“Space Station Salvation”     Vacation Bible School - 2011

July 31, 2011 Service at Winged Deer Park

Sermonette #1 – Creation   Genesis 1:1-2, 26-31 - Pastor Thomas Kock

            Our overall theme for this year’s VBS was “Space Station Salvation.”  We looked at three segments of the Bible in which stars were involved, hence the connection to space.  The first was creation.  On day #4, God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.”  Then, as almost an afterthought, it says, “He also made the stars.” (Genesis 1:14-16 NIV)  Hmm. He “also made the stars.”

            How many stars are there?  Thousands and thousands and thousands!  And how big are those stars?  How powerful are they?  Why, they’re amazing!  Our sun is, of course, a star.  But by star standards, if my understanding is correct, our sun is small.   There are some stars out there which dwarf our “star,” our sun. 

            And so it was proper and correct for King David, as he considered the stars up in the sky to say, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, ⁴ what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4 NIV)  Who am I, who are you, in comparison to those stars in the sky?  Those things are huge!  Amazing! Astounding!

            But you are much more so.  Why so?  Because YOU were created in God’s image. Because YOU were put in charge of creation.  Because Jesus came and lived, died, and rose … for YOU!  Jesus didn’t come to this earth as a star; He came as a human.  Jesus didn’t die on the cross for the stars; He died for the humans.  Jesus didn’t win forgiveness and a place in eternal life for the stars; He won those things for the humans.  And so God has crowned you and me – us humans – with a glory and an honor which far surpasses that of the stars! 

            And so we can look at ourselves with amazement.  We humans were created in God’s image!  In the work of Jesus, that perfection is again credited to our account!  We … are amazing!  Glorious!  And we get to look at each other that way, too.  Amen. 

Sermonette # 2 - Promises   Portions of Genesis Chapters 3, 12, 15, 18, 21  - Vicar Peter Zaferos

            Raise your hand if you’ve ever made a promise.  “I’ll be home by 10, I promise!”  “I’ll pick up the kids this afternoon, I promise!”  “I’ll take you to a movie next week, I promise!”  “I’ll take you to the ball game, I promise!”  Even if you’ve never made one of those promises, you’ve made one similar, haven’t you?  Promises are valuable.  If someone makes you a promise and keeps it, you’re impressed.  If someone keeps 2 promises, you’re really impressed!  If a person makes a habit of keeping their promises, well, you want to be around that person!  We like to be around people who keep their promises.  We like to be around people we can trust!

            Isn’t that what making promises is all about?  If I make you a promise, I’m doing that because I want you to trust me.  I want you to trust that I’m going to do what I say I’m going to do.  If I promise to meet you for lunch tomorrow at 1 o’clock, you trust I’ll show up for lunch at 1 o’clock tomorrow, because I made a promise.

            But, let me ask you a question.  How do I know I will be able to meet you for lunch at 1 o’clock tomorrow?  How am I able to make that promise?  Am I able to make that promise?  Well, the answer is no!  I can’t know if I’ll be able to actually keep that promise!  There are too many things that could happen which are completely out of my control.  I could get into a nasty car wreck at 12:45 on my way to meet you for lunch and be taken to the hospital.  That would force me to break that promise.  Even if I politely get in touch with you and notify you that I won’t be able to meet you for lunch at 1 o’clock, I’m still breaking a promise I made to you!  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s wrong or it’s sinful to make a promise.  Not at all!  It’s a good thing to do what you say you are going to do.  It’s a good thing to hold yourself accountable.  But realize that you are not capable of keeping every promise you make, and neither am I!  There is no such thing as a sure promise between two human beings.  People make mistakes.  People forget.  People get sucked into unforeseen situations which are beyond their control.  People break promises.

            But God doesn’t.  When the creator of the universe makes a promise, that promise is as good as done.  There is nothing imaginable that could ever keep the almighty God from keeping a promise.  This past week at VBS we had the opportunity to spend our time seeing some examples of promises our God has made.  And not only did we see examples of those promises, but we saw them kept.  Each and every one of them!  One example that sticks out is a promise God made to a man named Abraham.  Abraham was old and had no children, and yet God promised Abraham that his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the sky!  How could that be?  People in their 80s and 90s don’t have children!  But this promise was made by our Creator; God Almighty!  When Abraham was 100 years old and when his wife Sarah was 90, they had a son, just like God promised they would.

            You see, as He’s demonstrated with the promises He’s made in Scripture, our God can be trusted!  When he says He’s going to do something, he always does it.  He promised Abraham a son, and he miraculously gave him one in his old age.  God keeps his promises!  Even the very first promise ever made.  When Adam and Eve fell into sin in the Garden of Eden, God made a promise to save them and their descendants from their sin.  God kept that promise by sending Jesus!   On Christmas morning, the angel’s sang, “Glory to God in the highest” because God had set his plan of salvation into motion.  Jesus would go on to live a perfect life and then be put to death on a cross, even though he was innocent.  His death on that cross paid the price God demanded for the sins of Adam and Eve, and the sins of all their descendants.  Jesus’ death paid for the sin of all mankind, but he hadn’t yet crushed Satan’s head as God had promised way back in the Garden of Eden.  Satan’s head was crushed when Jesus rose from the grave, victorious over both sin and death.   

            You and I will never be able to keep every promise we make.  There are too many things which are simply out of our control.  But, nothing is out of the control of our God!  With God, a promise made, is a promise kept!  In the Garden of Eden God promised to crush Satan’s head, He kept that promise.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 - NIV)”

Amen?  Amen!!

Sermonette #3 – the Magi   Matthew 2:1-12 NIV - Pastor Thomas Kock

            There are all sorts of misconceptions about the account of the wise men.  No, the star didn’t go in front of them all the way to Bethlehem.  Instead, it appeared while they were in the East, then it disappeared again.  No, the wise men didn’t come on the same night as the shepherds, so, no, the wise men weren’t at the manger.  In fact, it’s likely that the wise men didn’t get to Bethlehem for at least 40 days after Jesus was born.  We don’t know how many wise men there were; there could have been three, but there could have been 2, or 22.  J

            But the account of the wise men contains some wonderful gospel, including in God’s use of the star.  Here’s what happened. 

            The wise men were off in the East.  (No, we don’t know exactly from where they came.  The best GUESS would be the area of Persia, but we’re not sure of that, either.)  These wise men apparently had some knowledge of an insight into astronomy, for one day they saw a new star in the sky.  For some reason they connected that new star in the sky with the promise of the Savior.  So, they decided to travel to the land of Israel, and they went to the logical place; the capital city, Jerusalem. 

            Now, put yourself into the shoes of those wise men.  What emotions might you have been feeling as you arrived?  Can you imagine the anticipation?  The eager excitement?  Perhaps some nervousness, but that nervousness of “we’re almost there!  We’re about to discover what we’ve been so eagerly seeking!”  It must have been a spine-tingling moment!

            But when they got there, everything changed!  You see, Herod heard about these guys looking for the newborn king of the Jews.  Herod was extremely jealous, paranoid about his throne and its succession.  In fact, not too long before this he had put to death his favorite wife and several members of her family, all to try to ensure that the succession to his throne would go the way he (i.e. Herod) wanted it to go.  And now here come the wise men, asking about the newborn king of the Jews.  Herod’s disturbed!  And, all Jerusalem is disturbed with him!  And that makes sense, because when Herod gets disturbed, people die! 

            Put yourself into the shoes of those wise men.  How are you feeling at that point?  Can you imagine the discouragement?  Can you imagine the disappointment?  You thought you were going to find the Savior; instead, no one knows what you’re talking about.  And, the whole city is now on edge, because of you!  Do you think you might have been disappointed?  Even devastated?  Did you perhaps wonder if you’d just wasted the past few months of your life, taking a fool’s journey? Did you perhaps even fear for your life?  I’d say all of those would have been reasonable!

            Herod calls the scripture scholars together; they tell him that the baby’s to be born in Bethlehem.  So, Herod sends them off.  AND THEN COMES THE STAR AGAIN!  It re-appears!  And we’re told that the wise men were overjoyed.  The Greek literally says, “They joyed joy, great, very!”  In our parlance, they were jumping-up-and-down happy!  Ecstatic!  “The star!  That star!  The star!”  And God uses that star to lead them exactly to the house where Jesus was.