Mt. Lebanon United Presbyterian Church     
 
Linda Pokrajac - "Are We There Yet?"

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Messages of Grace

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This Sunday
July 3, 2016



Sermon Title:
"Are We
There Yet?"



Scripture: 
Psalms 123-125  
Linda Pokrajac
June 30, 2016

Dear MLEPC Members and Friends:

Last week I had the opportunity to co-teach a class of 13 first graders at Vacation Bible School. Only two of those children were from MLEPC families, and most of the children were friends and classmates of one of our families from their neighborhood elementary school. The curriculum was one of the best I've seen in my years of VBS experience at MLEPC, focusing on New Testament stories from John the Baptist through the coming of the Holy Spirit. For our first graders, the Bible stories were presented well with age-appropriate activities to enhance the lessons on the themes Jesus gives us of hope, courage, direction, love and power.
 
On Day 2 of VBS our Bible story was Matthew 14:22-33, where Jesus walks on the water to the disciples who were in a boat, far from land, beaten by the waves in the midst of a storm. Although some form of this story appears in three gospels, it is only Matthew who records the story of Peter courageously stepping out into the sea as invited by Jesus. It was less-than-organized chaos as we reenacted this story several times, using an inflatable Dole pineapple boat that has been in our family for about 40 years, some spray bottles to provide the mist that the disciples would have felt, and eager children to rock the boat and simulate the waves. At the end of the week, I was encouraged to hear that this story was the favorite of at least one child. I told the children that I've always felt that the best part of that story is the last verse, "And those in the boat worshiped Him (Jesus), saying, 'Truly, you are the Son of God.'" Peter courageously stepped out of the boat onto the water when invited by Jesus, but he lost his focus and started to sink when he took his eyes off of Jesus. It was when the disciples witnessed Peter's less-than-perfect faith and Jesus' response as He IMMEDIATELY reached out to save him that the disciples acknowledged Jesus as Son of God.
 
In our journeys through life we too sometimes exhibit imperfect faith, yet as the world witnesses our response to the challenges we experience and how Jesus walks with us through them, they too may come to know Jesus. This week in worship, we will look at a trilogy of psalms that form a story as part of our sermon series using the Psalms of Ascent, "The Journey Isn't Over." In a sermon titled "Are We There Yet?," we'll look at how the theological themes of hope, remembrance and security are presented in Psalms 123-125, helping us travel through situations where we ask the question, "are we there yet?" The hope we have in Jesus allows us, like the author of Psalm 123, to lift up our eyes and focus on God who is enthroned in the heavens, mindful of His mercy. Psalm 124 closes with a verse that encourages us to remember past challenges in life where our faith carried us through: "Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth." And through all of our travels through life, good and bad, we are reassured like the author of Psalm 125, trusting in the Lord who cannot be moved and abides forever!
 
Love, in Christ,
 
Linda Pokrajac

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