[0:00] Be excellent. Come on up guys. This is the day That the Lord has made Let us rejoice And be glad in it This is the day That the Lord has made Let us rejoice And be glad in it This is the day This is the day That the Lord Has made We're the Fish Pride Cleanup Group Fill out your friendship card too Get on the mailing list Sign up for activities List any prayers or concerns And any notes for the staff
[1:00] A welcome gift is available For new visitors And can be picked up At the connection site In the back of the sanctuary Following worship Welcome to our church And we do welcome you To church this morning For our ministry opportunities We have two clipboards The first is for our fish fries I believe 535 Something like that last week And the second one Is for our Maundy Thursday service This week we don't have Our regular activities On Wednesday Just the choirs But on Thursday We start with our Holy Thursday Seder service Which is a symbolic service It's not a real meal We call it a Seder meal But it's not a real meal So eat your dinner first What we need is some help With supplying some things But even more so Gentlemen Men We need some men Pastor Sherry needs about Two or three guys Now I see two or three guys Out here Who could actually Just simply pour That's really all You gotta do It's not that hard a job So if you could see Pastor Sherry after service
[2:01] That would be great On Friday we of course Have our fish fry Followed by our Good Friday service Which is a Very meaningful service Where we remember The cross You know sometimes We go from Palm Sunday To Easter And we forget that The most important part Of our faith Is what happened On the cross So that's this Friday Saturday the Easter egg hunt So if you can come out To help with that Or just attend it It's huge So if some of you Could come a little early That would be great You always need help And then we will have Our vigil service that night And Easter Sunday Two worship services They're at 9 and 11 What time are they?
[2:40] 9 and 11 They come at 9.30 You might be a little late And be sitting out In the parking lot You know But 9 and 11 Alright Let's pray shall we Dear God in heaven Be with us And bless us this morning And enter into this place In a great and wonderful way That we can experience The wonder The joy The power of Jesus Christ Lord be with us Amen I'd like to invite the children Come up and join us now If they'd like to Good morning guys Any other kids You want to come up Come on down You know who wears these hats?
[3:28] That's right That's right My father was one of those You know And he really wore this hat He got whacked in it Look at that That ding in there Firemen we think of as heroes Don't we?
[3:39] You know They run into burning buildings And save people And do wonderful things like that But do you know That anybody can be a hero? Real heroes are Not just people That run into burning buildings Real heroes Are people that That do what they're supposed to do When they're supposed to do it So when your mom or dad Makes you dinner They're a real hero Because they could just let you go Without food Or when they take a day off From work Because you've got a game Or a program Or something special to go to That makes them a hero When you do something nice For a friend Who otherwise Everybody else is ignoring Or paying no attention to Or maybe even do something When nobody's watching That's good or right That makes you a hero too There's lots of things You can do to be a hero Everyday people are heroes They're just people That notice a little more Think a little more And do a little bit more Alright So I hope you're all Going to be heroes Because God needs heroes God needs people That will do a little Something extra To make this world better So that we can be His hands And God's feet On this world
[4:40] To make the place better Okay What are you thankful for This morning You want to raise your hand And share something Thank you for my grandparents And my mom and dad Grandparents Friends and family Mom and dad My cousin My brother and my sister My grandma My cats and my sisters My brother and sisters All right Lord we thank you For all these great blessings And especially For our families That do so many Wonderful things for us Help us to be heroes With them as well So that we can be like you For it's in Jesus name We pray Amen You guys go out to church School now if you'd like to While the children
[5:48] Headed out to church school I wanted to mention Our special offering This morning We did a capital campaign To try and renovate Our sanctuary Put a roof on the building All sorts of different things But the one thing We really couldn't afford To finish was We couldn't buy The new seating For our sanctuary So these views Are about 50 years old They're starting to fall apart And in many ways They're uncomfortable So the trustees Have picked out some chairs That they think are solid And would be nice And look great in here But they need some help So if you'd like to Help make the sanctuary Look a little bit better And last for a lot longer For our seating We do encourage you If you want to give A special gift for the chairs You can see the chairs They're out in the back Of the sanctuary Right now actually So if you want to Take a look at them And try them out And see what you think of them They're out back there Out back there?
[6:36] They're there Back there Whatever is the right way To say that For you to look at God gives us many blessings And we thank him For the wonderful joys That he shares with us And as we appreciate All that God does for us Let's return our thanksgiving With our morning tides And our offerings Dear Heavenly Father We do give you thanks And praise for this day And for the opportunity To come and worship you together Lord God we ask That you would bless This offering Give us wisdom To know how to best use it For the furtherance Of your kingdom That many would come To salvation in Jesus Christ In Jesus name we pray Amen Please be seated It's a beautiful day It's a little cold But it's gorgeous out there The sun is shining And what a blessing To be celebrating Palm Sunday Amen And next week With Easter coming We do have so many joys In our hearts And we take those All before the Lord And lift them all up Knowing that he rejoices
[7:36] With us as we rejoice Yes But we also do have Some concerns We have concerns In our own hearts And a few concerns To bring before you This morning Heather Miner's mom Heather works In our office And also in our preschool She does a lot of work In the church And her mom Is in the hospital Right now We need to keep her In our prayers And her family Doug Rout Is going to be Having surgery tomorrow We'll lift him up And his family Those who are going To care for him And we've had Some deaths Among people In our congregation Lois Forrest Died on Friday She is Wayne Forrest's mom So we need to keep Wayne and Brenda In our prayers And Carl Cole's mom Died this week And also a dear friend Of Sue Crosby's And so we need to keep These families In our prayers And just encourage them And of course You have many prayers On your hearts as well Let's turn to the Lord In prayer Heavenly Father
[8:45] We are so grateful That we can come Before you And offer up The joys And the concerns Of our hearts You are so good Lord God You have made a way For us to be able To come to you You have given us Assurance Through your word And through our Experiences in this life Through the tradition Of your church That we can trust That you will answer us That you Out of your great love And mercy Respond To the cries Of our hearts Lord God We do lift up All of those In our hearts And in our lives That we have mentioned And who we're keeping In our hearts Who are sick Who are in need Of a touch From you For healing God we pray That you would Touch them Bring them healing From the tops Of their heads To the soles Of their feet Let their spirits
[9:47] Be healed Their souls Be healed As well as Their bodies Lord Give wisdom To all of their Caregivers To know how to Best look after them And take care of them And meet their needs Lord God We pray For all of those Who are grieving Loss Lord God We just pray That you would Help us To be a comfort To those Who are in need And that you Would comfort Those and bring To their mind All wonderful things All wonderful things About their loved one We just ask That you would Bring peace Into their hearts And into their lives Father we pray For Our community
[10:48] For our nation And for the world There are so many People who are In such terrible Terrible Times of strife And violence And Trouble We pray For all those Who do not know you Just ask That you would Continue to draw them By your Holy Spirit That they would Have a change Of heart And come to Receive you As Savior And Lord And That they would Turn from their Ways of doing Wrong And causing Harm to others And would instead Become People for peace We pray For all of those Who are enduring Suffering right now Wherever they may be We ask that you Would bring comfort That you would
[11:49] Give them the strength To deal with Their adversities Knowing that you Are walking with them Now Lord Take a moment And lift up Those concerns That are on our hearts That have not been mentioned Now we'll hear your word Lord And we just ask That it would Wash over us Hearing this That hearing your word Would transform us Make us well able To be able to Minister your love And grace Wherever we go Touching the hearts And the lives Of the people We come in contact with We pray That you will Anoint Pastor Tom As well To deliver the message That you have given
[12:50] Him for us Let it be a blessing To him and to us And Lord Make all of our worship To be a blessing To you In Jesus name We pray Amen Good morning Our scripture reading This morning Is from the book Of Luke Chapter 19 Verses 28 Through 44 After Jesus Had said this He went on ahead Going up to Jerusalem As he approached Bethphage and Bethany At the hill Called the Mount of Olives He sent two of his disciples Saying to them Go to the village Ahead of you And as you enter it You will find a colt Tied there Which no one Has ever ridden Untie it And bring it here If anyone asks you Why are you untying it Tell him The Lord needs it Those who were sent ahead Went and found it Just as he had told them As they were untying the colt Its owners asked them
[13:51] Why are you untying the colt They replied The Lord needs it They brought it to Jesus Threw their cloaks on the colt And put Jesus on it As he went along People spread their cloaks On the road When he came near the place Where the road goes down The Mount of Olives The whole crowd of disciples Began joyfully to praise God In loud voices For all the miracles They had seen Blessed is the king Who comes in the name Of the Lord Peace in heaven And glory in the highest Some of the Pharisees In the crowd said to Jesus Teacher Rebuke your disciples I tell you He replied If they keep quiet The stones will cry out As he approached Jerusalem And saw the city He wept over it And said If you Even you Had only known On this day What would bring you peace But now it is hidden From your eyes The days will come upon you
[14:51] When your enemies Will build an embankment Against you And encircle you And hem you in On every side They will dash you To the ground You and the children Within your walls They will not leave One stone On another Because you did not Recognize the time Of God's coming To you This is the word Of the Lord Thanks be to God Thank you Jan Today is Palm Sunday And we sing Hosanna Hosanna To Jesus Hosanna is a word That comes from The ancient languages That means Save now Save now Save us now Is what the crowd Was crying to Jesus Who is Jesus To us What does he mean In our lives For some people Jesus is basically A holy genie When they have a problem Or something's broken Or something's not working It's like Dear God Fix my life Amen Oh they'll dress it up
[15:53] A little more than that But basically That's what their prayer is Jesus is the one Who fixes their needs For some people Jesus is their inspiration When they're feeling A little kind of down And depressed Or need a little spark They turn to God And say God I need you To lift me up A little bit Recharge my spiritual batteries For others He's a moral guy There's people That don't even Call themselves Christians That would say That they follow The teachings of Jesus He helps us to navigate This moral jungle We live in Where it's hard To figure out What's right What's wrong What's good What's bad And for some people That's who Jesus is Still others call him A savior A savior In the book of Titus In chapter 3 We read this He saved us Not because of Righteous things We had done But because of His mercy He saved us Through the washing Of rebirth Of renewal By the Holy Spirit Whom he poured out On us generously
[16:53] Through Jesus Christ Our savior So that having been Justified by his grace We might become Heirs Having hope In eternal life God saves us Not just for eternity But in this world Saves us from our Brokenness From our pain From our suffering From our confusion From our failure From our sense Of meaninglessness From our loneliness God saves us In this world And the one to come And he was all of that For the people Of his death He was a savior They saw him Do miracles And they They proclaimed That they They heard his teaching And that's who Jesus was But is that Enough Is that all Jesus is He's just there To save us To fix us To help us To make something Happen in our lives Or is God More than that Is God bigger Than that In 2nd Peter We read What Peter says To us Brothers and sisters Be all the more
[17:54] Eager to make Your calling And election sure For if you do These things You will never Fall And you will Receive a rich Welcome Into the eternal Kingdom Of our Lord And Savior Jesus Christ They add a word And it was the Original Christian Statement of faith I am A follower Of Jesus Christ Who is my Lord And Savior You don't use That word Lord Too much Anymore Do we We don't use It in our Common discussions We don't have Lords in our lives We might have A boss But they don't Tell us what To do everywhere Jesus is Lord How many of you Have ever had A new car Well you don't Have to raise Your hand You know Have you ever Been in a new car New cars Are so cool I mean first of all You don't worry About them breaking As you drive them Down the road There's not a little Ding in their doors Or a little scratch Here or there They have that New car smell You know And they're clean I mean They're clean Everywhere Even in those Little corners
[18:54] Where you can't Get the rag To kind of Get that dust And weird stuff Out that gets Down there They're clean So imagine You've got a new Vehicle Not just a car But a truck You're not one Of those wimpy Little scrawny Little pretend Trucks I mean a big Big Beautiful Brand New Extended Cab Truck You just bought It Just drove it Home You got it Parked in the Driveway And you get a Call from Pastor Tom Kids are going On a mission Trip to Michigan This year We're not exactly Sure how we're Going to get The trailer there Because we don't Have the vehicle To pull the trailer And I heard You just bought A brand new Truck Our kids are Going to be Getting in the Mud Working construction Climbing in And out of This vehicle Banging it around Throwing stuff Around in it But I'd like To borrow Your brand new Truck How would
[19:54] You feel What would You think When a girl Said to me After my Servant this Morning I want to Get mud On those Tires of That truck Jesus Told his Disciples Go into The village Ahead And find A colt Nobody had Written on Right off The showroom No depreciation A brand new Colt Absolute Mint Condition And he Says Tell them I want It That's it Not What for Not what He's Going to Do With It Nothing Else They're Watching Their New colt Walking Away You know How much Value Goes out When they Just take It off The showroom Floor Jesus Wanted Their New colt Like us A brand New car Would Would we Give Something Like that To god If that's What god Wanted From us Okay I want To get Another Image Here We call This palm Sunday Because
[20:54] In some Of the Versions They say That jesus Was walking Into the City And they They threw Down palm Branches That they Had cut On the Ground Before I got To be Real honest With you I'm Sweet With That I'll Cut A branch Off My Neighbor's Tree And throw It down For jesus I have No problem With that But in This version It says They took Off their Coats And they Put them Down in Front of The donkey Seriously They put Their coat Down on The ground In front Of the Donkey Now I don't Know what You think Of donkeys But donkeys Walking on Coats Is not The best Of ideas Especially If the Donkey Ate That morning You don't Know what's Going to Happen With that Donkey On top Of that There's A big Crowd Coming Behind Jesus And all Those People Are Going to Walk All over Your Coach Now You know Back then They only Had one Coat This was A lot More than What we Had I'm not Talking about You know You know This is Going to Happen So you Go into Your Closet Reach out And pull That coat From the 1970s With the Lapels Like this You know And you
[21:55] Throw that Thing down In front Of Jesus We're Talking About You just Went down To Coles And bought Yourself A brand New coat That you're Going to Wear For Easter Beautiful New jacket You're going To be All dressed Up Jesus Comes in And throw In front Of the Dock What would We give To Jesus Jesus says We're supposed To love The Lord With all Our Heart Soul Mind And strength And we're Supposed to Show our Love for Him By loving Our Neighbor The way We would Want to Be loved Do we Really do That What are We willing To give Demonstrate That we're Sincere About this I grew Up in the Household Of a Genuine Hero Genuine Hero He had All the Credentials You know He was Born In the Poorest Neighborhood In Buffalo On a Place called The Towpath It's not There
[22:55] Anymore They tore Those houses Down For the Throughway There was No running Water No heat No electricity They used To scrounge The railroad Tracks For coal Or for Some old Board So that They could Warm up Their house In the Winter He was On an Olympic Rowing Team When he Was a Teenager When he Got old Enough He signed A piece Of paper Saying that He was Volunteering To go To a War In Europe We call World War II Served under George Pack When he Came home From the War He joined The fire Department Of Buffalo You know Were the People running Away from The buildings They're the People running Into the Buildings My father Was a Genuine Hero He married A woman That was Hollywood Gorgeous I mean Really If you Ever saw My mother When she Was young She was Like so Sweet I mean Almost As pretty As my
[23:55] Wife This Was a Good Looking Woman Had a Wonderful Life Where he Had his First Child They were Just getting Things started They bought A new House In that Wonderful Brand new Suburb Of Cheek To Vega And then The army Called him And he Went to Another War Korea Now we Talk about A second Tour You gotta Understand Their tours Were for Years They Weren't For Months They Were for Years Went to Another War Came Back And served In that Fire company For his Entire Life I remember Him as A man Who would Go away From home 70 hours A week And work As hard As he Could So that His family Could be Taken Care of And looked At Day in Day out He would Go to Work Two times To make Sure we Were taken Care of He was A hero He knew How to Give Of himself For other
[24:56] People Sometimes People he Didn't Even Know What do We give To God And what Does God Give to Us What did Jesus Do for Us Well It says In this Passage Jesus Was on His way To Jerusalem Now if You read The Bible In Matthew 16 You'll Hear Jesus Say That he Has To go To Jerusalem To Die To Be Hung On a Cross Crucified Whipped And Beten And Die On A Cross He Knew He Was Going To Jerusalem To Die The People There Didn't Want Him They Didn't Like Him They Were Plotting To Kill Him And He Went To Jerusalem To Die Some People Think That was Just sort Of A pretend Dying After all He's God So Did He Really Die Oh Jesus Didn't Want To Do This Read In Luke In Chapter 22 It Says That When He Was In The Garden Of Gethsemane He Says If It's Possible Lord Take This Cut From Me Not My Will But Yours Be Done I Don't Want To Do This I
[25:56] Don't Want To Go Through This Pain This Agony This Hurt What Does That Really Mean What What Did God Go Through In That Moment Well God Was Perfect Not A Single Flaw Nothing Wrong With Him You Know We Don't Quite Entirely Appreciate It Because We Lost Our Perfection Like Long Time A Has No Flaw No Sin No Imperfection Everything Is Perfect He's In Heaven He Is Completely Kept Away From All This Stuff And Says In Corinthians That Jesus Became Sin The One Without Sin Became Sin Full Of Sin For Us God Died To His Righteousness God Lost His Perfection I Like To Believe That That Is Done With And God Somehow Got His Perfection Back Because He's God Can You Imagine That That God
[26:56] Somehow Gave That Up He Died To All That And He Knew It Going In He Knew That Jerusalem Was Going To Be Destroyed He Says The Day Will Come Upon You When The Enemies Will Build Embankments Against You And En Circle You Hem You In On Every Side If You Even You Only Knew From This Day Will Bring You Peace And Jesus Wept He Wept Over The Destruction Of Jerusalem That Would Happen In 70 A.D.
[27:30] And He Knew It And Yet He Celebrated So Not Only Was Jesus Willing To Die Not Only Was Jesus Willing To Face This He Actually Did It With A Celebration We Call It Palm Sunday How Would You Come Into The City If You Knew That In Five Days You Were Going To Die I Know Jesus Comes In Celebrating In The Face Of Pain It Is Incongruent He Was The Leader Of The Parade It It It It It Even Though He Knew He Was Headed For Death It It It And The Leaders They Criticized Him They Said Tell Your Disciples To Be Quiet This Is Wrong They Shouldn't Be Calling You A King The Romans Are Going To Come After Us And Kill Another Lesson I Learned From My Father By The Way Is That
[28:30] If You Try To Lead Something You Are Going To Get Problems He Used To Say That When He Was In World War II He Was In The Second Line You Know Right When The Troops Went Through They Were The Next Group That Came In Not All The Germans Were Gone He Said There Were Snipers Up In Rock Motion He Said We Could Walk Around With Those Pirate Those Private Rank On And Nobody Would Touch Us We Never Got Shot By The Snipers Man As Soon As The Brash Showed Up Take Them Out So You Learned If You Want To Lead You Gotta Expect You Gonna Have Problems You Gonna Have Complaints You Gonna Have People Shooting At You Sniping At You And That Is Exactly What Is Pouring Rain And Things Are Troubles And Problems Coming Down The Road And He Can Feel
[29:31] The Impending Doom He Celebrated That's Important Because Life Can Be Really Tough Life Can Be Really Hard And Sometimes It Feels Like It's Gonna Break Us I Celebrated A lot Funerals Lots Of People's Funerals That I I Presided Over And One Of The Things I Learned As Much As This Might Sound Almost Wrong Is That If People Can Find Something To Smile About Something To Laugh At Something That They Can Remember The People They Love With With A Smile Instead Of With A Frown It Just Makes The Possibility Of Going Through That Moment A Little Bit Easier So When We Laugh It's Not A Disrespect That There's Joy Even In The Midst Of The Brokenness Jesus
[30:31] Danced For Us Even In The Rain There's Just Problems In Our Lives I Know We Got A Lot Of People Who Complain About Almost Anything We Live In A Blessed Society We We Have Running Water We Have Electricity We Have Heat In Our Houses Really And Honestly We're Not In Desperate Shape And We Whine About For My Phone Oh Really Seriously This Is The End Of The World Your Cell Phone Doesn't Work I Got A Smart Phone By The Way That Scares Me It's Smarter Than Me I Don't Even Know How To Make Half Of It Work I Don't Want A Tenth Of It Work The Stuff That We Are Blessed With In Life Is Incredible And People Start Coming Up With Problems That Our Manufactured Problems We Have Pretty Good Life Oh What Am I Going To Wear Today Doesn't Matter Right And We Borrow Problems That Might Happen Oh But There Might Be A Problem Tomorrow Yeah Well There Might Not Be Either Jesus Said Don't Worry About Tomorrow
[31:31] Today Has Enough Problems Of Its Own Just Focus On Those That Be Plenty To Take Care Of So I Am Not Talking About These Little Made Up Kind Of Kind Of Silly Problems We Have Real Problems Serious Problems It Says In Here That They're Going To Face Embankments Against Their Walls That Their Lives In Fact Their Children's Lives Are Going To Be Dashed Against The Rocks Things Can Come Break Our Hearts And Break Our Lives Destroy Our Sense Of Peace Make Us You Know Every Day Every Day I Deal With Some Pain In Somebody's Life Besides My Own Stuff Every Day As Part Of My Job I Hear Somebody Going Through Some Real Problem And I Mean Real Stuff Someone They Love Has Died
[32:31] Someone Has Cancer They Just Lost Their Job And Don't Know How To Even Function In Life Their Kids Are Having Some Serious Problem Where They They Just Not Making It And It Rips Their Hearts Out People Come To Share Something Because They Just Need Somebody To Talk To And Say What Do I Do When My Life Feels Like It's Falling Apart Because Sometimes It Is My Father Married A Hollywood Beautiful Wife He Had Two Little Kids He Just Got Come Just Come Back From The War Starting His Life And They Went Out Dancing One Night She's 24 Years Old And The Next Day She Wakes Up And She Can't Move A Bone In Her Body She's Got Something We Don't Even Understand In Our World Anymore Called Polio Paralyzed
[33:32] Or Completely Now This Guy's Got Two Little Kids That He's Got To Take Care Of He's Working 70 Hours A Week And Somehow He's Supposed To Take Time To Carry His Wife Around Everywhere And Take Care Of Her Too My dad Isn't A Hero Because He Fought In Wars He's Not A Hero Because He Was A Firefighter Or Even Because He Provided For Us My dad Is A Hero Because He Loved My Mother And Stayed With Her His Entire Life It's Easy To Walk Away When The Problems Come Along He Was A Young Man He Could Have Just Walk Away And Started Over Again But He Didn't She Out To Where She Could Get Around With Crutches And A Wheelchair But A Hero Stays In When Things Are Hard We Want To Wish Him Away We Want To Make Him Go Away Verse 42 Says If You Even You Have Only Known This Day What Would Bring You Peace But Now It's Hidden From Your Eyes Why
[34:32] Is Hidden From Our Eyes I Tell You Part Of The Reason Is Because We Delude Ourselves We Don't Want To See It I Don't Know It's There It Can Go Away Fastest Growing Community In America Right Now Some Place Called The Villages A Little Gated Community Down In Florida Where You Can Go In And Just Close The Gate Behind You And Pretend The World Doesn't Exist Just Ride Around Your Golf Car Acting Like There Are No Problems In We Go To Chautauqua In The Summer And Close The Gates We Don't Have To See It Go To Bermuda And Find Some Resort Where It Isn't Real But The Truth Is It Follows Us It's Real It's There There's Problems And Problems Coming I Was Talking To The Banker We're Renegotiating Our Mortgage Right Now It's Another One Of My Jobs Right And He's Talking About The World Kind Of Interesting I Don't Know Why He Got Off On This But He Was Talking About Quantitative
[35:33] Easing Anybody Know What That Means Printing Money Printing Money A Few Years Ago Our Country Decided The Best Way To Get Out Of Problems Was Just Print Money We Printed Trillions Of Billion And We Owe 17 Of That Now Okay That's I'm Not Talking About Our Country Right Now What I Want You To Know Is That The Banker Says Well Since It Worked For The U.S.
[36:07] You Know What All The Countries In The Rest Of The World Are Doing Because They're Having Problems They're Pretty Money Too Okay So What This Means Is The World Everybody In The World Is Going To Be In Debt I'm Just Wondering Who They're Going To Be In Debt To And What's Going To Happen When Somebody Says Pay Up Right Hopefully After I Leave This Place I Want To Think About It In The Time Of Jeremiah There Were Prophets Going Around In The City Saying Peace Peace Where There Is No Peace As Jerusalem Was Facing Destruction We Want To I Don't Know About You I I Not Seeing Less Wars I I I'm Seeing More Wars And We Can't Pretend Them Away Anybody Old Enough To Remember They Used Take Us Out In The Hallway At School And Lean Us Up Against The Locker So This Is Seriously For Those Of You Are Young You Probably Never
[37:07] Done This This Was To Protect Us Talk about delusional.
[37:21] Talk about ridiculous. Just pretend it doesn't exist. Ignore the fact that Saudi Arabia just put 170,000 troops on the border of Somalia.
[37:31] What the heck is even a Somalia, right? Well, that's where they're about to go to war with Iran. You know, the guys who were worried they're going to get nuclear weapons, because they might use some nuclear weapons on Israel, who's got 50 nuclear weapons, that they could shoot at Iran.
[37:43] Oh, my gosh! Glad this is above my pay scale. And we say, well, if we just pretend it's all over there, we don't have to worry about it, right?
[37:54] Until they tell you, don't go to the mall, somebody will shoot you. Come on. We want to pretend it's going to go away. Or at least have a genie god that can fix everything.
[38:08] And so we turn to them and we say, God, hello, we got a problem. Come fix it. But too often it feels more like this. God is a no聊.
[38:25] Oh, you have to be grandparents. Oh, man. Or because you look inside, right now, so we're going to order thatalia is going to get collaboration, and we just so let her know one thing on the world. So we're going to end up joining today.
[38:37] So we're going to have a профільme. By sechs, we're going to have a really good Surely, we're going to go feedback, but hopefully in just a year later today. Or because one person has a few people starting to host a couple of pacients lesbian is from ut I then Gospel English preview is available Hello
[40:03] Oh, my God.
[40:34] See, when we think God is a genie God, there to answer our every request by just a prayer of some sort, we just make the right magic incontation.
[40:45] The best answer we can come up with is God's in the shower. Or maybe this is the seventh day and he's just taking a nap and ignoring us. Hopefully someday he'll pay attention again.
[40:58] If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace, but now it's hidden from your eyes. We need to open up our eyes to see, to turn back to the blessing that God wants to give to us.
[41:12] Seeking God, where God really is. What would happen if God was really our Lord? What would happen if we really gave all our lives over to him?
[41:26] Could that actually save us? If we were praising God, not because we're hoping to get something out of it, but because it's the right thing to do for our God, who is our God.
[41:42] Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, instead of these godless kings that we put in charge of our world, and we look to to fix everything. And they're broken people like us, and the best they can give us is broken answers.
[41:57] We trust in God, really trust in God. God is not likely to ask for your car, and I'm probably not going to ask for your truck. I said probably.
[42:10] He doesn't want your coat. He wants your whole life. Everything. That's what it means to have a Lord.
[42:21] Everything we are becomes God. God's not a fairy tale God, magic genie kind of religious God. God is bigger than that.
[42:34] God is a God that we can trust even when it feels like it's raining outside. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because God is with me.
[42:56] He comforts me. He protects me. He walks through it with me. He doesn't make all my problems go away. He didn't even make his problems go away. He's one who can go to the cross and find resurrection, who can bring celebration out of pain, victory out of defeat, life from death.
[43:14] Not magically make it go away, but walk through it with us. People always wonder what's on my tires. Snowflakes. Snowflakes.
[43:27] I woke up yesterday and there was snow on the ground. This is my way of saying, You're not going to get me. I don't care what you do. Bring it on.
[43:41] God is with us. We can't even walk through a whimper. My dad, the last time I talked to him, was in a hospital. ECMC had been mercy-flighted him from Wyoming Hospital.
[43:59] The doctor that was a friend of mine said, That's not the best place for the operation, but it was emergency surgery and he could die. And they said, He's probably not going to make it in an ambulance to another hospital.
[44:10] We've got to do this now. He knew what he was facing. He knew what he was going in for. And he's laying on the gurney as they're ready to take him in. And he says, Well, Tommy, with a big smile on his face, We'll see you on the other side.
[44:28] My father was no theologian. He didn't quote the Bible a lot. He worshipped God. He went to church. I don't know if he had any clue what he was actually saying to me. That even though we face death, We can smile in the face of death because we'll see you on the other side.
[44:47] Amen? The cross is not death. The cross is victory. The pain we suffer is just a shadow of what's to come in the glory that God has for us.
[45:01] A hero doesn't just face bullets or fires, but faces the tragedies and the struggles and the difficulties of life and remembers to be a hero for others in that time.
[45:17] Jesus is coming into the city. And the Pharisees say to him, Tell your disciples to be quiet. He says, Are you kidding? If they were quiet, if they were quiet, the rocks and the stones would cry out.
[45:31] All of nature will scream. We are not going to take this anymore. Look out there. The crocuses are coming up. Spring is coming. No matter how much snow falls down, it's coming and winter's going.
[45:44] And that's God's way of saying, even in the midst of pain, there's always hope. In this passage, it says, they were yelling, Peace in heaven and glory in the high.
[46:01] It sounds like what the angel said at Christmas time. It reminded me of Christmas. When Isaiah says, In the midst of darkness, the people living in darkness have seen a great light.
[46:15] Maybe your light is sunny. Good. Praise God. Maybe you're facing rain and struggles and you want to give up and you want to whine and say, Oh, it's not fair to me.
[46:30] God says, Celebrate. Celebrate. Trust God. Because the cross leads to resurrection. This life leads to victory.
[46:45] People need you to be a hero. People need you to show them what it means to be a Christian in this world.
[46:59] It's not that we have a fairytale perfect life, but that even when we walk through the greatest pains and sufferings of life, we still know who our Redeemer and Savior and Lord is.
[47:15] And if we live that way, then they'll know what it means to say, Jesus Christ is my Lord and my Savior.
[47:25] God, God wants to transform our lives from defeat to victory, not by fixing everything, but by giving us, giving us what we need to walk through the dark, shadowy valleys of life.
[47:44] let's turn it all over to prayer with you. Pray with you, will you? Dear God in heaven, I have sinned by the things I do that make me less than perfect.
[48:00] I also, by the things I don't do because I don't trust you. I trust in other things. I worship things I shouldn't.
[48:15] I depend on things that aren't real rather than depending on a real God. Forgive me, Lord.
[48:27] Fill me. Pour into my spirit. Make me what I need to be. In Jesus' name. Amen.
[48:40] You know, Jesus decided to forgive your sins long before he went to the cross. He knew what was going to happen on that cross. He knew who he was dying for.
[48:51] He knew that we were less than perfect. In fact, we're a lot less than perfect. He went to that cross for us anyways. Showing how much he loves us.
[49:03] In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Glory to God. Amen. Our God has forgiven us of all of our sins and made a way where there was no way because we couldn't do it ourselves.
[49:23] There is no way that we could possibly restore ourselves to relationship with God by anything that we could do, by anything that we could think.
[49:36] But God made a way. And when we come to him, when we love him and serve him, he wants to restore us.
[49:47] He welcomes us to his table to remember, to remember how it is that he made that way. and to invite us to join in and to receive blessings from him like we've never received before.
[50:04] everyone is welcome at the table of the Lord. In the United Methodist Church, you don't have to be a member. You don't have to have been coming for a long time.
[50:15] If you love God, earnestly repent of your sins, and seek to live in peace as a disciple of Jesus Christ, you are welcome at this table.
[50:26] So come, join us in the celebration of Holy Communion. God invites you this morning to be healed, to be restored, to be fed.
[50:39] the Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
[50:52] It is right, and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. In love, you made us for yourself, and when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death, your love remained steadfast.
[51:10] You bid your faithful people cleanse their hearts and prepare with joy for the Easter feast that renewed by your word and sacraments and in fervent prayer and works of justice and mercy, we may come into the fullness of grace that you have prepared for those who love you.
[51:31] And so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join there in ending hymn. Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
[51:47] Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Holy are you and blessed is your son, Jesus Christ, whom you sent in the fullness of time to redeem the world.
[52:02] He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in our likeness. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
[52:14] He took upon himself our sin and death and offered himself a perfect sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection, you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new covenant by water and the spirit.
[52:36] And on the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread and gave thanks to you. And he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples, saying, Eat. This is my body, which is given for you.
[52:55] Do this in remembrance of me. And when the supper was over, he took the cup and gave you thanks and praise and gave it to his disciples, and he said, Drink from this, all of you.
[53:07] This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new covenant, poured out for you, poured out for many, for the forgiveness of sin. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.
[53:21] And so, in remembrance of these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice in union with Christ's offering for us as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
[53:37] Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here. And on these gifts of bread and wine, make them be for us the body and blood of Christ that we may be for the world, the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood, by your Spirit.
[54:00] Make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
[54:10] Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your Holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. Amen. Shall we pray together with the confidence of children of God, the prayer Jesus has taught?
[54:26] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
[54:37] Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
[54:52] For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. You ever hear the expression, those are big shoes to fill?
[55:05] My Father's hat is a big hat to fill. In a lot more ways than one. Growing up with a hero makes you want to live like a hero.
[55:17] We have a hero who pours out his spirit into our heart. And God calls you to go out and live like heroes. Not live like the people who are defeated or afraid or frightened or don't know how to live with adversity.
[55:32] But people who know that they have a confidence, they have a strength. Not everything will be taken away, but that we can walk through all the struggles, all the difficulties, and we will find victory because the cross isn't the end.
[55:46] It's the beginning of a new life. And all the struggles of this life will end with a victory of eternal life. Amen? So may God bless you and go with you. May God be your strength.
[55:57] May God be your power. May God be your spirit. And may God make you heroes to all the people around you. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[56:08] Amen.