure of
faith, which didn’t ‘break me’, but ‘built me’ and changed my perspective and
God revealed in due time His plan for us to have Sarah.
God
clearly heard our prayer as a couple and answered it in His time. That is what our praying the Final Petition
of the Lord’s Prayer is all about. The
presents that God gives us are clearly gifts beyond our deepest and wildest
imagination. And this is exactly what
God’s gift on the Cross of Calvary of His Son Jesus Christ was meant to be,
beyond our deepest imagination. In Jesus
Christ death, we have been set free from the bondage of this life and freely
given the greatest gift of eternal life.
Hence the presents I have before us are symbolic of this. For us as Christians the presents are
symbolic of the gift of Jesus Christ for all mankind that came in a lowly
manger. For Michele and myself another
of our greatest presents from God is Sarah and we are thankful for her each and
every day. But there is an additional
reason I have these presents here before us this morning.
The
presents that are at the foot of the batteries and bunny are from a special
lady of this congregation. You see they
are presents prepared by Clarice Martell.
In her ministry here at Emmanuel she prepared each of these presents to
be given to individuals that needed a blanket.
They represent the love she had for someone that she did not even know
and God will use them through us as a congregation to insure the individual
receiving these presents will have a warm blanket. This is the certainty of the AMEN that
Clarice prayed every time she concluded the Lord’s Prayer. This is the free gift of grace she emulated
because of what Jesus Christ did for her and for each of us on the Cross of
Calvary. The present before us is only a
symbol to remind us of the greatest present of Jesus Christ given for all
mankind. And that present is offered
freely and without cost to each of us because of God’s great love for each and
every one of us. Including all of us
saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning who pray, “For thine is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever and ever.
Amen.”. AMEN. AMEN.
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