SPECIAL DAYS: Sunday School Rally Day

September 19, 1999 - LESSON: 2 Corinthians 5:17, NRSV

SERMON TITLE: Creation Safari

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. You know how it goes sometimes.
    1. You have had a great dinner with friends.
    2. Enjoyed the meal and the conversation.
    3. One of them says, "Now, would you like to look at our slides from our trip."
      1. Only in this case it is a video tape.
      2. Any hesitation leads to turning on the equipment and the tape begins to spool.
      3. Often it is boring.
    4. You are looking at people you don't know doing things in which you were not involved.
    5. This time it was different
    6. It was very interesting.
    7. Your friends had been on an African Safari.
      1. They had some incredible shots of wildlife.
      2. Lions and elephants, Zebras and Gazelles
      3. They had close-ups of the accommodations that were very comfortable with all the amenities.
      4. They had long-shots of breathtaking sunsets.
  2. It creates within you the urge to go on safari
    1. You check out local resources by talking with a travel agent.
    2. You could also check out the online resources.
      1. Targa Safaris: Trans-African Game Adventures
        1. We Specialize in Tailor-made, Personalized, Customized and Group Safaris in Africa
        2. The list of offerings is impressive, and so, I am sure, is the cost.

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      2. Wildscape Safaris, Queensland, Australia.
        1. Wildscape Safaris is an accredited provider of comprehensive nature-based ecotours since 1997, specializing in Tropical North Queensland's amazing wildlife.
        2. Platypus in the Tropics and The Rain Forest...At Night are tours, which have proved particularly popular with visitors to the Tropical North.

MAIN BODY:

  1. Today's safaris are well-planned and very comfortable.
    1. It still requires an enormous amount of organization.
    2. You needed a guide, bearers, food, shelter, reliable weapons and personal gear.
  2. To really enjoy a safari, it is important to realize that it requires the acceptance of significant change.
    1. I was recently in Madison and Dr. Peay, Pastor of Heritage church showed me a picture of the monastery in Melk, Germany.
    2. I recalled an experience with Helga and Karin.
      1. We were eating dinner in an outdoor restaurant, enjoying the entrees of the area.
      2. Behind us a group of American's were reading the menu deciding what to order.
      3. They finally ordered hamburgers.
    3. Dr. Peay studied at this monastery.
      1. He sat eating at the same restaurant and listening to a group of tourists complain about this and that.
      2. Unable to constrain himself, he spoke kindly, reminding them that in order to really enjoy being in a foreign country, they had to stop wanting everything like it was at home.
      3. But they said, we are Americans.
      4. He replied that he was as well.

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    4. To appreciate and enjoy a safari, it is important to fully enter the experience.
      1. A safari could be ruined by complaining that things are not like they were at home.
      2. They will not be like home.
  3. The theme for Sunday School this year is Creation Safari.
    1. It is the means for exploring and understanding God's creation.
      1. God did create.
      2. Humanity has contaminated.
      3. It is difficult to know the original from the alterations.
    2. There is much that can be learned and appreciated.
  4. If the Sunday School is going on a Creation Safari, perhaps, we could consider the necessity of a safari of our own.
    1. Instead of going to Africa to look for wildlife, we could take an inner journey.
    2. The original meaning of safari was a journey.
    3. You still need all the components of a safari.
    4. You also need know what you are safaring for.
      1. Love, Joy, Peace, Place, Hope, Contentment, Satisfaction and Fulfillment are a few important components of life which come to mind.
      2. It is too obvious that there are a few more that ought to be acquired, especially from the position of a Christian.
  5. This is where God can definitely help us.
    1. We need a guide.
      1. We have a guide
      2. (Ephesians 4:15-16 NRSV)
      3. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
      4. (Colossians 1:18-20 NRSV)

        5. He (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

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    2. If Jesus is truly our guide then it follows that the body should follow the head.
      1. The body has no intelligence of it's own.
      2. It is dependent on the head for guidance, counsel and direction.
      3. This is why in Matthew 16:24-25, Jesus told his disciples,

        4. "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

    3. We need bearers
      1. (Galatians 6:2 NRSV)
        Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
      2. We not only bear our own burdens, we also share in the carrying of the other's
      3. In this we have help.
        1. Matthew 11:28-30 NRSV
          "Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
    4. We need food and drink, but not to fulfill the needs of the body but of the spirit, the soul.
      1. John 6:35 NRSV
        Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

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    5. We need reliable weapons, but not those which can kill, but those which can protect and save.
      1. Ephesians 6:11-13 NRSV
        Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
    6. So we have everything we need to go on a safari.

CONCLUSION:

  1. The one important factor which now comes into play is the ability to accept the changes necessary.
    1. We are not tourists in a strange country.
    2. We are the people of God living and on our way to the Kingdom of God.
      2 Corinthians 5:17-18a:
      So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.
      1. What we are seeking to find is the new creation.
      2. In Christ everything old has passed away, everything has become new.
      3. In us the old is passing away and the new is coming.
      4. We live in a state of constant change.
      5. We recognize that not all change is beneficial.
      6. In Christ change is beneficial.

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  1. We admit that we find it difficult to change.
    1. We have the option of resistance or embracement.
    2. Resistance will usually result in self-protective unhappiness.
      1. On September 25 we will have been assigned a new area code, 262.
        1. No longer will it be 414.
        2. Now you can resist the change.
        3. It will not take permanent effect until March of 2000.
        4. But at that time you will not have a choice.
      2. You have the option of change with resistance or enjoyment.
  2. God desires that we be transformed into a particular image.
    1. It is the image revealed in Jesus Christ.
    2. God desires growth in love.
    3. The capacity to grow is demonstrated by Jesus Christ.
    4. God proclaims that only the individuals who engage in this process of transformation will inherit the kingdom.
    5. Resistance ,may lead to rejection.
    6. God encourages participation.
      1. It is for our best good.
      2. Embracing change in God can lead to a sense of excitement as we realize personal growth and achievement.

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