Worship Service – February 21, 2021

Sunday February 21,2021.

Welcome this the first Sunday of Lent. Our scriptures today are Genesis 9:8-17, 1Peter 3:18-22 and Mark 1:9-15.

Genesis 9:8-17

(8) Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: (9) I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you (10) and with every living creature that was with you-the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you-every living creature on earth. (11) I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.
(12) And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: (13) I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (14) Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, (15) I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. (16) Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
(17) So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

1Peter 3:18-22

(18) For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, (19) through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison (20) who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, (21) and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also–not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, (22) who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand–with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.

Mark 1:9-15

The Baptism and Temptation of Jesus
(9) At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. (10) As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. (11) And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”
(12) At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, (13)and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him. (14) After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. (15) “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!”

This is the word of God, for the people of God. Thanks be to God.

Our theme this Lenten season is ”Moving Forward”. With this being the first Sunday of Lent, by tradition many of you will pledge to give up something for Lent or to change or add something in your normal routine. We do this to honor Christ and remember our baptism, and the covenant, Christ made to us by His death and resurrection. More times, than we like to admit, we fail in our attempt to follow through on our pledge. We don’t move forward. We give into temptation. So today, I would like to begin my message by sharing a story of how, temptation over takes us, keeps us from, ”Moving Forward”.
There was a man, let’s call him Rod, who was a fine woodworker. He made cabinets, tables, and mantels for family, friends, and fellow church members. One day his pastor asked him to come to his house and reconstruct a cabinet over his new refrigerator. The new refrigerator was taller than the old one. Rod agreed. When he came to do the work his pastor and his pastor’s wife were not at home. They had given him a key to get in. Why not? Rod was an elder of the church, a man to be trusted, a man of integrity.
At eleven o’clock, as he worked on the cabinet, Rod noticed that his stomach was growling. He was hungry. I mean, really hungry. He stopped working for a moment and looked around. Then he saw it. A chocolate cake, with one piece cut, as if to say, “I’m yours; take me.” Rod’s great weakness was chocolate.
A voice in his head said, “You can take it. The pastor and his wife wouldn’t mind.” Another voice replied, “No way. From the time you were a child you were taught to never take something that belongs to another. You must ask first.” He quickly looked back to his woodwork. “How could I even think of taking that piece of cake?” he said out loud.
As he reached for one of his tools, there was that piece of chocolate cake again, staring him in the face, beckoning him to come and feast. A hoarse, rough voice from within gave him encouragement: “If they were here, they’d tell you to take it.” What he later described as his “Baptist conscience” spoke to him also, “But they aren’t here!”
Rod started thinking about his background. He had been raised a Baptist, but now was a dedicated Presbyterian. How could he even consider taking that piece of cake? It would be stealing. Then he thought, “You could leave them a note and tell them you took it.” He reached for the piece of chocolate cake. Then stopped. “They will think you are rude if you do that.” He worked on, now famished and confused. He knew that he shouldn’t take it, but he still wanted that cake. He made his decision. He would resist temptation. He chose to do the right thing, but his stomach was still growling.
A few minutes later he noticed a jar of pepperoni sticks on the table near the chocolate cake. This time, his hand moved fast and his mind still faster: “They won’t even miss one stick.” The pepperoni tasted good as he put it into his mouth. “I like pepperoni almost as much as chocolate,” Rod rationalized.
What does this story of temptation have to do with the story of the flood in the book of Genesis? Further, what does the story of the flood have to do with our temptations today?
Our message today I’ve titled.

“THE WATERS of Temptation”

First, we need to understand, ”The Waters of the Flood”.
God created man in his own image. That meant that God did not make human beings to be robots who would always do his will. That meant that God gave men and women freedom to make choices between good and evil. That meant that we are all open to temptation, and that sometimes we use our freedom to resist temptation, but sometimes we use our freedom to accept temptation. God could have made us so that we would always do right, but he took a chance and, God made us in his image with freedom because he wanted us to love him of our own free will, not automatically.
To make the choice for evil, whether it is taking the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden or taking a pepperoni stick, is a part of our human condition.
The Bible tells us that after creation, the Lord observed mankind accepting and embracing temptations much more frequently than they resisted them. In Genesis 6:6 we are told, God “grieved” making human beings. “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness of earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” (Genesis 6:5). So, the Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth…. “ (Genesis 6:7).
Then in the next verse were told that ,Noah was the one exception to the pattern of unrelenting sin God observed.
Then we learn of Noah, who was a righteous man, thinking of God first, last, and always. “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”(Genesis 6:8)
Then in Genesis 6:11-14,we read. “Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of the violence.”(12) God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth has corrupted their ways. (13) So, God said to Noah,” I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth. (14) So make yourself an ark of cypress wood;”
Then came, ”The Waters of the Flood”. These were waters of punishment for disobedience, idolatry, violence, and self-centeredness. Only Noah, his family, and two animals of every kind were saved. As Noah floated over mountaintops in the waters of the flood, he wondered when the rains would end. When the rain stopped, he wondered when he would see dry ground again. Finally, one day he sent out a dove to see if the waters of the flood had subsided. The dove returned with no evidence of dry ground being found. After seven days, he sent the dove out again. This time the dove returned with a freshly plucked olive leaf in its beak.
So as many of us know, the dove is a sign of peace. When Christ came, the dove also became a symbol of Baptism. (More about that later.) Today we pick up the story of Noah in Genesis 9:8-17 where God establishes a covenant with Noah and his sons. God’s part of the covenant is that he will never again send floodwaters over the face of the earth. Noah and his descendants have a part in this covenant, too. Their part (and ours) is to promise to remember God and try to resist temptations when they come. The sign of this covenant is the rainbow.
So we ask the question. What difference does this biblical story make for our lives? One of the most important connections is discovered as we look at, ”The Waters of Baptism”.

“The Waters of Baptism”

The First Reading for the first Sunday in Lent is the story of the covenant God made with Noah after the waters of the flood receded, symbolized by a dove and a rainbow.
In the Second Reading for this first Sunday in Lent, we read about the covenant God makes with us in, ”The Waters of Baptism”. Peter writes, “… God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also–not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”(1 Peter 3:20-21). In other words, as the floodwaters saved Noah and his family, ”The Waters of Baptism” are used by God to save us.
The Gospel Reading in Mark 1:9-15, also makes the connection with the Old Testament story of temptation and water. In this passage, we hear about the Baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. Jesus was baptized as an example for us to follow. He didn’t need to repent, he never sinned; but he demonstrated his identification with sinners by being baptized as an example for us.
In the Gospel Reading we also hear of God’s approval: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” While this approval was for God’s Son, we experience that approval as well when we remember our Baptism.
In addition, in this Lenten Gospel Reading, we hear about the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness for forty days. In the 4th chapter of Luke, we learn how he overcame, ”The Waters of Temptation”. Jesus blazes the trail before us by showing how focus on God and His word to help us resist temptations. When temptations are not rejected, repentance is still possible. Remembering our Baptism is a way to come back to God when sin has separated us.
This Gospel Reading ends with a reminder of what we are to do went ,”The Waters of Temptation” flood over us; “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news” (Mark 1:15).
When the kingdom of God breaks into time, the possibility of people being restored to a right relationship with God opens up. Repentance is the act by which this restoration happens. In other words, Jesus was baptized not for himself, but for us. In the waters of Baptism, God reaches out and tells us, “You are my child; I am your God,” there by establishing a covenant of mutual loyalty and love. Like Jesus we are tempted, but with the temptation, God provides good news of a means of escape. Even if we sin, God provides the means of escape called repentance.
Paul puts it this way: “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
What is this “way out”? Martin Luther says that when depressions and temptations come, the best way to handle them is to say, “I am baptized.” He urges us to tell the demonic forces that tempt us that we are sons and daughters of God through Baptism and therefore those forces have no control over us. In other words, the punishing waters of the flood are reversed in the merciful, forgiving waters of Baptism.
One pastor describes the means of escape like this. There are two dogs fighting in every person. One is a dog called “Evil.” The other is a dog called “Good.” These two dogs are in conflict and viciously attack one another. “Which dog wins?” someone asked. “Whichever dog you feed,” the pastor replied. In other words, we have the possibility of being flooded with the waters of punishment if we feed “Evil” and the possibility of being flooded with the merciful, forgiving waters of Baptism if we can remember the one to whom we belong. It all depends on which dog we feed.
Back to our friend Rod, and his story about chocolate cake and pepperoni sticks. You will remember that Rod resisted the chocolate cake, the area where he was most vulnerable. Then the little voice of rationalization suggested that no one would know if he took a pepperoni stick. The pepperoni stick tasted mighty good as he first put it into his mouth, but as he sucked on it, he found that it had kind of an odd taste. Nevertheless, he was hungry, so he went back for a second piece. “They’ll never notice that two sticks are missing,” he thought.
This time he looked closer at the label on the jar. It read, “Puppy Pepperoni.”

When, ”The Waters of Temptation” flood over you, ”Feed the good dog”. Remember, ”The Waters of Baptism”, that has given you away out! Keep, ”Moving Forward”!

“The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and Believe the Good News!”

In His Service,
Pastor Joe
Listen To Audio: Sermon 20210221
Listen To Audio: Service 02212021

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Pastor Joe will be available at the church on Thursday afternoon from 2 to 4. If you need to speak to him, contact Pastor Joe at

570-267-4570 (cell) or email: joe.s.travis@gmail.com

Loose change today goes to Rev. Malaho / Kenya

Messenger deadline is Tuesday Feb. 23. Please get articles to Carolyn White via email or hard copy.

Saturday, February 27 from 10:00 to 11:00 weather permitting, Bonne will hold a class study on “Easter” from Lifeway Women.

Wonderful News: We received enough funds for the replacement and needed repairs to the chimney and surrounding structure. Session wishes to thank you for all donations! If you are in the parking lot, PLEASE TUNE YOUR RADIO TO 89.5 FM TO HEAR THE CHURCH SERVICE.

PLEASE NOTE: We ask that you wear a mask as you ENTER the church. Winter Months – Session discussed the procedures the congregation will follow during the winter months. People will enter and leave the Church by the front door. Mask must be worn as they enter and go to a pew. Mask must be worn when they leave the Church. Pastor Joe will stand near the pulpit when the service is finished to speak to people before they leave. He will not stand by the front door. Session is asking that people do not congregate in the vestibule or loiter for a long time in the sanctuary when they leave. Hand sanitizer is located by the front door for your use.

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