Howard Eblin, Local Church Lay Speaker for Oakland UM Church.
This devotion for the month of February is a tribute to Hopewell UM Church Pastor Erladean Heffner. She died January 8, 2012. Erladean was my mentor, and she taught me how to grow spiritually to be more like Jesus every day. She led me in how to handle the conflicts and power politics of Church and family people. Erladean gave me some verses that I use often. One of them is James 4:7, "So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." One of the many tricks of the devil is to divide or separate people from each other, because that gives him more strength like a lion separate a calf away from the rest of the herd. I pray to resist the devil in Jesus Name. This gives me the strength of God to help me stay on the right track to help people know the benefits of Jesus. At a 4-Church Prayer Service in the Hopewell UM Church near to Valentines Day, Erladean gave us the following "Father's Love Letter."
My Child, You may not know me, but I know everything about you. (Psalm 139:1). I know when you sit down and when you rise up. (Psalm 139:2) I am familiar with all your ways. (Psalm 139:3) Even the very hairs on your head are numbered. (Matthew 10:29-31) For you were made in my image. (Genesis 1:27) In me you live and move and have your being.(Acts 17:28) For you are my offspring. (Acts 17:28) I knew you even before before you were conceived. (Jeremiah 1:4-5) I chose you when I planned creation. (Ephesians 1:11-12) You were not a mistake, for all your days are written in my book. (Psalm 139:15-16) I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live. (Acts 17:26) You are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) I knit you together in your mothers womb. (Psalm 139:13) And brought you forth on the day you were born. (Psalm 71:6) I have been misrepresented by those who don't know me. (John 8:41-44) I am not distant and angry, but am the complete expression of love. (1 John 4:16) And it is my desire to lavish my love on you. (1 John 3:1) Simply because you are my child, and I am your Father. (1 John 3:1) I offer you more than your earthly Father ever could (Matthew 7:11) For I am the perfect Father. (Matthew 5:48) Every good gift that you receive comes from my hand. (James 1:17) For I am your provider, and I meet all your needs. (Matthew 6:31-33) My plan for your future has always been filled with hope. (Jeremiah 29:11) Because I love you with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3) My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore. (Psalms 139:17-18) And I rejoice over you with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17) I will never stop doing good to you. (Jeremiah 32:40) For you are my treasured possession. (Exodus 19:5) I desire to establish you with all my heart and all my soul. (Jeremiah 32:41) And I want to show you great and marvelous things. (Jeremiah 33:3) If you seek me with all your heart, you will find me. (Deuteronomy 4:29) Delight in me, and I will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4) For it is I who gave you those desires (Philippians 2:13) I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine. (Ephsians 3:20) For I am your greatest encouager. (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17) I am also the Father who comforts you in all your troubles. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) When you are broken hearted, I am close to you. (Psalm 34:18) As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to my heart. (Isaiah 40:11) One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes. (Revelation 21:3-4) And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth. (Revelation 21:3-4) I am your Father, and I love you even as I love my son, Jesus. (John 17:23) For in Jesus, my love for you is revealed. (John 17:26) He is the exact representation of my being. (Hebrews 1:3) He came to demonstrate that I am for you, not against you. (Romans 8:31) And to tell you that I am not counting your sins. (2 Corinthians5:18-19) Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled. (2 Corinthians 5:18-19) His death was the ultimate expression of my love for you. (1 John 4:10) I gave up everything I loved that I might gain your love. (Romans 8:31-32) If you receive the gift of my son Jesus, you receive me. (1 John 2:23) And nothing will ever separate you from my love again. (Romans 8:38-39) Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen (Luke 15:7) I have always been Father, and will always be Father (Ephesians 3:14-15) My question is ---Will you be my child? (John 1:12-13 I am waiting for you. (Luke 15:11-32) Love, Your Dad Almighty God
Father's Love Letter used by permission Father Heart Communications Copyright 1999-2011 www.FathersLoveLetter.com
On October 15, 2011, I completed Local Church Lay Speaker Renewal at Immanuel Church in Logan, and I led Worship and preached four times in 2011 when Pastor Glick had pneumonia. My Christian growth plan for 2012 is learning to compile and share information here with you. The information on this page will be changed each month. The next change is scheduled for February 1, 2012. Oakland UM Church Lay Speaker Howard Eblin.
Following is a sermon I preached at the Four Church Prayer Service in the Oakland UM Church on January 9, 2012.
Songs: You Raise Me Up instrumental as a youth lit 4 candles, one for each of the 4 Churches in the Prayer Service. Then (Acapulco) Lets Just Praise the Lord. Then on the television, Dale Schoten Down Home Bluegrass group led our singing of Just a Closer Walk with Thee.
Bible verse: Philippians 3:12-16
What's Next - In the television series "The West Wing", fictional president Josiah Bartlet regularly ended staff meetings with two words, "What's Next"? It was his way of signaling that he was finished with the issue at hand and ready to move on to other concerens. The pressures and responsibilities of life in the White House demanded that he not focus on what was in the rear-view mirrow. He needed to keep his eyes ahead, moving forward to what was next. In a sense, the apostle Paul had a similar perspective on life. He knew that he had not "arrived" spiritually and that he had a long way to go in becoming like Christ. What could he do? He could either fixate on the past, with its failures, disappointments, struggles, and disputes, or he could learn from those things and move on to "what's next".
This year 2012 - What's next for you? What's next for the Church you attend and serve the Lord in? Oakland Pastor John Glick retired at the end of 2011. Hopewell Pastor Erladean Heffner died yesterday. What's nest? Although they are out of the Church. Jesus is still in the Church we serve the Lord in. We still have the "prize" of Christian life that Paul wrote about in Philippians. We still have God's promise in Revelation 21:4. We need to keep moving in our spiritual journey. We need to keep learning how to become more like Jesus this year.
What's next, apostle Paul? He kept moving. In 3:13-14 Paul tells us how he chose to live his life - "Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching for those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ." It's a perspective that speaks of moving on - of embracing what's next. It is where we too must focus as we seek to be shaped into the image of the Saviour while we look forward to eternity with Him.
I'm going to give you some words of encouragement and challenge that will help you to grow spitiutually. What could you do to encourage renewal in yourself and the people in the Church you attend?
First, pray. Prayer is an important part of your preparation. Ask God to come and move and touch your life. Don't stop praying. Pray that God will guide you and direct you in the way He wants you to go. Pray for the people who need Jesus - Turn to the North and pray for those people, turn toward the East and pray, turn to the South, then the West - pray for the people who don't know Jesus and how God wants to use you to reach out with love to help them know Jesus.
Last Fall, I was praying for peope East of where I live - the Zion UM Church side of the home where I live. God guided me to a young woman with two kids one three years old and a younger one. God gave me some pumpkins that grew in my garden from old pumpkins that I threw in the garden the year before. I carved a 25 pound pumpkin per the pumpkin devotion that I used in the Young Disciple part of Worship at the Oakland UM Church in October - the one where you carve eyes in a heart shape to represent God's love, and the ears in a box shape for the Bible, etc. They were delighted. I keep praying for these people to know Jesus and how I can help them come into the Church. Keep on praying. We should pray that God will guide hard hearts into joy and enthusiam. Thank God for what He has done, and begin to listen for the next step He wants you and the Church to take. Take the time to come into God's presence with no agenda - just to listen, and feel, and be rather than speak or ask for something.
Next, Have a long term plan to use for changes in your life for continued renewal. The Devil has a plan for you in 2012. He wants to use changes that put people against each other or divide them away from the Church. We need to have plans in place that will keep the Devil out of our lives. Keep things going and growing rather than just looking back and celebrating the wonderful things that happened in the past. See the start of this year 2012 as another step on your journey rather than a destination. In the New Testament Gospels, Jesus doesn't tell his followers to stand there and watch him. He doesn't tell them to cheer him on and root for him. He tells them to follow him. You can't follow someone standing still. You need to be moving to follow someone.
My college class was graduating on a hot, windy day. As we walked across the platform to receive diplomas from the President - he smiled and shook our hands and said congratulations! Then in a much smaller voice, he said, "Keep moving." He was only trying to keep the line moving across the stage. But his words are good advice for a lifetime. Keep moving. After every achievement - growing up, graduating, marriage, job promotion, even retirement. Carol was baptized on December 18. Congratulations Carol! Keep moving. The best advice is congratulations, keep moving. We will have a different Pastor and changes will be made. The advice is congratulations on getting a Pastor. Keep moving and trying to learn new things about the Lord with his help.
There is more to life than you have found thus far. In the Gospels, Jesus said, "Come, follow me." following Jesus is made up of many individual steps, many important steps. Meet Jesus, give your life to him - keep moving. You may be deeply touched in a Worship Service - keep moving. You may become filled with the Holy Spirit - keep moving. You will find daily acts of cross bearing that He calls you to do - keep moving. You will perform daiy acts of obedience - keep moving. You may experience a great healing - keep moving. There are many important steps that you will take, but there is always another step. You must keep moving. In a very real sense, the most important step you can take is the next one. It's not the one you have already taken in the past. It's your next step. The next step that God is calling you to take. The health of our relationship with God hinges on our response to Jesus call to take that next step.
Where you are with God is not as important as the direction in which you are going. Are you going toward Christ, following him, moving in his direction? Are you standing still, just looking at him, and fearing to take the next step? Are you circling around him, holding him at arm's length, afraid to allow him to come any closer? Are you going away from him, rejecting his call on your life? What direction you are moving is the most important question. What's the next step that you need to take? Begin to plan now for those steps, and work toward your new goals now.
In John 16:12, Jesus tells his disciples, "I have more to say to you - more than you can now bear." He says that he would send the Holy Spirit to bring the disciples into the more that he has for them. Jesus has even more in store for my life, and for your life, and for the life of the Church. There is more of God than you know about at this time. We all need to be seeking the more that God is offering. Give the new Pastors a chance to help you grow spiritually. Keep moving toward the "prize". God's promise of this "prize" is in Revelations 21:1-4.
In getting read to conclude, I'll tell you about a friend in Pharmacia who gave me a shirt for Christmas when I worked there. It has a picture on it of a classroom with a teacher and some kids. One of them had his hand up and was saying, "Teacher, may I be excused - my brain is full." (Not bladder - brain). As we read through the Gospels in the New Testament, that's the way the disciples were when Jesus was teaching them. Jesus had to give them a little at a time then some more later as he was teaching them to be more like him. He was teaching them step by step to higher levels of spirituality. We are the disciples of today. We can grow spiritually to be more like Jesus this year. We can pray and plan for using the changes in our Churches for continued growth into a higher Christian level.
Going back to he opening songs: This year 2012, as we have "Just a Closer Walk" with God, and "Just Praise the Lord" - We can be "Raised Up to be More than We could ever be" without Jesus. "You Raise Me Up" song words: When I am down and oh, my soul so weary. When troubles come and my heart burdened be - Then I am still and wait here in the silence - Until You come and sit awhile with me. You rase me up so I can stand on mountains. You raise me up to walk on stormy seas. I am strong when I am on Your shoulders. You raise me up to more than I can be.