1 John 4:7-21      NT p. 223 or 1529

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.

9 God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.

12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.

15 God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God.

16 So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.

17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.

19 We love because he first loved us.

20 Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.

21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

Acts 8:26-40      NT p. 120 or 1349

26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This is a wilderness road.)

27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship

28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it."

30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

31 He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him.

32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.

33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.

Who can describe his generation?

For his life is taken away from the earth."

34 The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?"

35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus.

36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?"

37

38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.

40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

26 From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay before those who fear him.

26 The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
May your hearts live forever!

27 All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before him.

28 For dominion belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.

29 To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for him.

30 Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord,

31 and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
saying that he has done it.

John 15:1-8      NT p. 104 or 1325

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.

2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.

3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.

4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.

5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

LET US PRAY:

INTRODUCTION:

We live in an age of designer everything. Designer clothes and perfume. Designer after-shave and furniture. Designer food and even designer pet food. A couple of months ago, I read an article about the ultimate designer company here in Texas. This company offers "designer caskets." The caskets reflect the personality of the individual for whom they are purchased. The company decorates the whole casket with air brush and silk screen paintings.

For the golfer, there are scenes of the golf course. For the fisherman, scenes of big mouth bass, stripers and crappie. For a Marine, there was a picture of Marines in uniform on parade.

The owner of the company said that the most popular one of all though, was one he designed for himself. The casket was painted to look like a package wrapped in wrinkled brown paper and tied with twine. And on it was stamped the words, "Return to sender."

I think that's what this Sunday is all about. Not caskets, but "Returning to sender." The reason I say that is because I believe that's what giving thanks is all about. And today is a day of "Returning Thanks" through making and dedicating our commitments. And it is a day of "Returning Thanks" for each our commitments. And when we "Return to Sender" we glorify God. We come to glorify and give thanks to God because God has given us a Connection, a Direction, and called us to be a Reflection.

I. THE CONNECTION:

A. There were two men walking through the woods who came across a huge hole in the ground. "Wow . . . that looks deep," says one. "Sure does," says the other. "Let's toss in some rocks and see how deep it is." They picked up a few rocks and threw them in and waited. Nothing.

"Hey, that's REALLY deep," says the first guy. "Here, throw in one of these great big rocks. That ought to make a noise." They picked up a couple of football-sized rocks and tossed them into the hole. Again, Nothing. They look at each other in amazement. One gets a determined look on his face and says, "Hey . . . over here in the weeds, there's a railroad tie. If we toss THAT in, it's GOTTA make some kinda noise."

They drug the railroad tie over to the hole and heaved it in. Not a sound came from the hole. Then all of a sudden, out of the woods, a goat appeared, running like the wind. It rushed toward the two men, then right past them, running as fast as its little legs would carry it. Suddenly it leaped into the air and into the hole. The two guys were absolutely flabbergasted.

Then, out of the woods comes a farmer who spots the men, ambles over and asks. "Hey, have you two guys seen a goat around here?" One of the men says, "You bet we did! It was the craziest thing I ever seen. It came running like crazy and just jumped into the hole!"

"Nah," says the farmer, "That couldn't have been MY goat. My goat was chained to a railroad tie." (1)

That poor goat really does cause us to ask a very pertinent question. What or who are you connected to? In the Gospel of John, Jesus says His followers are connected to Him. Jesus says in John 15:5, "I am the vine; you are the branches." He is the One from whom we draw our strength. He is the One who sustains you life is tough. As professing Christians, we are connected to Him. "He is the vine; we are the branches."

B. It wasn't always so. For many of us, we lived a life that was anything but Christ centered. We were DISconnected from God and God's love. We didn't know it but the Holy Spirit had already been working in our lives. And when we heard the Good News and we met Jesus something happened. Our lives were changed. Our lives were Corrected and we were Connected.

One of the reasons we are so thankful; one of the reasons we Glorify God is that we are connected to Christ and connected to each other through Christ.

II. THE DIRECTION:

A. That connection wasn't made just o make us feel good about ourselves or to clean us up. As a child, we knew that if Mom made us take a bath and put on Sunday clothes in the middle of the week, that we were going someplace. Or someone special was coming over. Our bath had a purpose.

Well the same thing holds true in the Church. We aren't cleaned up and corrected just to be cleaned up and corrected. There is a purpose in being cleaned up, corrected and connected. In John, Jesus tells us our purpose is to bear much fruit.

Jesus calls us to be sort of Johnny Appleseeds of the faith. We've made the Connection. Now He gives us the Direction.

B. And in Acts we find out what direction our Direction should take. In Acts we find out who our clients are. Have you ever thought about the Church having clients? If you stop and think about it, we do have clients. But unfortunately, most of the time we get confused about who our clients are. You and I aren't the clients. The Church wasn't established as a Country Club or Fellowship Group for the religious. The Church was established as a Mission Community to reach the LOST; to reach those who are Living Outside Salvation's Touch.

That's not us. We are the found. We're those who have been Corrected and Connected. The party has already been thrown in our honor. We've already experienced the joy of salvation. Now it's time for us to share that joy and pass on the gift that we've received.

In the passage from Acts, Philip had one purpose, to share the Good News of Jesus with the Ethiopian Eunuch. That's why they crossed paths. Our Directions are the same as Philip's. We're called to share the Good News of Jesus. We're called to tell our story to everyone who crosses our path.

III. A REFLECTION:

We do that through being a Reflection of Jesus in the world. What does that look like? Well, let me tell you a story about the most important person in the world.

Years ago, on a ship crossing the Atlantic, a preacher saw a dark skinned man sitting in a deck chair reading a Bible. He walked over and in conversation asked how the man became a Christian.

The man began, "I'm Filipino. Many years ago, I went to the United States to study law. When I first arrived at the university, a student came to me and asked if I was interested in finding a church. I told him that I was raised in a good family of another religion and, yes, I would like to attend the services at my own place of worship if one was to be found the next Sunday. The student then gave me directions to that church, even drew me a little map, and then left."

"The next Sunday, I awakened intending go to church. However, a heavy rain was falling and I decided that the Lord would understand if just this morning I crawled back in bed. But then there came a knock on my door. It was the student who had asked me about a church. He was dripping wet and carried two umbrellas. He explained that he worried that I might have trouble finding my church in the downpour, so he had come to show me the way. He had also brought an extra umbrella for me to use."

The dark-skinned gentleman continued: "We started walking, but I began to wonder what prompted this young student to go to this much trouble for me. I asked him where his church was, and he said, 'Oh, mine's just around the corner.' However, he made no effort to convince me to attend his church. Yet I decided that if his church taught him to do something like this, I'd like to know more about it. So I asked if I might accompany him to his church this Sunday, then I could go back to my own the following week. I went with the fellow to his church and I continued to attend there. I never went back to my own. Four years later, I decided that law was not for me. Instead, I entered Drew Theological Seminary, was eventually ordained a Methodist minister and was appointed to a church in the Philippines. My name is Valencius; I am Bishop Valencius, Bishop of The Methodist Church in the Philippines." (2)

The most important person in the world isn't Bishop Valencius. The most important person in the world was the man with two umbrellas because he was a Reflection of the love of God. In his letter, John writes: "Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." (4:7)

Love is the key. When we live a life of love, we become Reflections of Jesus and Reflections of God. John writes further: "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us." (4:12)

CONCLUSION:

So far this morning, we've learned that "Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches." That's the Connection. We've been reminded of our Direction to reach the LOST and "to go into all the world spreading the Good News and making disciples." And we've been reminded that the best way to do that is to be one of the most important people of the world by being a Reflection of Jesus.

All of that is simply a way of Glorifying God. That's why we do it. Jesus came, not to make a name for Himself but to glorify God. Jesus came into our lives, cleaned us all up, made the connection and gave us direction, not to make a name for us or for Himself, but to Glorify God.

This morning, we bring our Commitment Cards and Dedication cards to God's Altar, not to glorify ourselves but to Glorify God.

We hope to build a Church, not to glorify ourselves or the Building Committee or a particular preacher but to Glorify God. And to give thanks for what God has already accomplished in our lives. The Psalmist wrote "Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord, and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn, saying that he has done it." (Psalm 22:30-31)

This is God's Church. We're simply called to give thanks and to glorify God through the maintaining the Connection; by fulfilling our Direction and making disciples and by allowing ourselves to be Reflections of Jesus in the world.

That's really what we bring this morning. Not just our gifts, but ourselves. These gifts simply represent our hearts and our heart's desire to "Return to Sender".

As a response to the message and to our campaign, I would like you to join with me in the Litany Of Consecration Of Ourselves And Our Gifts, found on the insert in your bulletin. And then at the appropriate time bring your Commitment Card or your Dedication Card forward and lay them on the Altar. Afterwards we will have prayer.

1. Dynamic Preaching, Apr/May/Jun 2000 Vol XV, No. 2. (Seven Worlds Publishing, Knoxville, TN)

2. Lectionary Preaching Workbook, Series 6, Cycle B, Advent Season, (CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio) SermonPrep version.

3.

4.