SUNDAY SERMON
4/26/2020
Good morning. I’m Pastor Rod Davison here at Hilltop Chapel in Miramonte CA. We are delighted to have you with us this morning and we hope you receive a blessing. Let’s have a word of prayer. “Father God we thank you that you brought us here this morning. We thank you Lord that no matter where we are you are there. You promised that you would never leave us of forsake us. And Lord we just ask as we begin this service that all of our eyes, all of our ears will be trained on you and what you have us to hear this morning. Help us to realize that all things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to His purpose. We praise you now and thank you in Jesus’ matchless name. Amen.”
SERMON: Open your Bibles and read 1 Peter 2:9-10. Before we begin let’s have a word of prayer. “Father we thank you that your Word is true. That it is always the same. That you never change, neither does your Word, Lord. We ask that as we read your Word this morning that we apply it to our hearts and to our lives and we will give you the praise, honor and glory. Amen.”
Traveling in the wrong direction can sometimes happen by accident, but most times it stems from deliberate decision making. I would like to relate to you this morning 2 stories, one which you may already be familiar and the other not so much. One is described in Luke chapter 15 which we will be reading later, the other one is about a man that did an amazing feat and claimed that it all happened by accident.
So I’d like to share a story that captured the imagination of the entire world at a time that the world needed shall I say, a diversion. I thought we needed a little diversion from what is going on with the Coronavirus. This was a diversion that helped lift some people out of their dispondencey during the Great Depression. In light of what is happening around the world today we might be able to draw a few rays of sunshine to build on. The year is 1938, a young man who had been an aircraft mechanic for Charles Linberg’s ‘Spirit of St. Louis’ before his historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean to England in 1927, decided he would try his luck also. He flew first of all, non-stop across the United States with no problems.. He took off from Long Beach, California and flew to Brooklyn, New York. However, he was told by the FFA that his plane was too old to make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. The government denied him permission, but gave him permission to fly back to California. On July 17, 1938 Douglas Corrigan took off from Brooklyn, New York. A few minutes after taking off, so the story goes, he flew into a cloud bank and mysteriously disappeared only to land his Curtis Robin aircraft in Dublin, Ireland 24 hours later. His story was that he encountered bad weather, got disoriented and when he came down out of the clouds and saw land, he found the biggest city, then the biggest airport and landed. When he got out of the plane he confidently said,”I just got in from New York. Where am I?” Shortly thereafter he was stripped of his pilot’s license and sent back to New York on a ship. However, by the time he got there news of his exploit had leaked out and he was welcomed as an aviation hero. He was given a parade in New York City and his legend as Wrongway Corrigan grew and became a folk tale. So even though many people believed Corrigan knew exactly what he was doing when he flew to Ireland, he maintained his story through the rest of his life and kept it until his dying day. Maybe Corrigan is the key example of the saying, if you tell a lie long enough, you begin to believe it yourself.
So I’d like to share a story that captured the imagination of the entire world at a time that the world needed shall I say, a diversion. I thought we needed a little diversion from what is going on with the Coronavirus. This was a diversion that helped lift some people out of their dispondencey during the Great Depression. In light of what is happening around the world today we might be able to draw a few rays of sunshine to build on. The year is 1938, a young man who had been an aircraft mechanic for Charles Linberg’s ‘Spirit of St. Louis’ before his historic solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean to England in 1927, decided he would try his luck also. He flew first of all, non-stop across the United States with no problems.. He took off from Long Beach, California and flew to Brooklyn, New York. However, he was told by the FFA that his plane was too old to make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean. The government denied him permission, but gave him permission to fly back to California. On July 17, 1938 Douglas Corrigan took off from Brooklyn, New York. A few minutes after taking off, so the story goes, he flew into a cloud bank and mysteriously disappeared only to land his Curtis Robin aircraft in Dublin, Ireland 24 hours later. His story was that he encountered bad weather, got disoriented and when he came down out of the clouds and saw land, he found the biggest city, then the biggest airport and landed. When he got out of the plane he confidently said,”I just got in from New York. Where am I?” Shortly thereafter he was stripped of his pilot’s license and sent back to New York on a ship. However, by the time he got there news of his exploit had leaked out and he was welcomed as an aviation hero. He was given a parade in New York City and his legend as Wrongway Corrigan grew and became a folk tale. So even though many people believed Corrigan knew exactly what he was doing when he flew to Ireland, he maintained his story through the rest of his life and kept it until his dying day. Maybe Corrigan is the key example of the saying, if you tell a lie long enough, you begin to believe it yourself.
Now let’s take a look at our second example, commonly known as the parable of the Prodigal Son, one of the more famous stories told by Jesus during His ministry here on earth. It’s found in Luke Chapter 15:11-32. Please take your Bible and read this passage. In Jewish tradition, the lions share of the father’s estate is given to the eldest son at the father’s death. Period. There is no equivocation, no arguing the point. It’s just the way it is. But in this case, for reason’s known only to him, the father makes an exception and gives his portion of his inheritance while his is still living. The younger son immediately leaves home and travels to a far country and in short order he blows it all. He’s broke now, far from home, and hungry. He’s literally starving and has no real prospect of altering the situation. He lowers himself to the most degrading possible position by taking a job feeding pigs. As many of you know, according to Jewish law, it is a sin to eat pork, and here is this young man helping to nurture the very animals he is forbidden to touch, let alone eat. In verse 16 it says, “he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.” The young man was literally starving to death and had nowhere to go, and no one to turn to. How many of you have been there? You made a terrible descision and it just robbed you of any dignity, hope for the future and respect of others. I can tell you, I have. There is deep regret, disparity, self-loathing, and knowledge that nothing will ever be the same again. There is no saying, “Let’s go back and do this over. And I promise I’ll get it right the next time.” It’s over, and you know it. Such moments fundamentally altered the course of our lives, and desicions coming out of those situations, will either ruin us forever or turn us to an alternative way of looking at life. When the Prodigal Son looked at his options, the only one that made sense was to go back home, face his father and humble himself asking only to be one of his father’s hired servants.
As I was thinking about this sermon this morning I was thinking about all the things I could tell you about my life and what brought me to this position here at Hilltop Chapel, but I decided that would be a waste of time because a lot of you already know my story and I want to share what God has done through that story. When I came to Hilltop Chapel in 1985 it was the first time I had been in a church for quite a few months maybe years. My son is the one who had shamed me into coming. I’m not going to tell you the whole story, but, one Sunday he asked me, “Why don’t you go to church?” He was going to church with some friends that took him to Sunday School and Church and. I think he was probably 12 or13 years old at the time. At that very moment I felt like probably how the Prodigal Son felt, because that was exactly who I was. A week later I was in church. That was 35 years ago and I’ve been here ever since. And 10 years after that God led me into the ministry, the last place I ever thought I’d be. The decision was made to turn my life back over to God. Just like the Prodigal son turned his life back over to his father’s care. God is a wonderful Father. He blesses us, he strengthens us, he encourages us and all he asks for is our love in return. That’s all He asks for.
Maybe some of you have been running away from God for a long time. And you keep telling yourself things like: God doesn’t really care; I don’t even know if there is a God. Well let me tell you for sure by someone who has been down the road, there is a God, and He’s faithful, He’ll never leave you, He’ll never forsake you. All you have to do is give your life to Him. We’ve all tried giving our lives to ourselves, putting it in our hands, trying to do this, trying to do that, trying to do the other thing. Going the wrong direction, just like Douglas Corrigan, just like the Prodigal Son, can lead us into all kinds of things that we never dreamed would happen. Most of those things turned to dust eventually. Most of those things, no I’ll say all of those things have detrimental affect, not only on you, but on others. But when you turn your life over to God all those things that were detrimental, all those things that clouded your life with doubt, fear and mixed emotions are lifted. And what we have is an individual, a group of people, a whole bunch of people that come and say to God, “I need you.” And God says, “I’ve been waiting for you. All you had to do was come. And when you come, I’m there for you. I will never leave you, I will never forsake you.” And you become this—listen to this as I read it, ”you are a chosen generation, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Isn’t that wonderful? For once we’re not a people but now we are the people of God who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. When you come to God when you place your life in His hands, everything changes.
Some of you may be in a very dark place right now. You’re looking at the world, you’re unemployed, maybe you have family members who have disowned you for whatever reason, maybe you just feel like there is nothing in the world that you can do that’s going to turn out right. Well guess what! God says different! God has a plan for your life. God wants to make you whole again. God wants to turn you from what you are right now into someone that is marvelous. You are a chosen generation, a Royal Priesthood, a holy Nation, His own special people and He has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. That’s who you are as a believer in Jesus Christ. It only takes a second to say Yes to Him. Going the wrong way is never a good option. Going the right way will turn out so beautifully and so wonderfully that you’ll never believe that you went the wrong way in the first place. God is always there, and He wants you to come back to Him.
Thank you for listening this morning. I pray that you receive a blessing and that God will be a part of your life from now until Jesus comes again. Thank you. Let’s have a word of prayer.
“Father God, doing this every Sunday morning, is a blessing for me. And I pray for all the people that are tuning in today will also share in that blessing. All they have to do is trust in you, and wonderful things will begin to happen. We lift this day to you and ask that the blessing you have for each person tuning in this morning will be multiplied again, and again, and again as they see what you’re capable of doing in a heart and a life that’s turned over to you. We praise you thank you in Jesus’ matchless name. Amen.
Thank you for listening this morning. I pray that you receive a blessing and that God will be a part of your life from now until Jesus comes again. Thank you. Let’s have a word of prayer.
“Father God, doing this every Sunday morning, is a blessing for me. And I pray for all the people that are tuning in today will also share in that blessing. All they have to do is trust in you, and wonderful things will begin to happen. We lift this day to you and ask that the blessing you have for each person tuning in this morning will be multiplied again, and again, and again as they see what you’re capable of doing in a heart and a life that’s turned over to you. We praise you thank you in Jesus’ matchless name. Amen.
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