Sermon Podcast St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

May God bless you and fill you with His immeasurable love and presence.  We are so blessed to have served with you at St. Barnabas.
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So that I don’t assume that everyone has heard the news.  On Monday night I announced my resignation to the Vestry.  My last Sunday in the serving all of you will Next Sunday, May 28th.  The last service I will participate in is the Worship night on May 31st.  In June, I will take my vacation and use that as a time of transition.
 I apologize if this is the first time you are hearing about this.  But let me take the moment to say that if this is the case, you really do need to sign up for our mailchimp email correspondence through our website.
 With that being said, I know that the question on everyone’s mind, is why?
I have taken a position Middleburg, Florida a suburb of the Jacksonville area.  The church is called Good Samaritan Anglican Church.  It is a part of the Gulf Atlantic Diocese of the Anglican Church in North America.  When you look up the church you will see that it is smaller than St. Barnabas and I know you will ask again, why?
This is a fair question and one that can only be answered by saying Susan and I both feel that this is God’s call for us and for our family.  Not to go would be disobedience to the direction of God’s purpose and plan for us.  

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They followed Him.  Surrendered in worship and God began to lead them to accomplish all that He had prepared in advance for them to do.  They followed where God led, how God led, and when God led and God work in unimaginable ways that the nations of the world would come to see and hear they invitation of God’s great love in Jesus through them. 
They Listened and heard Jesus Speak.  They Surrendered in worshiped and prayer and God prepared them.  They followed God’s leading and were filled with the Holy Spirit;  The presence, the Power, and the Purposes of God.  And you and I are here today because they choose to be obedient to they path God placed before them.
I know for many there are all kinds of emotions yet to be processed.  But I hope you will be encouraged to listen to God speak, Surrender to him in worship and prayer, follow where God leads and you will experience God unimaginable power, presence, and purposes remaining alive and well here at St. Barnabas and in your own lives you will see experience God doing a new work in you that is greater than anything you could think or imagine for His sake and for His glory.

Listen, Surrender, and Follow I promise as you turn around and see where and what God has done, the Alleluias will resound.  Amen.
 
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“Like newborn babies, crave for (or long for) pure spiritual milk.  If you have tasted that the Lord is good.”  Crave pure spiritual milk.  This is momma’s milk with all the nutrients, antibiotics, and health that a baby needs.  Pure Spiritual Milk was understood to be that which was life giving and pure.
 Let’s stop for a second and ask ourselves, What are we craving for?  Right now at this point, at this stage in our lives, what are we craving?  What are the cravings that consume our minds, bodies, and souls?  Where and to what do we turn to fill these cravings?  
Do the answers to these questions lead us to the heart of God, that which is holy and pure/of the nature of God, right/in line with God’s desires, good/honoring to the Lord, and life giving/advancing God’s purposes in life and relationships?  
Or do our answers lead us to things that gratify the flesh, that which is what we want , when we want it, how we want it.  Do our answers lead us to things that gratify our self-seeking pleasures, that glorify ourselves as we live life looking out for our best interest? 
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Do you remember when you were a kid and you got those walkie talkies for Christmas.  What was the first things you would do?  Press the button and say can you hear me?  Then you would start moving farther and farther apart, checking to see how good they really worked and how far apart you could be from one another and still hear each other.  Can you hear me now?

It was exciting to hear your brother or sister, mom or dad, or even a friend from around the corner or down the street when you could no longer see each other.  And once you found the breaking distance, the point in which the voice no longer came in clear, you would start to walk back towards each other, closer to one another until the voices once again were clear.

Bigger toys for bigger boys right: (pull out cell phone)

Things really haven’t changed that much.  Perhaps you remember those early Verizon commercials:  Can you hear me now?

When you are talking on your phone and the call starts to drop, what do you do?  First, you look at the phone to see if there is still a connection.  If there is, you begin to move around a little bit.   If you happen to be driving, you might wait a second or two and then start saying, can you hear me.

When we are connected to someone through a walkie talkie or even one of these, it is frustrating when the signal is not clear and what the other person is saying is jumbled up or just plain drops such that the message, they are intending to share is unable to be discerned or even heard at all. 

When this happens, we move, hoping that the signals which we don’t really understand will somehow reconnect and will once again become clear so that we can reconnect and engage in the relationship that these devices enable us to enjoy.

What if there were devices that would allow you to hear the voice of God, would you use them?  And if you did and the voice of God started growing faint, becoming broken up, or dropping out altogether, would you be willing to move, to make some adjustments so that God’s voice would again be clear, that you could engage in the relationship that these devices enable you to enjoy?  

In our Gospel text this morning, Jesus clearly states that “His sheep will hear His voice”.  
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