Sat, 22 July 2017
One of the popular tv shows during my childhood years was “I Dream of Genie.” It was a show about a genie that lived in a bottle. She had to do the bidding of her master. Wouldn’t you love to have that?
We have something far better. We have Almighty God to whom we can take our requests and He will answer them in a way that is best for us.
Sometimes it may seem that He is not answering our prayers. We pray but it seems that our prayers don’t get beyond the ceiling. Let’s look into the Word of God for an answer to the question, “Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?”
What Would You Ask? “Why Doesn’t God Answer My Prayers?” James 4:1-3
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Sun, 25 June 2017
This morning we’re starting a brand new summer sermon series called, “What Would You Ask?” We invited you to submit questions that you would ask the Lord. And you accepted the invitation! We received dozens of questions. From them we’ve chosen six that we will try to answer from God’s word over the next six Sundays.
Let me give you an idea of some of the questions that we will tackle in coming weeks:
“Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” “What Does God Say about Sexual Identity?” “Why Doesn’t God Answer My Prayers?” “Can Faith and Science Coexist?” “Can Man Be Free and God Be Sovereign?”
I hope you will join us for the entire series. We also are planning to do a Facebook live chat each week to answer questions that arise from the questions we answer.
We begin today by tackling a question that could be seen by some as offensive. I want to ask you beforehand not to take offense. I’ll read the questions as it was submitted, “Will Catholics go to heaven?”
Out of curiosity I googled this question and the first result that popped up (after an ad) was “Can Non-Catholics Go to Heaven?” Isn’t that funny? The same question that some may have about Catholics, Catholics have about some of us! This morning’s question could actually be posed for all denominations: “Will Baptists go to heaven?” “Will Methodists go to heaven?” That same question could be broadened beyond denominations to other faiths or religions. Mormons? Muslims? Jews?
I’m reminded of an oft-told story about heaven. A new arrival was getting a tour. As he walked alongside an angel down a long hallway, they came to a room where the folks where excited. They were shouting, clapping, shaking a tambourine, and running. “Those are the Pentecostals,” said the angel. Soon they came to another room. The folks were solemn. A priest in a colorful robe was in procession with candles and liturgy. They were sharing the Holy Eucharist. “Those are the Anglicans,” said the angel. Soon they approached a third room. The angel began tiptoeing and whispered, “Shhhh. Those are the Baptists and they think they’re the only ones here.”
Ouch. Sometimes we might think that we are the only ones that are going to be in heaven. It’s been said that when we get to heaven, two things will surprise us: who’s there and who’s not there.
We are going to look at God’s word in an effort to answer this question: “Will [You Fill in the Blank] Go to Heaven?”
What Would You Ask? “Will [You-Fill-in-the-Blank] Go to Heaven?” John 3:1-16
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