Sermons Preached In Moody Texas

Moody-Leon United Methodist Church

Col. 3:1-11

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living that life. But now you must get rid of all such things–anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!

As I visited with Evelyn Gipson this week in the hospital, she shared with me a song that God had given her. A friend of mine recently shared with me another song that God had given him. That song is the Dennis Jernigan song called “You Are My All in All.” The song I assume finds inspiration from the text we just read. This song is called a “Prayer Song.” In other words, a song that is directed toward God. It goes like this:

You Are My All in All

You are my strength when I am weak

You are the treasure that I seek.

You are my all in all!!

Jesus, Lamb of God! Worthy is your name.

Jesus, Lamb of God! Worthy is your name!

Rev. Leanne Hadley of the First Steps Spirituality Center in Colorado Springs showed me how to make a set of prayer beads. They are something you can manipulate while praying. They can be used to mark your way through a prayer. When I showed a set to Stephanie, her comment was, “Looks awfully Catholic.” You know she right. There is much we can learn about personal spirituality from the Roman Catholics.

I decided to use an acrostic with the beads. You know what an acrostic is. A classic example in our prayer life is the word ACTS. You take each letter of that word as the first letter of another word. A represents Adoration, C represents Confession, T represents Thanksgiving, and S represents Supplication. You can then let each letter be represented by one of the beads. These are five important elements of a prayer. Dr. Joey Jeter, one of my seminary professors, added a second “S” to represent submission. We can then use the beads to mark each of these prayer elements as they are added to our prayer. Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication, and Submission.

When we include these elements in our prayer life, we are following the advice in Colossians, allowing Christ to be our all in all. When we include these elements in our prayer life, this song becomes our song.

Seeking you as a precious jewel,

Lord, to give up I’d be a fool!!

You are my all in all!

Jesus, Lamb of God! Worthy is your name.

Jesus, Lamb of God! Worthy is your name!

It started with a single ceramic frog. Mother could point out the exact one in her vast collection of frogs. It came as a gift, a single frog. From it the collection started. She would get them as gifts. She would see one that she just had to have.

When Mother died, the collection became Stephanie’s. She reluctantly accepted it with the words, “I’ll take it, BUT I don’t want to get frogs as gifts.” Well, with the passing of time she enjoys the occasional gift of a frog. Frogs have a special meaning for our family.

Frogs took on an even more special meaning when I learned from Rebecca Hull that FROG is a well known acrostic. F-R-O-G represents “Fully Rely On God.” So when we see a frog we can be reminded to “Fully Rely On God.” That’s a pretty good summary of the passage from Colossians, fully rely on God, which makes this song our song.

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame,

Rising again I bless your name.

You are my all in All!!

Jesus, Lamb of God! Worthy is your name.

Jesus, Lamb of God! Worthy is your name!

The Quilt

As I faced my Maker at the last Judgement, I knelt before the Lord along with the other souls. Before each of us laid our lives, like the squares of a quilt, in many piles. An Angel sat before each of us sewing our quilt squares together into a tapestry that is our life. But, as my Angel took each piece of cloth off the pile, I noticed how ragged and empty each of my squares was. They were filled with giant holes. Each square was labeled with a part of my life that had been difficult, the challenges and temptations I was faced with in everyday life. I saw hardships that I had endured, which were the largest holes of all.

I glanced around me. Nobody else had such squares. Other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled with rich color and the bright hues of worldly fortune. I gazed upon my own life and was disheartened. My Angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together, threadbare and empty, like binding air. Finally the time came when each life was to be displayed, held up to the light, the scrutiny of truth. The others rose, each in turn, holding up their tapestries. So filled their lives had been.

My Angel looked upon me, and nodded for me to rise. My gaze dropped to the ground in shame. I hadn’t had all the earthly fortunes. I had love in my life, and laughter. But there had also been trials of illness and death, and false accusations that took from me my world, as I knew it. I had to start over many times. I often struggled with the temptation to quit, only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and begin again. I had spent many nights on my knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance in my life. I had often been held up to ridicule, which I endured painfully; each time offering it up to the Father in hopes that I would not melt within my skin beneath the judgmental gaze of those who unfairly judged me. And now, I had to face the truth. My life was what it was, and I had to accept it for what it had been.

I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of my life to the light. An awe-filled gasp filled the air. I gazed around at the others who stared at me with eyes wide. Then, I looked upon the tapestry before me. Light flooded the many holes, creating an image. The face of Christ. Then our Lord stood before me, with warmth and love in His eyes. He said, “Every time you gave over your life to Me, it became My life, My hardships, and My struggles. Each point of light in your life is when you stepped aside and let Me shine through, until there was more of Me than there was of you. - (Author Unknown, Submitted by David White to a website)

When we step aside and let Jesus shine through, until there is more of Him than there is of us, we have heard these words from Colossians and this song is our song.

When I fall down you pick me up!

When I am dry you fill my cup!!

You are my all in all!

Jesus, Lamb of God! Worthy is your name.

Jesus, Lamb of God! Worthy is your name!

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