RWJ/Pottersville UMC 07/29/12 Sermon - "Encountering the Holy Spirit"

Sunday 07/29/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “Encountering the Holy Spirit”   

Scripture Lesson: Ephesians 3:14-21          

Gospel Lesson: John 6: 1-21      

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week, and as always it’s a great pleasure to be in worship with you today!

          This morning, I am finishing my five week series on how I think our local United Methodist Churches and our larger denominational United Methodist Church can get back to its historical Wesleyan roots to re-vitalize and breed revival in our church. In my first week of this series, I talked about how a church is much stronger with a pastor who is committed to the people, follows the Bible, and is dedicated to the Lord. In my second week of this series, I talked about how our church should look to the saints of the past to study and learn from their faith. By learning from the believers and saints who went before us, our own faiths are informed and strengthened as we serve and grow the kingdom of God. In the third part of this series, I talked about the Latin term “Corpus Christi,” which means the Body of Christ. While a strong pastor and looking to our past is vital, the Methodist Church has always been the strongest when the body of Christ loves, is united, and is committed to serving God and growing His kingdom. Last week, I talked about the forth part of my five part series, which was on the mission of the Christian Church. Our mission as a church is to reach people in the name of Jesus Christ, and to make disciples of Jesus Christ. In doing so, these disciples are changed from the inside out and are made new creations, as scripture tells us. As Christians then, “we are in the business of changing lives.”

          Today in this final part of this series, I am going to talk about the “hinge pin” that keeps this whole thing we call the church and Christianity together. This is the thing that moves us, this is the thing that inspires us, and this is the thing that drives us. The thing that changes hearts, the thing that changes minds, the thing that proves to people without a shadow of doubt that Christ is real, is alive, and is amongst us right now! This thing I speak of brothers and sisters is the Holy Spirit. For without the Holy Spirit the Christian Church is dead wood, and has no life. Only with the Holy Spirit can we fully be connected to God, and can we fully be the Christians and the church that the Lord has called us to be! It is also important to note that in addition to this sermon and the others I have preached in this series, I wanted to point out briefly other vital things that are necessary to grow and revitalize our church. These other things are daily prayer, daily devotion to reading the Word of God, fellowshipping with the Corpus Christi, or the Body of Christ, telling others about the Lord, and taking daily time to be with the Lord. All of these things are also vital to growing the church and very necessary.

          The Holy Spirit though, as I said is the hinge pin of this whole operation of the Christian faith. It’s the turbine engine on the Navy battleship, it’s the jet engine in the F-17, it’s the strength in a weightlifter, it’s the wind on a hot day, and it’s the water in the desert! The Holy Spirit guides us and informs us. But just what is the Holy Spirit? I mean it is sort of an odd thing if you think about it. When Jesus was baptized as scripture says, he “was filled with the Holy Spirit,” and at that point from age 30-33 Jesus went around proclaiming the good news of His gospel. We believe that Jesus Christ was God who came to earth and took on flesh, and was therefore, both fully God and fully human. As the Apostle Paul talked about in the scripture reading from Ephesians this morning, the “riches” of God’s glory come “through the spirit.” In loving and following Christ then, having the Holy Spirit gives us the fullness of God. In the reading from the Gospel of John today, Jesus took bread gave thanks and feed the Five-Thousand people with five barley loaves and two fish. I can imagine that the spirit was flowing powerfully when this miracle occurred! Also in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus walked on water, and I can imagine that the Holy Spirit was flowing at this miracle as well. I mean after all, I can only walk on water in cold of the winter! This is because the water is frozen!

          Here is how I would describe the Holy Spirit to you this morning. It is like an invisible bolt of lightning that comes in different amounts of power. It can hit you like a ton a bricks, it can be milder, and it can anywhere in between. But when you have experienced the Holy Spirit you know! Looking at our Holy Trinity in the typical format of an equal three sided triangle, we see that one side is the Holy Spirit. Yet in many churches today I do not hear the Holy Spirit preached. Sure I hear about Jesus and God, but not the Holy Spirit. You see as Christians we believe that God has revealed Himself to us in three forms, or if you want to think about like this, in three different costumes. All three costumes look and feel distinctly different, but all are truly the Lord on the inside. Much like water can be liquid, can be frozen solid, or can be stream, it’s all water. This is like the Holy Trinity, of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.

          Given this, how can we experience the fullness of God without encountering the Holy Spirit? If you have never felt that warm tingly feeling, that feeling that gives you goose bumps, that feeling of tremendous love and peace, maybe you have never received the Holy Spirit. These examples, are the ways of course I have encountered the Holy Spirit, but yours maybe quite different than mine. This I know though, when you encounter the Holy Spirit, you know! As my Grandpa Winkelman told me once, “maybe it was just gas Paul!” I said, “No grandpa, I think I know the difference.” It’s that feeling of intense warmth, love, and power surging through you! Who here amongst us today has experience the Holy Spirit like that?

          If you have never had an experience such as this, then it could be possible you have never encountered the Holy Spirit. If this true you might have accepted Christ in your mind, but without the spirit you might have never experience the touch and the power of God in your heart.

          Last weekend, my wife was at camp Aldersgate here in the Adirondack Park. I know that some of you have heard of this United Methodist Camp, and maybe some of you have even been there. Camp Aldersgate is a great summer camp, just like our Skye farm, and it is doing great work for the Lord! I was interested one day though, on just how Camp Aldersgate got its name. I mean Aldersgate I thought, was this camp named after someone like John Aldersgate, who made a generous donation to the United Methodist Church? I couldn’t find any record of that. Surely then I thought, it must have been named after a famous bishop like Bishop Coke or Bishop Asbury, who are where we get our names for the Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky, and the popular Christian bookstore Cokesbury. Many of you have probably heard of or shopped at Cokesbury, which is literally the combination of Bishop Thomas Coke’s last name, and Bishop Francis Asbury’s last name. You know what though? I didn’t find a famous Methodist Bishop named Bishop Aldersgate. I wondered then, where did Camp Aldersgate get its name?

           Well this name of many Methodist Churches and many other Methodist institutions was taken from an experience that John Wesley had on “Aldersgate Street” in London, England. In fact, John Wesley being an ordained clergy person in the Anglican Church, or the Church of England, was the not the most successful clergy person early on in his ministry. In fact, he returned to England in 1738 after a mission trip to Georgia that needless to say did not go well at all. Wesley now 34 years old had returned to London a largely broken man, feeling that he was not successful in ministry. I am sure that we can all relate to such setbacks and feelings that we have failed before we have succeeded.

          As the story goes, as it is also written in John Wesley’s journals, Wesley attended a prayer and worship service one night in London in 1738. As Wesley wrote, he went to this meeting reluctantly, but decided to go to this meeting of “Moravian” Christians. This prayer and worship meeting changed his life. The great humor of this is that these Moravians were reading the great reformer Martin Luther’s preface to the epistle to the Romans. So the Moravians were reading the founder of the Lutheran Church Martin Luther’s instruction to the book of Romans. Not really anything exciting I would think the introduction to Romans that Martin Luther wrote from his own perspective. As Wesley wrote in his journal though, as he heard the words read by Martin Luther from his preface to Romans, he “felt his heart strangely warmed.” He felt something different, and new, and warm, and powerful, and exciting! For our church founder John Wesley for the first time in his life encountered the Holy Spirit! The spirit of the living God that filled him, changed him, and reinvigorated him!

          From that point on John Wesley was a dynamo for Jesus Christ, and became responsible for the founding of the entire Methodist Movement. When you think about how big the United Methodist Church is and was you can imagine the thousands or even millions of lives that John Wesley touched in the name of Jesus Christ! He couldn’t do have this though without first encountering the Holy Spirit!

          In my home church of Moravia, NY, the congregation loves this John Wesley story, partly because the town in called Moravia, but largely because it shows the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Moravia/Locke United Methodist Church we have a retired Pentecostal Pastor in the congregation named Reverend Wayne Hampton. He always reminds me of the power of the Holy Spirit, and in fact the Pentecostal movement was completely founded around the Apostles experience at Pentecost of receiving the Holy Spirit. Many churches in America right now are shrinking, but many Pentecostal churches are growing, and I think it’s because of the Holy Spirit! I always joke with Reverend Hampton who is originally from “Massoura,” which I think means Missouri. I corrected him and said, “You mean Missouri,” and he responded, “No it’s Massoura.” I said ok them Reverend Hampton! I would often tell Reverend Hampton in joking, “You see here in the United Methodist Church we look at the Holy Trinity triangle and three equal sides of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in the Pentecostal Church, you have two little stubby sided of your triangle called the Father and the Son, then a massive triangle side for the Holy Spirit.” I then said, “Here in the United Methodist Church, we try to have equal sides of the Trinitarian triangle.” Reverend Hampton just said, “Well I can’t argue with that!” I wonder in some churches today if they even have a triangle at all, or if they just have two sides. Without the Holy Spirit we are lost, and we cannot fully experience the life changing power of God!

          I want close with a story, a story that in fact happened to me this past Thursday. This story involved one of my students, who we will call Jim. Jim is 16-years old student, who is on probation, is court ordered to attended AA or Alcohol Anonymous, struggles with drug use, is at risk to be sent to drug rehab or something else, and is highly sexually promiscuous. For some reason though, Jim always wants to tutor with me. In fact, this is a private tutoring situation, where his mother is paying me to help Jim pass one of his high school Regents exams next month, and Jim only wants to tutor with me. Jim always busts on me for being a Christian, tells me I have no fun, and tells me that being a Christian is boring. He is not disrespectful when he does this, but it is clear that he is not a fan of Christianity. Jim is also an avowed atheist. On Thursday this past week, Jim actually also tried to, no joke, convince me to do drugs with him. The first thing I said to Jim was, “Don’t you have an AA meeting a few hours after this tutoring session!” He said, “Oh yeah I do!” Jim explained to me that if I went out into the woods with him and used marijuana and various hallucinogenic drugs that I would experience the world in exciting new ways. Jim then told me that he believed I would likely draw closer to God, because in my potentially stoned state that I would experience the faith like never before. He said, “Well you have never really been high and soaring like I have, so how could really fully experience God?”

          I said to Jim, “Oh no I have experienced in my own way something bigger than any drug can offer.” I said, “Jim I have been to the mountain top, I have experienced the spirit of God, and that spiritual high in Jesus Christ that is more powerful than any drug I could ever do!” I told Jim, “I have seen men fall to the ground and tremor who have received the spirit of God, and I have seen people in states of heart and mind that far exceed anything you could ever buy from some pusher on the street!” I said, “So don’t get it crossed up Jim; I have been high on the Spirit of God! I have seen God in new ways, because Jim I have and continue to encounter the Holy Spirit!”

          To me the Holy Spirit is an amazing thing to encounter! I wouldn’t say I am addicted to it, but I do not need a drug made by human hands, when what my heart and soul needs is the spiritual remedy from the Holy Spirit that lifts my soul to the mountain top. God created us, so how can something we created ever compete with God. And I say to you today, if you have never received the Holy Spirit, if you have called upon the spirit of God, if you have never raised your hands I high in worship, you need to ask yourself, have I received the Holy Spirit? If you have not called upon the Lord today, lower the barriers of your heart, and be filled with the spiritual fire that is the Holy Spirit! Reach out to the Lord, and I hope and pray that you all have your own “Aldersgate experience.” Praise God and Amen!

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 07/22/12 Sermon - “We are in the Business of Changing Lives”

Sunday 07/22/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “We are in the Business of Changing Lives”   

Scripture Lesson: 2 Samuel 7:1-14a

Gospel Lesson: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week and as always it’s a great pleasure to be in worship with you today!

          This morning, I am continuing my five week series on how I think our local United Methodist Churches and our larger denominational United Methodist Church can get back to its historical Wesleyan roots to re-vitalize our church. In my first week of this series, I talked about the need for a pastor of a church to have great love and compassion for the needs of their congregation. How a pastor should be concerned with the well being and health of his or her congregation, while at the same time being devoted to God and preaching the gospel. In my second week of this series, I talked about the need to look at the Christian democracy of the dead. By viewing the believers that went before us, we can retain our authentic Christian faith, and at the same time reaffirm our own present day faiths. Last week, in the third part of this five week series, I talked about the Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ. Specifically, I talked about how the people of God and our church communities need to be a loving and a cohesive family. When we are truly the Corpus Christi we feel loved by the congregation, the congregation feels loved by us, and people who come into contact with us or this church, feel loved as well.      

          This week, I will be talking about the forth part of my five part series. While in the first three weeks of this series I have talked about the significance and the role of the pastor, the importance of looking to our past believers and heritage, and the role and significance of the congregation, this week I will be talking about what the mission of our and all churches should be. This mission, as the sermon title is called, is that “We are in the business of changing lives.” It has been a common question for people for a long time, to say “So what do you do for a living Bill,” or “What business are you in Joe?” While we all have jobs, or had jobs, we could say for example, “I was in the car business,” “I was in the farming business,” “I was in the banking business,” “I was in the food business,” and etc.” The question I have for this morning though, is was the business or job that you are or were in your sole driving motivation in life? If you sell or sold cars, was your only motivation in life to be in the business of selling more cars? Was that your highest life priority?

          Believe it or not even in the Christian seminary, I have met guys in there early twenties who clearly, whether they said it or not had clear what I like to call “bishop ambitions.” What are bishop ambitions you may ask? Bishop ambitions are when a young seminary student makes a plan to quickly climb the later from small churches, to bigger churches, to becoming a district superintendent, and then as you probably guessed it a bishop. I could see some of these really young fellows who seemed to have it all mapped out, they would tell me there plans to grow huge churches, and it was as if they plan to convert our whole state in a matter of hours!

          While serving God and serving the church is great, our focuses in our businesses should not be just money, climbing the latter and achieving titles. More than this, we should seek to change lives for Jesus Christ! We should not allow human ambitions to become our sole reality. For if you are or were a teacher, maybe you were a follower of Jesus Christ cleverly disguised as a teacher. Maybe you are or were a follower of Christ cleverly disguised as a nurse. As our scripture reading this morning from 2 Samuel points out, God told the soon to be King David, “I will make you a great name,” and God also said that he would raise David up and that his line would rule forever. Interesting to know that Jesus Christ is a direct descendent of King David born of the Tribe of Judah, just like King David, making the Old Testament prophecy of one who come in the line of King David to save us all true! In the Gospel of Mark reading this morning, Jesus saw a crowd and “he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd.” Jesus wanted to change their lives with his life saving message! He wanted that crowd to be new creations in him! Later on in the Gospel of Mark reading for this morning it talks about how Jesus healed many of all sorts of afflictions. Because Jesus Christ changes lives!

          You see brothers and sisters, we should strive to make a living, strive to work hard, and work to achieve, but not at the expense of Jesus Christ. Without the saving grace of Jesus Christ, where would be all be here today? Are we not lives who have been changed by the Lord? Are we not new creations from the inside out as scripture says?

          I have never heard of a man on his death bed saying, “you know Paul I wish I just put in a little more time at the office.” As the Reverend Billy Graham famously said once, “I never saw a U-Haul behind a hearse.” It is so easy in this modern day world to be caught in the splendor of money, success, and titles, but in this who do we glorify? Who do we serve? I had a friend once say in a message he gave, “If all of you were on trial here today for being a devout Christian, would there be enough evidence against you to convict you?” Or instead would the jury have strong reasonable doubt and decide you were innocent of being a Christian?

          In all of our lives, I think we have all at times taken our eyes of the Lord, and said “Wow. Look how great I am!” “Look at what I have accomplished!” “Look at how successful I am!” In these moments we often forget about God, but seem to really cling to God when things are awful don’t we? I heard a pastor say once, “There is no such thing as an atheist in a fox hole in war.” When we suffer we want God, but when we’re doing great we often think we are God! When I finally go onto to glory, and I stand before the Lord I don’t want the Lord to say, “Well Paul you worked a ton, made a ton of money, and then died.” I want the Lord to say, “Paul you have run the race, you have kept the faith, well done my good and faithful servant.” I want the Lord to say, “Paul you truly served my people, and you allowed me to use you to lead several people to me.” If you went on glory on this night, what would the Lord say to you do you think?

          For brothers and sister we are followers of the living Christ, and as a result our first business is always and should be always being “In the business of changing lives.” Make no mistake, we should not seek to merely fill pews here at church, we want people to stand up in church, and be able to confess “I am a life that was changed.” More valuable than any amount of money, is when people have told me “Paul, your faith changed my life, and helped lead me to the Lord.” As the song goes, “Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was changed. Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am so glad that you gave.” I can say truly brothers and sister that Jesus Christ has changed my life, and maybe Jesus Christ has changed your life to. And if you feel that tapping on your heart today, don’t ignore that. If you feel like you have a large yoke around your neck like a plow horse, you can drop that yoke today! If you feel like you carry heavy suitcases of burdens, if you feel like you have nothing to offer, Jesus says “leave your burdens at the foot of my cross!” Leave your burdens at the foot of the cross, as Jesus wants to take all of your burdens and give you peace, joy, and happiness! If you would but just tell Jesus you accept him as your Lord and savior!

          I long to see that person meet the Lord for the first time, and see the Lord tear off the chains that bind them! That they can say I am redeemed in the blood of the lamb! That I am a new creation in Jesus Christ! For brothers and sisters, we are in the business of changing lives. As we work hard, as we love our families, remember what the Lord has done for us, and let us say “I want others to have what I have.” This could be that co-worker, who doesn’t know Him, or that friend who is burdened, or that person who is suffering. Maybe the Lord is saying to you right now, will you tell that person about me? Will testify to that person what I have done in your life?

          While we all like to achieve, get ahead, and see our children succeed, being grounded in the Lord is the ultimate accomplishment, and is my central focus. In my short amount of time doing ministry, I have seen miraculous changes in people’s lives. I have seen addicts get clean, become clean shaved, and now are pillars in their churches! I have seen men who have come into Christian retreat weekends like the Walk to Emmaus ready to call it quits with there family. Ready to walk out the door! On that weekend some of these men got an anointing touch from the Lord and they went home with a whole new approach to their children and their family! I have seen and continue to see what the Lord has and continues to do! I wish someone a few days ago approached that young man in Aurora, Colorado before he shot all of those innocent people in that movie theater and said, “Don’t you know how much He loves you?” “The devil is leading you, let the Lord lead you.”

          As the song says brothers and sisters, “People need the Lord. At the end of open dreams, there is open door.” The Lord of life calls to you today. He says, “Feed my beloved sheep.” I hope and pray that over the course of my ministry here that I don’t just seek to grow a huge church, but that people who enter this house of the living God are changed people. That in this place they become something different! That they can say something happened here, and I will never be the same! For I have found Jesus, my chains are gone, and I am a life that has been changed! I then will say, welcome home brother! Welcome home sister!

          The only thing better then our own salvation, is helping someone else find the Lord. Seeing a broken person be rebuilt by Jesus is one of the best things that you will ever encounter in your life. Has anyone here ever discipled a friend or even a relative? Did they find the Lord? How did you feel about that? Can you put a monetary value on that? It’s sort of like those credit card commercials that end with “priceless” isn’t it?

          In looking to change lives for Jesus Christ, we don’t always know what is going to happen do we? My friend Jason from the Moravia/Locke United Methodist Church, where I live, recently came to the Lord. He called me this past week excited to have been baptized and to have joined the church this past Sunday, and is now in leadership at the church. He would never say it, but indirectly says to me all the time through his words and actions, “Paul thank you for giving to the Lord.” And who knows, Jason could be the next Billy Graham! When we say yes to the Lord, lives our changed, hearts are mended, and people are delivered from bondage.

          One of the most beloved Christian authors of the last century was C.S Lewis. I want to close this morning by reading a short passage from his writing “The Business of Heaven.” The title sounds sort of like today’s sermon title of “We are in the Business of changing lives” doesn’t it? This passage talks about how God can and will change your life, if you let him. This passage is specifically titled “Advent, December 1.” And it reads:

“Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on: you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were going to be made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

          If we allow him brothers and sisters, God can change us into a mighty and a new creation! Further, He can then use us to help lead others to Him. When we do so, then they will be changed into new and mighty creations! For brothers and sisters, “We are in the Business of Changing Lives!” So next time someone asks you next what business you are in, tell them this, “I am in the business of changing lives, and business is good.” Praise God and may we serve him by leading people to his precious son Jesus Christ!

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 07/15/12 Sermon - “Corpus Christi: The body of God’s People”

Sunday 07/15/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “Corpus Christi: The body of God’s People”   

Scripture Lesson: 2 Samuel 6: 1-5      

Gospel Lesson: Mark 6:14-29 

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! I hope and pray that you have all had a blessed week, and as always it’s a great pleasure to be in worship with you today.

          This morning I am continuing my five week series on how I think our local United Methodist Churches and our larger denominational United Methodist Church can get back to its historical Wesleyan roots to re-vitalize our church. My first week of this series, I talked about the need for a pastor of a church to love their congregation, and to care for the needs of their congregation. In my second week of this series, I talked about how if we as Christians want to have a fuller and a more authentic faith that we must look to those who went before us, or the Christian democracy of the dead.

          This week, is the third part of my series, and this message is called “Corpus Christi: The body of God’s People.” For many of you here today you probably hear the title “Corpus Christi,” and you think one of two things. One you might just say “huh, what did the pastor just say?” Or maybe your saying “is the pastor talking about that place in Texas?” I think there might also be other towns or cities in the U.S. named Corpus Christi.

          So while there are town and cities in the United States named Corpus Christi, what exactly does this title mean? More importantly, why would I give a sermon on the name of a town or city? Well, I assure you that there is a good answer to this question! First and foremost, the title “Corpus Christi” is a Latin term. Does anyone here know what this term means?

          In English this terms translates to “the body of Christ.” In the bible there are many references to the body of Christ. There are many scriptures that talk about the significance of God’s people fellowshipping, congregating, and being together in worship. We that are here today are the Corpus Christi or the body that God has chosen to serve him here on earth. We are those whom Christ has chosen, and those whom have accepted the salvation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

          In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, or 1Corinthians in our New Testament, Paul wrote in chapter 1:12-14, “¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free —and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.” As a result of this brothers and sisters, we can see here today by simply looking around our pews or at the whole congregation, that we are all unique and in some ways different from one another. As a result of this, don’t we all serve a unique purpose in the body of Christ, or the Corpus Christi? Do we not all have a specific ministry or set of ministries that the Lord of life has called us to? Don’t we collectively represent the hands and feet of the Risen Lord? Did the scripture readings today not discuss the people of David working together, and did they not discuss Jesus sending his apostles to heal and serve as the Corpus Christ?

          I saw a shirt last year at our United Methodist Church Annual Conference in Rochester, NY, and I might have told you this story, or I might not have, as I cannot remember. As I was sitting in the massive auditorium and we were voting about random line items in church policy and our church budget, I suddenly noticed a young women a few rows in front of me, who had a very interesting t-shirt on. At first I couldn’t read it clearly, but it was one of those situations where I needed to know what was on that t-shirt! It was bugging me! I was a little nervous though because a married United Methodist minister should not probably be starring at any young woman but his wife! Luckily, I made out the writing on the t-shirt after a few seconds. The t-shirt said, “Sometimes God performs miracles, but the rest of the time he sends me.”

          In reflecting upon that t-shirt, I came to realize something. I realized that sometimes when people are sick, when people have cancer, when people are in the greatest need that sometimes God does perform miracles. While God can perform a miracle wherever God wants to perform a miracle at any time, it appears that often God does not perform a miracle directly. I think for many of us, these realities are our personal trials of faith, when we say, “How could that have happened to such a nice a person?” “How could God have let that person die?” For some us, these are great mysteries, but this I know brothers and sisters, suffering does not usually come from the hands of almighty God, but rather it comes from these hands. It comes from our hands. And if God is working through his Corpus or his body, do we not have a responsibility then to serve our community and our Lord in the name of Jesus Christ? Should we not pray, heal, and love in the name of Jesus Christ? You see brothers and sisters, sometimes God performs miracle, but the rest of the time he sends us! He sends us to a broken world that desperately needs the life saving tough of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

          It’s always interesting to me to drive through a small area like where this church is. You see nice house, people out and about, and it would appear that everything, everything, in this area is perfect. That there are no problems, no suffering, and no hurting here. We often don’t see the suffering behind closed doors do we? We don’t see the tears shed in one’s private prayer closet. Jesus says to us this day and every day, as he said to the apostles, “feed my sheep,” “feed my sheep.”  We can be Jesus Christ with skin on. We can truly be the loving, caring, and compassionate body of our Lord Jesus Christ. We can do this by seeing the needs people have and meeting those needs where there at, by visiting the elderly who are sick or shut it. I had the pleasure of visiting sister Jean Reed, who is 96-years young and attended the Methodist Church in Johnsburg for decades. She asked me at some point to visit her sister Mildred who is 97-years young, or as Jean said, “she’s the older one.” My sister Jean last Sunday said she misses the body of Christ, as she can no longer get there. But guess what brothers and sisters, we can go to her and others! The first Sunday of August I look forward to bringing her communion, as she is an important part of the Corpus Christi, or the body of Christ! We must find those who are sick, suffering, lonely, in need of a loving touch, and we must be amongst those people brothers and sisters. For we are the Corpus Christi, we are the living body here on earth! Our church has historically and will continue to grow, because of the love and Christ-like actions and behaviors of the Corpus. While a pastor can give good sermons, and can lead a church well, the Corpus through Jesus Christ has always been the beating heart of the Christian Church.

          Let me dispel as well this morning, a commonly held myth. Has anyone ever heard some abuse the scripture, “Were two or more are gathered?” I hear a lot of men in particular say, “Well I don’t go to church, I worship God at home and watch a church service Sunday Morning.” I will then say, “oh really, do you watch it by yourself?” And they might say, “no sometimes a buddy or two comes over, and then we watch football after.” “So let me get this straight I say,” “you sitting in a recliner next to two friends, watching Joel Osteen, and then the NY Giants is going to church?” Here is the thing; can you be fed by God that way? Sure you can. Can you worship this way? Sure you can. If you cannot get here due to health, I am not talking to you, because that is a whole different situation. But if I call you at lunch time Sunday and I ask you why you weren’t in church, will you really have a good answer for me. Especially when you tell me that you visited that new church in Glens Falls called the Bedside Baptist, you know the one that is led by Reverend Sheets.

          This is a tough one, because a lot of us would rather just relax on Sunday morning at home, but if we do this how do we fully fellowship and worship with the whole Corpus or body? You see we need to be with our brothers and sisters in worship, not just because we are supposed to go to church every Sunday morning, but because the Corpus Christi needs you here. Your gifts and graces are needed, and when you are absent we are missing a finger, or a toe, or something else, and we are lacking. What we can count on is that head of the body is, was, and will always be present in the Corpus! That head is Jesus Christ, the leader of our body. The one in whom we gather to serve! The one whom created us, and desperately wants his children to gather to praise him, to love each other, and spread the life saving news of his gospel of life!

          As it seems, I started a trend and I will close with another short story. This story I have to admit is made up. Before I start, let me put this story into a context. Has anyone here every heard of the movie “Cast Away” with Tom Hanks? You probably remember in that movie Tom Hanks played a character that worked for Fed Ex, and the character’s air plane crashed into the ocean in the South Pacific Ocean in terrible storm. Tom Hank’s character survived for 4-years on this island in the South Pacific, until he finally was able to build a make shift boat and leave the island.

          Well I want to tell you a similar story about Steve Henderson, the Christian missionary. Steve was flying to Asia to serve on mission in the country of Vietnam with several other missionaries. In a similar fashion to Tom Hank’s character in the “Cast Away” movie, Steve’s plane was caught in awful storm and crashed into the ocean. Steve was marooned on a small island in the South Pacific, and as far as he knew was the only survivor from the airplane crash. After being on the island for a few weeks, and starting signal fires, screaming help until he lost his voice, and doing several other things, Steve said, “I think I might be here for awhile.” With this realization, Steve was determined to make his new marooned life alone somewhat enjoyable. Since Steve had no Gilligan, Skipper, or Ginger with him, he went to work alone. Using crude stone tools and wood tools, Steve built a hut that was his home, with a bed. He made a building that collected rain water. He made a building to cook in, and tool and work hut. He also made a guest house in the event he ever got any visitors. Steven wouldn’t you know it even made a church. It was a small building and Steve put a nice cross about the doorway.

          Steve ended up being on this island for 2-years, living on fish, coconuts, and whatever else he could find. As it turned out, one night a group of fishers a few miles out from Steve’s little island thought they saw smoke coming from the island. With the fishing being not so great that night, the fishers decided to investigate this smoky phenomenon. As they got close to the island they saw the little huts that Steve built, and were then sure that a person or people were there. In docking in their boat, and paddling into shore with the smaller boat, the sun was just starting to rise. I was a beautiful sunrise. All of the sudden Steve heard someone yell “Hello is there anyone here”? At first Steve thought he was dreaming, but then he quickly came to! Steve greeted the three fishers, explained how he got there, and needless to say there were all startled to see each other. Steve proud of the little town he built then showed the fishers around. He said, “This is my house, this is my rainwater hut, this is my cooking hut, this is my tool and work hut, and this is my guest house.” The fishers then saw the last hut with the cross on it.  They said, “Steve, is that your own church.” Very proudly Steve said, “Yes it is.” The Church hut just barely fit all four men, as they sat inside. Steve had tried to decorate the church with charcoal from a burnt stick and other natural plant colors on the island. The fishers were very impressed with Steve’s little town and his little church. As they were about to leave to get Steve to a place where he could go home, one on the fishers than saw another small building, down the beach a little bit. The fisher noticed that this small hut had a cross on it to. The one fisher said, “Steve wait, before we go, what is that building down there? ” Steve rolled his eyes and said sarcastically, “oh that building.” “That sir is my old church, but I left it, because they were all a bunch of hypocrites.”

          So you see brothers and sisters, while we sometimes struggle and can bicker within the Corpus Christi or the body of Christ, sometimes our struggle can also be within ourselves can’t it? So, let us be open to grace, peace, and mercy that Jesus Christ offers us daily by working through his Corpus or body. May his body continue to grow and strengthen us daily!

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 07/08/12 Sermon - "The Democracy of the Dead: Listening to the Saints who went before us"

Sunday 07/08/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon: “The Democracy of the Dead:

                   Listening to the Saints who went before us”   

Scripture Lesson: 2 Corinithians 12:2-10    

Gospel Lesson: Mark 6:1-13 

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ! Once again, my name is Pastor Paul Winkelman, and if I didn’t meet you last Sunday it’s a pleasure to be here with you in worship this morning.

          With that said, this morning I am continuing my five week series on how I think our local United Methodist Churches and our larger denominational United Methodist Church can get back to its historical Wesleyan roots. This does not mean that this specific church is doing anything wrong; rather this sermon is just a reminder of our historic Christian faith.

          I can imagine when some of you looked at this sermon title that you might have thought “this new minister is going to be talking to us about dead people.” Well I don’t know about this! And since it says the democracy of the dead in the sermon title, you might have thought that I was going to preach this morning on George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, or John Adams. While the founding fathers of our nation are not the main focus of this message, the focus is on all those followers of Christ who came before us. After all, it is estimated that Christ was crucified on or around 33A.D. So for almost 2,000 years we have had people who have followed Christ. The earliest Christians often referred to themselves just as “The Way,” meaning that they were following the “Way of the Lord.” According to the book of Acts in the New Testament, the church in Antioch was the first church to adopt the name “Christians,” which was likely 10-20 years after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Even the Apostle Paul was sometimes in scripture given the title of Christian. In fact, in Acts 26:28 King Herod Agrippa II (who was the seventh and last king) of the family of “Herod the Great.” replied to the Apostle Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" So since our faith is centuries old, we can then think of the multiple generations of Christians who have come before us. In our churches today, we could have as many as four generations of Christians present at one time. You could have great grandparents, grand parents, children, and grandchildren all in one church together. I have yet to see five generations, so let me know if you see that! I would really be interested in that!

          My own personal faith in Jesus Christ has been nurtured by people from my generation, my parent’s generation, and my grandparent’s generation. Many of these people of course are my friends and family members. As some of you are sitting here today, you can probably think of people from your grandparent’s generation and your great grandparent’s generations. In doing this, you can think about their Christian faith, what they believed in, and there contribution to this and or other churches. We realize that this church and all churches exist because the saints of this and other churches, who went before us, said “Yes Lord, I will serve you!” In fact, if we look around this church, we can realize that every pew, every hymnal, every wooden board, and everything in the construction of this church was made possible because the saints before and saints present here today said “Yes Lord, I will serve you!”

          An example of an older living saint is my grandfather Harold Winkelman, who was born in 1922, and is 90-years old. Or he says, “I’m no spring chicken.” When my grandfather was young he used to plow farm fields with horses and metal plows. His family finally did get a tractor in his later teens, but I can imagine how hard it was plowing those fields with those horses. He told me once that his father bought their first car when he was teenager, which was an old Model T-Ford. You know the ones you had to hand crank to start!

          My grandfather has taught me a lot about faith, and about being a faithful church going Christian. My grandfather also, like any good German has been a lifelong Lutheran, unlike his wayward Methodist Pastor grandson Paul Winkelman. My grandfather Harold’s father was also a Lutheran, as was his grandfather. In fact, my family as far as I have been able to research, have been Christian all the way back and far beyond when my family came over from Germany, and the other half of my family came over from Poland. So just in my own family then, we have a generational tradition going back centuries long, of various strong Christian faith traditions. We might have been or continue to be different Christian denominations, but for hundreds of years my family has believed in and followed Jesus Christ, for we are all Children of the living God. Continue thinking about your own families for a minute, with the framework I described for my family, if you are able to so. Think of your family heritage and history. How long has your family been Christian? Has it been 100 years? Has it been a 1,000 years? Has it been 1,500 years? Has it been longer? We all also realize that much like the Apostle Paul in this morning’s scripture reading, that we all have our thorns in our sides, and that we all struggle through this journey of faith and life together as a faith family. We realize that faith isn’t always easy and that sometimes we struggle with our faith. We realize like our gospel reading this morning, that Jesus healed in his time, and continues to heal now. We know that the path of faith and life was not easy for those who went before us either, and if anything it was probably harder.

          So this then brothers and sisters, this is the Christian democracy of the dead. If the original parishioners of this church as well as the first few founding ministers of this church were here this morning, what would they to say to us today? Would they say “well done good and faithful servants?” Or would they say “Dear Lord this is not what our founder John Wesley had in mind.” Would they say, “Keep it up brothers and sisters?” Or would they say “what have you done to God’s church?” While we obviously could not actually bring back all of these folks, imagine if could bring a cross section of them back throughout our Christian history. What if we had a large building to bring them all into, perhaps in Glens Falls, and what if we were all present to? What if we were gathering to talk about our faith, our church, and how we reach people for Jesus Christ? Imagine if we had John Wesley our founder, Christians who have attended this church, and have now passed on to glory? What would happen in that meeting?

          You see, when we are looking at revitalizing our United Methodist Church in the present day, and are looking at our historical Methodist roots and heritage, should we not ask these questions? Should we not consider the voices of the Christian democracy of the dead? Shouldn’t we consider those before us, who paved the road for faith with their blood, there sweat, and there tears?

          Don’t get me wrong our Christian brothers and sisters who have gone before us are alive in heaven, but not here on earth. We can’t actually have this conversation. Unfortunately brothers and sisters there are not post cards from Glory! There are no e-mails glory, no twitter accounts from glory, no cell phones text glory. I have never heard some who passed on to Glory texting someone still alive on earth and saying “Hey it’s a great day in heaven, how’s earth today?” We then have to study the saints who went before us to see their faith. To see that it has been passed down intact for generations. To see that they probably believed in the power of the bible, the saving grace found in Jesus Christ, and that he is coming back again one day!

          The Christian democracy of the dead, those past saints who paved the way for us. Those Christians who built this church, funded this church, and for those Christians who paid the ultimate price for Jesus Christ. And don’t think brothers and sister that only the early Christians were martyred left and right, as I have learned in my seminary studies that this past century of the 1900’s, we have had more Christian martyrs than all the previous centuries combined. But this I know this, if Saint Francis Asissi, the Apostle Peter, Saint Thomas Aquinas, John Wesley, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Billy Graham, Mother Theresa, you, your parents, me, and billions of other Christians then and now believe in our faith, then guess what it probably true isn’t it?

          I would like to close today with a story. I am sure at this point; you all realize that I like to tell stories. This is a story about a pastor who took his son and his son’s best friend fishing off the coast of Maine. It might not have been Maine as I cannot remember, but when I heard this story the first time, I was told that it was a true story. As the story goes, one Saturday early in the morning a pastor took his son and his son’s best friend out fishing off the coast of Maine, about 1-2 miles out. The pastor had a fairly large fishing boat, and they had a wonderful time. They laughed, they caught a lot of fish, and the pastor and his son talked about God. This made the pastor’s son’s best friend uncomfortable, as he did not know the Lord. As the day continued, all of the sudden in the early afternoon, black clouds rolled in. Suddenly it seemed that the heavens opened with rain, and while the Pastor had started to head back to shore, he didn’t get far. The rain pounded the fishing boat, the winds came, and the storm grew terrible quickly. Suddenly, despite the pastor’s best efforts, a wave and blast of wind toppled his boat. The pastor having had tons of experience with boats, quickly swam to the capsized boat, and wiggled his way to the floating portion of the overturned boat.

          Once he did this, he began shouting for his son and his son’s best friend. Remember it is a terrible and awful storm at this point. Then the man saw faintly, one set of arms near one side of the capsized boat, and another set on the other. The man yelled for both boys to swim to the capsized boat. It seemed though in the violence of the storm, neither of them could quite get to the boat. As the pastor panicked for a minute, he realized that the two boys would not make it much longer in the water. Realizing that his son knew Jesus, he leaped off the overturned boat, and grabbed his son’s best friend. He grabbed the best friend, and then got back to the capsized boat. He put the best friend on the floating surface of this overturned boat. He then immediately set his sights on his son, while at this point exhausted and almost out completely of energy. The pastor noticed that his son was some 10-20 feet away from the boat now. He shouted to his son to swim. The pastor though, realizing that he would never be able to swim to his son and bring him back alive, without drowning himself realized what was likely about to happen. Realizing this, with tears in his already soaked face, he said goodbye son, I love you, and I’ll see one day soon. As the pastor was grieving his son was drowning, and he and his son’s best friend clung to the capsized boat, for some 2-hours. Finally the storm ended, and the pastor and his son’s best friend were rescued by a Coast Guard boat that had gotten a report of a capsized fishing boat caught in the storm. As was expected the pastor’s son did not make it. It was a tough funeral, and the pastor’s son’s best friend stayed great friends with the pastor and grew up and moved away. One day many years later this story was being told to a church congregation like this one, and after the service a few of the parishioners said to the pastor. “You know pastor, this is a good story and all, but do you think that you should be making up stories like this for a sermon?” The pastor said, “I did no such thing.” The parishioners said, “then whom were you speaking of in the story pastor.” The pastor said, “I was speaking of me, because the father’s son was and is my best friend.”

          And on this day if you don’t know the Lord, or if you feel that your faith has grown cold, I invite you to ask the Lord of life to fill your heart on this day. Ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness, call upon on the Holy Spirit, and be changed by the grace and mercy of almighty God! For when you put your faith and trust in him, he will raise you up on wings like eagles!

RWJ/Pottersville UMC 07/01/12 Sermon - "My Hope and My Prayer"

Sunday 07/01/12 RWJ/Pottersville UMC

Sermon Title: “My Hope and My Prayer”

Scripture Lesson: 2^nd Corinithians 8:7-15   

Gospel Lesson: Mark 5:21-34

          Good morning brothers and sisters! I greet you in the name our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Let me start by saying what an honor and a privilege it is to be worshipping with you today in this house of the Lord. I want to especially take a moment to thank all of those who greeted me, helped to prepare the parsonage for me and my wife Melissa, and who have been resources for me when I had questions or needed information. We both feel treated great, and I can already see the realities of the love of Christ in this congregation! Further, I am incredibly humbled and privileged to be your new pastor, and am so overjoyed to be serving your church.

          Just a little bit about me before I start my sermon. I will give my whole testimony at some point, but instead of hitting you with everything about me at once, I will tell you just a little bit about me today. I am originally from Northern Illinois, and I have to admit that I am a big Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears fan. I moved to New York when I was elementary school with my mother Susan, who then married my step-father Mike. I went to High School down in Orange County, and met my beautiful wife Melissa at Potsdam College, during my five-years of college there. From Potsdam, I became a permanently certified social studies teacher, and taught full time in different school for a few years. I also have been an active tutor for twelve years, and still tutor for the Ithaca City School District when I am not up here. In getting into teaching to help the kids more than to teach the kids, I felt called to work with kids and their families more closely. As a result, I left teaching and was a social worker for four years at a non-profit organization in Ithaca, NY. In continuing to tutor I have had great opportunities to minister, and I often work with children that have extremely high needs, which my social work and mental health work experience has greatly helped me to do successfully. This all culminated in my call to ministry. Regarding my call to ministry itself, I have just finished my second of four years of seminary studies at the Northeastern Seminary and Roberts Wesleyan College. Just a little bit about the Northeastern Seminary, we are very evangelical and very biblical. I am excited to be part of a new evangelical crop of clergy that has studied at Northeastern. I will be attending the United Theological Seminary starting in August over the internet for my last two years of school, and will need to go to school in Dayton, Ohio one week a semester for the next 4-semesters. I will also hopefully be officially a licensed pastor in the next couple of months, as my paperwork and college transcripts are being processed. So, for the next two months my dear friend and our Adirondack District Superintendent Bill Mudge will be pre-consecrating our Communion elements for us. By the early fall I will be able to perform all sacramental duties in this church, as well marriages, funerals, and etc. I will also be available Monday’s in the church office from 9:00a.m.-4:00p.m., and will be here from Friday nights to late Monday afternoons.

          So, once again I will give a fuller testimony at some point, and I just wanted to take a few moments to tell all of you a little bit about myself. Today’s sermon came to me, when I contemplating a month ago what to give my first sermon on. I mean after all what do you tell a church that you are pasturing the very first Sunday you preach? This is a good question isn’t it? While thinking this over, one night our good friend Dottie came over to our house in Cayuga County. Dottie is a very dear friend of Melissa and I, and she has been attending a Methodist Church for years. We often would go to dinner at Dottie’s house, and like a good Methodist she had a lot of food. After all isn’t that a big part of being Methodist? We like our covered dishes to pass do we not?

          When Dottie came to visit, she seemed upset. I asked Dottie what was wrong, and she told me that she had some concerns with her church pastor. I certainly won’t mention the specific church or the pastor, but I will say that Dottie seemed disillusioned with the pastor. In fact, one time Dottie was not in church for 9-months due to various health problems, and Dottie said that the pastor of church never called or visited her once. As a result, anger and hurt built in her about this, and another time she didn’t attend church for 3-months. As Dottie was talking, I said to her, “you know what Dottie, I think you feel unloved by your pastor.” She then said, “wow Paul I think your right, I do feel unloved by my pastor.”

          I can say brothers and sisters that unfortunately I have attended churches in my life where I felt the pastor didn’t care about me, when they actually could have. As a result of all this, I wanted this first Sunday to tell you that it is “My Hope and My Prayer,” that this whole congregation, present and not present will feel loved by me. I very much already love all of you, am concerned about your well being, your health, and your individual ministries to serve our Lord. As read in our scriptures this morning, the love and grace of Christ, and the healing of Christ will be my biggest ministerial hopes and prayers in my time here. With this said my first five sermons will be a series on ways we can challenge our local church and our larger Methodist church in times of great uncertainty and change to be more faithful, more loving, and more biblical.

          This first message is further called “My Hope and My Prayer,” because as your new pastor there are many hopes and prayers I have for this church, this community, and for the spreading of the life saving gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s my hope and my prayer that we will hear many giggles of many children in this church soon. That we will one day have a large and vital Sunday school program. That your new Pastor Paul, will one day not only be your pastor, but God willing will also one day be your youth pastor.

          It is my hope and my prayer that we continue to cling to our historical faith that we practiced for 2,000 years. It is my hope and my prayer that we acknowledge the authority of the Bible, the sovereignty of almighty God, and the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. It is my hope and my prayer that I might be able to reach people in this community in the name of our redeemer Jesus Christ. That during my ministry here were can hear people right here in this community say, “I am a new creation, and I am a life that was changed in Jesus Christ.” It is my hope and my prayer that our nation has a great awakening of a revival that reinvigorates our church, our historic faith, the wayward nature of our nation. Billy Graham once referred to the Methodist Church as a “Sleeping Giant,” and said imagine what would happen if that giant awoke?” It is my hope and my prayer that in this church we will have fresh encounters with the risen Christ that we will renew our faith in almighty God, and that we will continue to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

          It is my hope and my prayer dear brothers and sisters that I will be a central part of this community and your church family. It is my hope and my prayer that I will be much more than just a Sunday morning preacher, that I can be invested in your lives, in this community, and in the ministries of this church. It is my hope and my prayer dear brothers and sisters that we will one day have church dinners. It is my hope and prayer to have many of you over to the church parsonage to visit. It is my hope and my prayer that you can say that we have a new pastor who doesn’t always do things perfect, that might have corny jokes, that is a broken sinner, but that he is here to serve me and this community. It is my hope and prayer that we as family can change hearts and lives in a world that knows him not. In a world that does not know Jesus Christ and desperately needs to repent and be saved in His name. And brothers and sisters if we ever needed Jesus as a nation, I would argue that there is no better time than now! It is my hope and my prayer that we all grow in faith while I serve this church, and it is my hope prayer that I learn much more from you than you will ever learn from me. In the end, if you remember nothing else about this first sermon I am giving, remember this: that I am here to serve and love you, because this is the way of our Lord Jesus. I want to be here when you’re suffering, when you’re sick, and when you need to be ministered to, and am a pastor who welcomes your fellowship.  Lastly, it is my hope and my prayer that all of you know that I am here to grow your worship and your traditions, not to change them. I am excited to continue the traditions and worship that you all have practiced for many years. It seems this church has a rich history, and instead of trying to change that history, I seek to add to it, learn it, and become part of traditions, your family, and your community.

          I want to close this message with a story. This is a story about a rich father, who lived in Pennsylvania around the time of World War II. The father had a wife, but she passed away, leaving him with just his one beloved son. The father being so wealthy did have a butler, but the father still loved his son more than anything. The father wasn’t shocked when his son announced his intention to enlist in the army and fight in World War II. Reluctantly, the father sent his son to fight. While away his son excelled in the army. He was a leader, but mostly was a servant to his fellow soldiers. He was also the first to volunteer, and loved his brothers in arms so much, that one day he dove on top of a hand grenade that suddenly flew into the vicinity that his military unit was in. Realizing that there was enough time to throw the grenade back at the enemy, he dove on the grenade and sacrificed himself so that everyone else may live. The war then ended a few months later. The father in Pennsylvania as you can imagine was in mourning, as he had heard the news shortly after his son had died. In the late fall of that same year, one day the father had a knock at his door, and it was one of the son’s best military friends. He told the father that the son was the bravest soldier that had ever seen, and that he sacrificed himself for everyone else. Fancying himself an artist, one night of low military activity this soldier drew a grease pencil picture of the son, and wanted to make sure that the father had it.

          The father once again being immensely wealthy, took one of his multi-million dollar Pablo Picasso paintings off his wall above his mantle, and then framed and put the drawing of his son up. It wasn’t much to look at, but it really did look like his son, and he was pleased with it. That winter, the father completely grief stricken by the loss of his son, died. His last will and testament called that all of his possessions and belongings be auctioned off, and that the money be donated to various charitable causes. The father also requested a man in his will that he knew who was an auctioneer to oversee this auction. The auctioneer was given some special instructions that no one else had. Allowing a couple of weeks before the auction, wealthy and prominent people for all corners of the globe came to this auction to buy up the expensive art work and the riches of the father. The auction then began, and the first item to be auctioned, as per the will, was the grease pencil picture of the father’s son. Everyone in attendance seemed frustrated as no one wanted this cheap grease pencil drawing of the son. The butler, who was still working for the father’s estate through the end this auction, assured everyone that after this piece of art sold the real riches would come. So the bidding be began, $500 dollars… nothing, $300 dollars… nothing, $100 dollars nothing. The auctioneer also having had know the son seemed frustrated that no one would buy the picture of the son. The auctioneer then said will no one bid on this drawing? The bidders of the auction seemed determined to have the item tabled, skipped, and not auctioned. Just before this happened though, the father’s butler said, “excuse me auctioneer, I know I am not part of this auction, but I did really love the father and I loved his son.” If it is ok with the rest of the folks who are here to buy the father’s riches, I was wondering if I might bid on the drawing of the son? The group quickly agreed, and the butler bid $20 dollars.  The auctioneer than did his normal routine of “going once, going twice, sold!” Upon say sold and hitting his gavel, the auctioneer then suddenly and unexpectedly said, “well thank you for coming folks, this concludes our auction.” The wealthy bidders from far and wide were furious and said, “But we haven’t even gotten to the real riches yet.” The auctioneer then said the special instructions I had from the father’s will were very clear. He said it says here who ever receives my son, gets everything. You see brothers and sisters when we receive the son; we get all of the riches of the father.