Sermon
notes by Mike Enns
New
Life Church – Varna, 24.05.2015
(Greetings) I welcome you all on this special holiday
here to church. “Day Of Bulgarian, Alphabet, Enlightenment and Culture”.
When I
was preparing for the sermon on this day, I was thinking of what to tell
you.
-> And I thought there probably isn’t much I can tell you about Bulgarian culture. So I will stick to the alphabet for today.
-> And I thought there probably isn’t much I can tell you about Bulgarian culture. So I will stick to the alphabet for today.
I don’t
know how much of this is common knowledge but you guys probably know the
inventors of the Glagolic alphabet right? (Cyril and Methodius. …… Well there are born
Constantine and Michael (my names relative)
And they were born in a famous city from the bible. Do you know?
Thessaloniki (today in Greece)
Emperor Michael
3 (another from my family) send them on a mission to evangelize here on the
Balkan.
And
they needed an alphabet to translate the bible into the languages of the people
there.
- That’s how
the Glagolic alphabet was
born.
- Later their students reached Bulgaria and were instructed by Boris 1 to teach the people.
Furthermore the translation
of the bible played a major role in the generalisation of the Bulgarian
language.
You have to imagine whole
alphabets and languages bending around one book. Coming to existence for it.
- Calling it the day of enlightenment when we finally could read it.
-
Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my
feet and a light to my path" path.”
Great how many people acknowledge that without
even thinking about it.
- That’s not even a
rarity!
In Germany we had Martin
Luther who unified the German language solely translating the bible.
– and there are many more
examples still happening today.
Giving tribes alphabets and
unifying languages.
!!! Isn’t Gods word truly powerful?
But if we want to try to
understand just a little of how important it is we should start in the
beginning.
->
The beginning of John that is. In
John 1,1-3:“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All
things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. “
In the beginning was the
Word. God’s words were here long before anything was created.
-and only through that were all the things made.
-and only through that were all the things made.
-
Imagine the power his words have.
The power of creation.
è That would
be greater than any force known to science.!!!
-nobody
is able to create from nothing.
-even the big bang is supposed to come from something that explodes.
And if we read in 2 Timothy
“All Scripture is breathed out by God". -what does that mean?
è Our whole
existence is based on God words and here we have these same words written down
for us. So we may learn from it.
;isn’t that amazing.
At this point in my
preparations I realised already that I too may not always treat the bible with
the respect it deserves.
I have 5 bibles. 2 in German,
2 in English and one in Bulgarian.
-I even have one on my phone with all the translations I want.
For us here it’s now a days
an every day item. So
we are in danger that the importance slips our mind.
You know? I always wanted to
study far away. At best in English and out of the country .I was really happy
when I could come here to Varna. Being so happy to never see the school again
from inside. -
If I would tell my 3 years ago self how much home sick I was the first years I would have thought I have gone crazy here in Bulgaria.
If I would tell my 3 years ago self how much home sick I was the first years I would have thought I have gone crazy here in Bulgaria.
Sometimes it’s hard to see
what value something has for us if we have it every day.
They get
buried in daily activity and thinking.
- we constantly have to remind ourselves what importance we have in the word
given to us
-the Jews aren’t even allowed to touch the Tora (5 books Moses) with
bare hands. That’s
how important God’s word is for them.
And while we speak about
importance: Do You happen to know who was voted most important person of the
last century?
-a hint is he was German.
In the end of the century
many publishers discussed this and the one who won was Johannes Gutenberg – inventor of the
printing press.
-and what was the first
book ever printed? …….The Bible.
-being the bestselling book every year since creation of book
making.
The power of God’s word
doesn’t end with creation. ….. It reaches far into our time. Our lives. Into each and every one of our
lives:
-”For the word of God is living and
active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and
of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions
of the heart.” As is written in Hebrews 4 verse 12
God’s
word is alive. ……..Even today. And the
world is in desperate need of it. ……With all the conflicts going on: With all the disasters, wars and terror: I
don’t think I have to name them. We are praying for them all the time. God’s
words have the power to pierce the souls and change our heart.
-sharper than any
sword could ever be.
Nowadays
we can build blades just a few atoms wide. Cutting with laser, or diamonds.
-God’s word is sharper.
It can
reach every person differently because it’s alive.
- Some may be touched by sermons, some by
songs, and some might even be changed by dreams. ……God’s word is alive. It can pierce every
soul.
-The
1911 (11th) edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica implies something a
little over 1000 existing languages.
– Do you know in how many languages the bible is translated until
today?
2508 in the last ten years around 300 new languages.
The word
of God is alive. …….spinning around the globe piercing people in the soul and
changing them.
- The Power to truly change a person.
That’s
far more than I can fathom.
- I don’t even have the power to change myself.
Repeating
the same mistakes over and over again………. Sinning over and over again.
-No Christian is without sin and will ever be.
But God can help us change more and
more.
Like
Trif I also like the picture of the butterfly transformation. The interesting thing about it is:
that the caterpillar isn’t
actually transforming into a butterfly.
It liquefies
completely into a random mash of proteins which than transforms into the
Butterfly. Scientist have no idea
how. They even retain their memory.
- A God who can change a protein mash into something beautiful like
that can probably change me a little too.
But
there is more to the power of God’s word.
That
is the power of faith. “ So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God“as is written in Romans 10,17
Without
Gods word we would not now of the salvation given to us in the gospel of Christ.
-> We could
not be saved
Who
should we pray to?... Who worship? …..How would we know of Jesus sacrifice?
There
are so many false teachings we talked about in the last weeks. How would we know
right from wrong?
It too
is the word that gives us the Power to have faith and therefore be saved.
And we
can trust in it to always do so. Today. Tomorrow. And all the years to come
•
“The grass withers, the flower fades, but
the word of our God will stand forever.”
We can trust that God’s word is there to give us faith
whenever we need it.
When
we are weak and when we are strong. It will always be there so that we might be
saved through the faith.
And
maybe that is the most important power of them all
I’m not sure they are all essential for us as Christians.
è The Power to create
è The Power to change
è And the Power of faith.
As
goodbye I want to give you a little power from the word of God:
Jeremiah
29:11-13
“ For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to
give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me,
and I will listen to you. 13 You will
seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
The End
