HOPE WILL NOT DISAPPOINT YOU
Romans 5:1-5
January 16, 2011 2:00 p.m. Chapel Service
Preached at Monserate Mobile Home Park, Fallbrook, CA
On the door of the store there was a sign that said:
“If we’re not open,
we’re closed.”
Some people are open,
some people are closed.
Some people get it, and
some people don’t.
Some people are wise,
some people are foolish.
Some people really believe,
and some people don’t.
Now, which are you?
In the book of Proverbs, chapter one, verse seven,
the writer says:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
When I was getting ready for college, my travel agent said to me,
“Dennis, why don’t you do what we did.” “Take
the Greyhound bus to Iowa. You’ll see a lot of
interesting country.” …And that’s what I did …..and
I met some interesting people.”
I got on the bus in San Francisco and when we stopped in
Sacramento, a man took the seat next to me.
“How’re you doing, young man? Where are you headed?
“Iowa for college,” I said. “Good for you…” and our
conversation went on. He was a retired firefighter.
When we got to Truckee, we stopped for dinner. “Young
man,” he said, “dinner’s on me!” I’ll never forget that guy.
The first point I want to make is: THERE IS GOODNESS ALL AROUND.
If you look for goodness, you’ll find goodness.
If you look for the bad, you’ll find the bad.
It took the disciples three years to figure this out.
Even in the last week of Jesus’ life, the disciples
were puzzled about what Jesus was talking about.
Finally, finally, when Jesus was resurrected, they understood.
Jesus taught them, the answer is at your fingertips.
Just believe! Have faith!
“Ask, and it will be given you, seek and you will
find, knock and the door will be opened to you.”
How many of you were born before 1940?
Tom Brokaw calls you, “The Greatest Generation.”
You saw the world in crisis (the Great Depressison),
You saw the world at war (World War II)
You saw the world giving everything they had,
You saw that GOODNESS prevailed.
(The Allies defeated the Axis nations)
Do I hear an Amen?
Today, we hold in our thoughts the people of Tucson as
they recover from grief. Six people were killed;
Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is making a remarkable
recovery. If there is one thing that happened, the
tragedy brought out the goodness of people.
When Holden Charles Hollom saw a mugger knock down a
tourist and take her purse, he jumped to action.
A taxi driver in San Francisco, he went after the mugger.
He pressed the man against the wall with his cab, breaking
the man’s leg.
The mugger, Ocie McClure, was found guilty of robbery and
received ten years in prison. Then he filed suit against
the taxi driver for his broken leg. The jury decided that
the driver used excessive force and ordered Hollom, the
cab driver to pay McClure $24,595.
There was an outcry in the city of San Francisco. Through a
local radio station, they raised $25,000 within a week.
The cab driver Hollom said, “I would do exactly the
same thing.”
How many of you were born in California?
How many of you were born east of the Mississippi?
How many of you were born west of the Mississippi?
Where were you all born?
Welcome to the best weather in the world.
This morning I have entitled my sermon,
“Hope Will Not Disappoint You.”
Kennon Callahan, once said, people are looking for
two things—Home and Hope.
Remember Saul of Tarsus. He was a mean guy, a Pharisee.
He was a persecutor of Christians. When Stephen
was being stoned outside the walls of Jerusalem, Paul
stood at the gate of the city, nodding with approval.
Then, miracles of miracles, Paul gave his heart of
Christ. As Mark Trotter wrote, “Grace All the Way Home.”
In Romans, Paul wrote, “We also boast in our sufferings..
suffering produces endurance,
endurance produces character,
character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint us.” (Romans 5:3-5)
When our older son Jeremy was in the eighth grade, we
almost lost him from school. I was pastor of the First
United Methodist Church in Reseda, in San Fernando
Valley. One day, Jeremy said, “I don’t have any friends.”
He had a good friend Richard, but Richard lived in
North Hollywood. Jeremy lost 30 days of school that
year. He didn’t want to ride the bus
anymore, so every morning from February to June, I
drove him to school … and I’m not a morning person.
We me with all his teachers and they said, “If Jeremy is
late, just write a note saying, “Please excuse Jeremy for
being tardy this morning.” I don’t know how many tardy
notes I had written. They all knew Jeremy was a good student.
Jeremy suffered, his mom suffered, and his dad suffered;
we all suffered.
In every story, there is a silver lining. That year, Jeremy wrote an
essay on Martin Luther King. His essay was so good, it was
entered in the city wide essay contest. Out of 300 eighth
grade essays, his was chosen and the best. He and several
others were honored at an Awards assembly on the campus of
USC. Today, Jeremy is a medical doctor in osteopathic medicine.
He is almost done with his residence. He and his wife Melanie
are in Yakima, Washington. In January last year, he delivered
the first baby that was born in Yakima. When he was in Kenya,
working at a hospital, he delivered his first baby. Melanie just
finished her teaching credentials and now is student teaching.
Suffering produces endurance,
endurance produces character,
character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint us.
When Charles Colson was in prison, it was a difficult time for
him. In his book, “Born Again,” he said there was one
Psalm that gave him strength. Psalm 27. Listen.
The Lord is my light and my
salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of
my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
…I believe that I shall see the
goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart
take courage;
wait for the Lord. (27:13,14)
Jesus said, “Come to me all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give
you rest. …For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28,30)
Let me tell you about a man who was born in Port Huron, Michigan.
His IQ was measured at 81. The school master called him slow.
At an early age he caught scarlet fever. At the age of 12, he
lost much of his hearing. To the schoolmaster his mother said, “Hogwash!”
Actually, that’s my word. His mother believed in him and stayed with
him. This man changed America. In 1877 he invented the
phonograph. In 1879 he invented the light bulb. His name –
you guessed it, “Thomas Alva Edison.”
Let me close with this: I have here two horseshoes joined by chains
with a ring. How many of you believe you can get this ring off?
(I did!) Jesus said, “With God all things are possible.”
Friday, January 21, 2011
Saturday, January 8, 2011
All Things New
“ALL THINGS NEW”
Revelation 21:1-7
January 2, 2011 Ramona United Methodist Church
Dr. Dennis Ginoza
This morning, I want to begin by talking about time.
Time is a gift – a gift of God.
We see time in three ways – yesterday, today, and tomorrow:
But time is a funny thing – it slips away, we get our days mixed up,
or we just can’t remember.
How many of you remember who won the Super Bowl three years
ago? 2007? Anybody? Who played? Let me tell you—
Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears (29-17).
How many of you remember who won the World Series five years ago?
Who cares, huh? Anybody?
The Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Atros in four games.
How do I remember these? I don’t. I looked them up.
Remember, time is a gift of God.
In time we live, we learn, and we grow.
In time the things that impact us—we never forget.
When I was six years old, on the first day of school, the movie theater
in our village burnt down. Sunday, the night before, I had gone to
a friend’s birthday party. His father who operated the projector
got us in the theater for free. Guess what the movie was:
“Flaming Arrow.”
When I was 14, I graduated from the 8th grade. For the graduation
ceremony I bought my first pair of shoes. Our dress shoes
were a pair of flip flops (we called those slippers). You see, on the island
of Maui, we all went barefoot.
When I was a senior in high school, our baseball team won the Maui
island championship for the first time since 16 years.
We thought we could win the state tournament, we thought.
Well … almost. I’ll tell you what was exciting, playing the old Honolulu stadium:
when you hear the crack of the bat, it echoes in the whole stadium.
I was a shortstop and I’ll what’s also exciting, making a double play.
Remember, time is a gift of God.
I have here a string and a letter opener. What I have here is
a pendulum. Is there some one with a watch. Would you
keep time for me? We’re all going to count to twelve and
when we get to twelve, tell us how we did.
Would you all count with me? 1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 10 .. 11 .. 12!
What we have is sidereal time. Sidereal time is the measurement of
the movement of the planets. The earth rotates on its
axis and it takes 24 hours to make a complete rotation. (The
circumference of the earth is 24,901.55 miles). That’s
how we get our second, minutes, hours, and days.
The earth revolves around the sun and completes that revolution
every 365 days. Actually, it takes 365 days and six hours.
…So every fourth year, we add 24 hours to balance the
calendar. We do that on February 29. (Is there any one here
born on February 29?)
The Greeks speak of two kinds of time – chronos and kairos.
Chronos can be defined as the time of physics. Like I mentioned,
(seconds and minutes and hours and days.)
Kairos is God’s time. One author calls it metaphysical time.
I have entitled my sermon for today – ALL THINGS NEW.
In the end of days, Revelation teaches us,
there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
Crying will be no more, pain will be now more
All things will be New!
Let us for a moment walk in God’s time.
The Book of Genesis teaches us that God created the world
in six days, and on the seventh day, God rested.
God said: “Let there be light and there was light and
God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:3
The first lesson we all must learn is: Everything we have
is meant for good.” That is a really hard lesson for us to learn.
In the book of Ezekiel (if you have your Bibles please turn to Ezekiel
chapter 36 verse 26). Listen to the prophet Ezekiel:
“A new heart I will give you; and a new spirit I will put within you;
I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a
heart of flesh.”
Now let’s looks at the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 33. Listen
to Jeremiah:
“I will put my law within them, I will write it on their
hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
In Isaiah (9:6) he brings to us great hope.
If things are bad for you, just hold on one more day,
or two … but hold one. Isaiah said, “For unto us a child is born,
a son is given.”
This is the Second Lesson:
All things will be new.
On Easter morn when Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary went to the tomb, according to Matthew, there
was an earthquake. (We in California know what an
earthquake is, don’t we?”
Then they saw and angel came down and rolled
the stone away and told them. “Jesus is not here,
for he has been raised.” And we say: Hallelujah!
Just a few hours ago, in New York City the ball dropped
down at Times Square – let me say to you,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I have here twelve pennies. I am going to give this
to twelve of you. I just want us all to know,
Jesus took only twelve guys – twelve disciples to
change the world.
(Pass out the pennies)
There were twelve disciples. We tend to forget who they
were. Would you repeat their names with me. (People
repeat each name).
Peter, Andrew
James … and John
Matthew, Philip
James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Cananean
Bartholomew (or Nathaniel), Thaddeus
Thomas …Judas
(Oops! I thought I had twelve pennies, but I have one more,
an extra one. Did I miss a disciple? I guess not. …But
I have an extra penny. Oh! Actually there was another
disciple. When Judas fell away, another disciple was chosen.
His name was Matthias. (God does work in mysterious ways.)
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is to love
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind. Then he said, the second is like this—
Love your neighbor as yourself.
One day Mahatma Ghandi was getting on a train and he
lost a shoe. He took off his other shoe and threw
it off the train. His companion asked, “Why did you do that?
He said, “So whoever finds the shoe will have a pair.
In the years, as a pastor and as Christian, I learned that a little kindness will
go a long ways. When I was serving the church in
Chula Vista and homeless man would come to the office
for help. I helped him with food and I gave him time. I
listened to his troubles.
Weeks later, we got the news that the Episcopal Church was
burned down. The arsonist was that homeless man. One day
I got a letter from the prison in Otay Mesa, from that homeless
man. He said, “Can you come and see me?” I did. When I
visited with him, he said, “You were the only one who was
kind with me.”
When Jim Stovall was 30 years old, he lost his sight completely. He thought
his world had come to an end. But he never lost his spark for
life. He was a weight lifter who learned that through visualization, he
could lift 500 pounds. He decided he wanted to produce movies for
the blind. He realized that blind persons hear the dialogue, but they
cannot see the scenes. To do this he had to find a way to add a narrative track to
describe the scenes in a movie. The experts told him, it’s not possible,
and it’s not worth his time. He worked at and today he is president
of Narrative Network Television to make movies available to some
13 million blind and visually impaired person. His book title is: “You
Don’t Have to Be Blind to See.”
Jim Stovall says, “Belief gives rise to Values,
give rise to Desires,
give rise to Effort and Energy,
give rise to Accomplishment.”
When I was working at the First United Methodist Church, I met Richard Ruby.
He was the custodian. I used to help him move tables and
chairs. And whenever he had a chance, he wanted to talk
about religion. He told me he wanted to be a pastor. It didn’t
seem possible because the didn’t even have a college education.
After I left Hawaii, I lost contact with Richard Ruby.
Several years later, my wife and I were traveling in the Holy Land.
In Jerusalem we had got lost along the Via Dolorosa so we were the last
ones in our group to get to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. That’s
another story. When we walked through the doors, to my right
and I saw a priest in a black robe with a silver cross hanging from his neck.
I recognized him. I called out, “Richard Ruby.” It was him. He was now
a priest with the Eastern Orthodox Church. I was amazed and I was happy
for him. Jesus said, “With God all things are possible.”
Whoever you are, whatever your circumstance,
as impossible as it might be – in the end – remember: With God all
things are possible.
And God said, “See, I am making all things new!
Revelation 21:1-7
January 2, 2011 Ramona United Methodist Church
Dr. Dennis Ginoza
This morning, I want to begin by talking about time.
Time is a gift – a gift of God.
We see time in three ways – yesterday, today, and tomorrow:
But time is a funny thing – it slips away, we get our days mixed up,
or we just can’t remember.
How many of you remember who won the Super Bowl three years
ago? 2007? Anybody? Who played? Let me tell you—
Indianapolis Colts beat the Chicago Bears (29-17).
How many of you remember who won the World Series five years ago?
Who cares, huh? Anybody?
The Chicago White Sox swept the Houston Atros in four games.
How do I remember these? I don’t. I looked them up.
Remember, time is a gift of God.
In time we live, we learn, and we grow.
In time the things that impact us—we never forget.
When I was six years old, on the first day of school, the movie theater
in our village burnt down. Sunday, the night before, I had gone to
a friend’s birthday party. His father who operated the projector
got us in the theater for free. Guess what the movie was:
“Flaming Arrow.”
When I was 14, I graduated from the 8th grade. For the graduation
ceremony I bought my first pair of shoes. Our dress shoes
were a pair of flip flops (we called those slippers). You see, on the island
of Maui, we all went barefoot.
When I was a senior in high school, our baseball team won the Maui
island championship for the first time since 16 years.
We thought we could win the state tournament, we thought.
Well … almost. I’ll tell you what was exciting, playing the old Honolulu stadium:
when you hear the crack of the bat, it echoes in the whole stadium.
I was a shortstop and I’ll what’s also exciting, making a double play.
Remember, time is a gift of God.
I have here a string and a letter opener. What I have here is
a pendulum. Is there some one with a watch. Would you
keep time for me? We’re all going to count to twelve and
when we get to twelve, tell us how we did.
Would you all count with me? 1 .. 2 .. 3 .. 10 .. 11 .. 12!
What we have is sidereal time. Sidereal time is the measurement of
the movement of the planets. The earth rotates on its
axis and it takes 24 hours to make a complete rotation. (The
circumference of the earth is 24,901.55 miles). That’s
how we get our second, minutes, hours, and days.
The earth revolves around the sun and completes that revolution
every 365 days. Actually, it takes 365 days and six hours.
…So every fourth year, we add 24 hours to balance the
calendar. We do that on February 29. (Is there any one here
born on February 29?)
The Greeks speak of two kinds of time – chronos and kairos.
Chronos can be defined as the time of physics. Like I mentioned,
(seconds and minutes and hours and days.)
Kairos is God’s time. One author calls it metaphysical time.
I have entitled my sermon for today – ALL THINGS NEW.
In the end of days, Revelation teaches us,
there will be a new heaven and a new earth.
Crying will be no more, pain will be now more
All things will be New!
Let us for a moment walk in God’s time.
The Book of Genesis teaches us that God created the world
in six days, and on the seventh day, God rested.
God said: “Let there be light and there was light and
God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:3
The first lesson we all must learn is: Everything we have
is meant for good.” That is a really hard lesson for us to learn.
In the book of Ezekiel (if you have your Bibles please turn to Ezekiel
chapter 36 verse 26). Listen to the prophet Ezekiel:
“A new heart I will give you; and a new spirit I will put within you;
I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a
heart of flesh.”
Now let’s looks at the prophet Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 33. Listen
to Jeremiah:
“I will put my law within them, I will write it on their
hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
In Isaiah (9:6) he brings to us great hope.
If things are bad for you, just hold on one more day,
or two … but hold one. Isaiah said, “For unto us a child is born,
a son is given.”
This is the Second Lesson:
All things will be new.
On Easter morn when Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary went to the tomb, according to Matthew, there
was an earthquake. (We in California know what an
earthquake is, don’t we?”
Then they saw and angel came down and rolled
the stone away and told them. “Jesus is not here,
for he has been raised.” And we say: Hallelujah!
Just a few hours ago, in New York City the ball dropped
down at Times Square – let me say to you,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
I have here twelve pennies. I am going to give this
to twelve of you. I just want us all to know,
Jesus took only twelve guys – twelve disciples to
change the world.
(Pass out the pennies)
There were twelve disciples. We tend to forget who they
were. Would you repeat their names with me. (People
repeat each name).
Peter, Andrew
James … and John
Matthew, Philip
James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Cananean
Bartholomew (or Nathaniel), Thaddeus
Thomas …Judas
(Oops! I thought I had twelve pennies, but I have one more,
an extra one. Did I miss a disciple? I guess not. …But
I have an extra penny. Oh! Actually there was another
disciple. When Judas fell away, another disciple was chosen.
His name was Matthias. (God does work in mysterious ways.)
Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is to love
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with
all your mind. Then he said, the second is like this—
Love your neighbor as yourself.
One day Mahatma Ghandi was getting on a train and he
lost a shoe. He took off his other shoe and threw
it off the train. His companion asked, “Why did you do that?
He said, “So whoever finds the shoe will have a pair.
In the years, as a pastor and as Christian, I learned that a little kindness will
go a long ways. When I was serving the church in
Chula Vista and homeless man would come to the office
for help. I helped him with food and I gave him time. I
listened to his troubles.
Weeks later, we got the news that the Episcopal Church was
burned down. The arsonist was that homeless man. One day
I got a letter from the prison in Otay Mesa, from that homeless
man. He said, “Can you come and see me?” I did. When I
visited with him, he said, “You were the only one who was
kind with me.”
When Jim Stovall was 30 years old, he lost his sight completely. He thought
his world had come to an end. But he never lost his spark for
life. He was a weight lifter who learned that through visualization, he
could lift 500 pounds. He decided he wanted to produce movies for
the blind. He realized that blind persons hear the dialogue, but they
cannot see the scenes. To do this he had to find a way to add a narrative track to
describe the scenes in a movie. The experts told him, it’s not possible,
and it’s not worth his time. He worked at and today he is president
of Narrative Network Television to make movies available to some
13 million blind and visually impaired person. His book title is: “You
Don’t Have to Be Blind to See.”
Jim Stovall says, “Belief gives rise to Values,
give rise to Desires,
give rise to Effort and Energy,
give rise to Accomplishment.”
When I was working at the First United Methodist Church, I met Richard Ruby.
He was the custodian. I used to help him move tables and
chairs. And whenever he had a chance, he wanted to talk
about religion. He told me he wanted to be a pastor. It didn’t
seem possible because the didn’t even have a college education.
After I left Hawaii, I lost contact with Richard Ruby.
Several years later, my wife and I were traveling in the Holy Land.
In Jerusalem we had got lost along the Via Dolorosa so we were the last
ones in our group to get to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. That’s
another story. When we walked through the doors, to my right
and I saw a priest in a black robe with a silver cross hanging from his neck.
I recognized him. I called out, “Richard Ruby.” It was him. He was now
a priest with the Eastern Orthodox Church. I was amazed and I was happy
for him. Jesus said, “With God all things are possible.”
Whoever you are, whatever your circumstance,
as impossible as it might be – in the end – remember: With God all
things are possible.
And God said, “See, I am making all things new!
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