[0:00] This is the day that the Lord has made.
[0:18] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[0:33] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.
[0:50] Good morning. Welcome to our church. We have a gift for our visitors at the connection site. Please fill out your friendship card for any prayers or concern or just so we can get to know you.
[1:02] It's fun to be part of the welcoming committee here at Pendleton Center. To have you here at Pendleton Center this morning. A couple quick things I wanted to share.
[1:12] First of all, we do have a fundraising thing we're doing at Bob Evans. If you eat at Bob Evans on Thursday, June 18th, you can go there and a part of what you order will go to the church.
[1:26] Go to the youth mission trip actually. On June 28th, the last Sunday of the month, we're having a church picnic. So there's only going to be one worship service at 10 a.m. that morning. What time is it?
[1:37] 10 a.m. Just want to make sure you're listening because if you come at 930, we're going to say, nah, just sit in the pew for a while and wait. Right? We also have five. What does that mean?
[1:49] Five chicken barbecues. Sorry. Five chicken barbecues left over from last night from people who had purchased tickets and they didn't show up. So if you're interested in purchasing a chicken barbecue, they're in the fridge and just let me know.
[2:03] And the ministry opportunity going around on our clipboards, there's two of them. One is to help with our dinner in Niagara Falls. And the other one, and there's only one of these, is to, if you'd like to order flowers and things like that for the sanctuary.
[2:16] So there's only one of those if you're looking for those. Let's turn to the Lord in prayer, shall we? Dear God in heaven, we thank you for this day. And we pray that you'll bless us and fill us with your presence. Send your spirit to be upon us that we might experience your wonder, your joy, your love in this place.
[2:30] Where it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. And now if you're able, I'm going to invite you to stand as we sing together Sweet Hour of Prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer That calls me from a world of care And bids me at my Father's throne Make all my wants and wishes known In seasons of distress and grief My soul has often found relief And of this gate, by thy return By thy return, sweet hour of prayer
[3:32] Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer The joys I feel, the joy I feel The joys I feel, the bliss I share Of those whose anxious spirits burn With strong desires for thy return With such I hasten to the place With such I hasten to the place Where God my Savior shows his face And gladly take my station there And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer Thy weak shall my petition bear To him whose truth and faithfulness Engage the waiting soul To bless and sin
[4:32] And since he bids me seek his face Believe his word and trust his praise I'll cast on him my every care And wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer The Lord be with you Take a moment, if you will, and greet your neighbor With the peace of the Spirit I'd like to invite all the kids to come on up Any kids want to come up?
[5:18] If the kids want to come join me They're welcome to come on down Good morning Have you ever gotten like a cut on your finger Or something like that?
[5:38] Or your arm or something? Yeah On your knee, huh? Brush burns, yeah You know what? When that happens You take something like this And you wash it up Okay, or a washcloth And then you put some of this stuff on To keep the germs from getting in there And then you put a band-aid on, right?
[6:01] And then mom kisses it, right? Or dad, no? Yeah, because that's the best part, you know? Absolutely She hugs you, yeah And says it's okay And you'll be alright, yeah Which of those Do you think that we could just do one of those?
[6:15] Skip all the other ones? Yeah Which one would we do? Oh no, that's more than one If you just did one You think it would be?
[6:26] Probably should do all of them, don't you think? Yeah, it'd be okay But it wouldn't be really good It's the same thing with what we do with our faith in God You know, we're supposed to love God It says with all our heart, our soul, our mind That's the thing We're supposed to come and worship God in church And we're also supposed to learn about God with our minds And then we're supposed to get to know other people that know about Jesus Our heart is And then go do something That's how we love them That's how we love them There's something There's all kinds of things That's what makes it strong Just like this is what makes us heal, okay?
[7:00] What do you guys think before this morning? If you want to share something, raise your hand My mom and dad. My brother and my sister. My family and friends.
[7:13] My nana. Turkey. All the way in back. My mom and dad and my family.
[7:28] And dad. All right. Lord, we are thankful for all the blessings you give to us. Our family, our friends. The good things in our lives and even Turkey. Bless us today, Lord.
[7:39] Bless us with your joy and wonder. And help us to love you with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You can all go out to church school now. All the kids can go out to church school. We're going to invite our friends from the animal shelter here in Pendleton.
[7:53] Come on up and share with us. Thank you. Good morning, everybody.
[8:12] If you don't know who I am, my name is Sandy. We're the queen. I answer to both. I have the animal sanctuary down there in Pendleton right around the corner on Figo Road.
[8:23] And we're just here to let you know we're back up and running. Thanks for your support. Fire. We have a new barn up. And we actually have more animals now than we did before. The petting zoo outside, the gentleman out there, right as the barn caved in, my hair was on fire, but my hair always looks like this.
[8:48] But I guess it wasn't my time yet because it's twice I've been saved from death. So I figure I'm still shoveling manure down here. But this is Tess.
[9:01] She just said hello. From Indonesia. She didn't fly here. A lot of people like to keep birds. We're such a species that's obsessed with putting animals in cages, even people.
[9:17] Tess is a 12-year-old Malacan cockatoo. She's actually peach-colored. And she came to us. We have about 150 rescues right now. She came to us when her mate died, and she was grieving a lot.
[9:30] So the lady just couldn't handle having her. And this is Precious. This is a lionhead angora rabbit. So we have animals outside.
[9:44] So when you leave the service, we couldn't continue without your continued support. So thank you for your support. And if you get a chance, stop by and visit us.
[9:54] It's nothing fancy, but we are back and running. So we do kids' birthday parties and petting zoos and that if you have a school or daycare center that needs, you know, some cheering up with the animals.
[10:07] And we need to be kind to our animals on this planet. In the last 40 years, we've lost 52% of the species on this planet. And as far as I know, God wanted us to take care of all his creatures.
[10:21] So do the best you can. And if you ever have a problem with wildlife and that, you know, call me because I don't sleep. Thank you. Amen.
[10:36] Thank you so much. As we continue in our worship, let us prayerfully offer before the Lord our gifts, tithes, and offerings to bring glory to God. Amen.
[10:47] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[11:10] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. One day when heaven was filled with his praises, one day when sin was as good as could be, Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, doubt among men my example is he.
[11:38] The word became flesh and the light shined upon us, his glory revealed. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away.
[11:59] Rising he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day.
[12:14] One day they led him up Calvary's mountain, one day they nailed him to die on a tree.
[12:32] Suffering anguish, despised and rejected, bearing our sins, my Redeemer is he.
[12:43] The handbagged nations stretched out on a tree, and took their nails for me. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away.
[13:04] Rising he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day.
[13:19] One day the great good concealed him no longer.
[13:31] One day a stone rolled away from the door. When he arose over death he had conquered, Now he's ascended, my Lord evermore.
[13:48] Death could not hold him, the grave could not keep him, from rising again. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, Buried he carried my sins far away.
[14:08] Rising he justified freely forever, one day he's coming, O glorious day, O glorious day.
[14:23] Glorious day. Glorious day. Glorious day. One day the trumpet will sound for his coming, One day the skies with his glories will shine.
[14:45] Wonderful day the trumpet will sound for his coming, O glorious day. Wonderful day my beloved one bringing, my Savior Jesus is mine. Living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away.
[15:07] Rising he justified, free he carried my sins far away. Rising he justified, freely forever, one day he's coming, O glorious day. Glorious day.
[15:20] Oh glorious day. Glorious day. Glorious day. Glorious day. Glorious day.
[15:31] Glorious day. O glorious day.
[15:44] Applause. Praise God, love you, O Lord.
[16:19] Praise God, love you, O Lord.
[16:49] Amen. Please be seated. Go. And I'd like to invite our member, Amy Thornton, to come forward with the Barnes family and their sponsor and Anna Lynn's godparents.
[17:07] Come on up here. And I know Pastor Tom's coming. So there he is. All righty. Brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate the new birth by water and the spirit through the sacrament of baptism as we become members of Christ's holy church.
[17:22] On behalf of the church, I present Anna Lynn Barnes for baptism. These questions are for the parents.
[17:39] Do you reject the evil powers of this world, repent of your sin, and accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist Satan? If so, answer, I do. Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and promise to serve as Christ's representative through faithful participation in his church?
[17:57] If so, answer, I do. And will you nurture this child in Christ's holy church and by teaching an example, lead her to accept Christ as your Lord and Savior? If so, answer, I will.
[18:09] And for the sponsors, will you sponsor this child, support and encourage her in her Christian faith? If so, answer, we will. And for the church, will you as the church of Christ renew your own vows of commitment to Christ and accept the responsibility to assist these parents in fulfilling their vows?
[18:26] If so, answer, we will. We will. They just all agreed to be babysitters, just so you know. That's it. Let's go. Okay. I'm going to say that.
[18:44] I'll go here. Shall we pray? Lord bless this water as a symbol of your sanctifying and renewing grace. As you have used water to bless the saints of history, let it now bless your child.
[18:56] Pour out your Holy Spirit on this gift of water. Pour out your Holy Spirit on this gift of water to bless this child with your grace that leads to eternal life. Help us to know that as we die to this world, we become alive to Christ and share in his final victory over sin and death.
[19:09] Amen. Amen. There we go.
[19:23] Anna Lynn Barnes, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord bless you and be with you this day and all.
[19:34] Amen. Shall we greet our newest sister and to the family of Christ? Applause Applause Amen. What a blessing.
[20:11] What a blessing to welcome a new little one into our midst. And I understand that Chris and Crystal are going to be coming over to a membership class later on today too, which is a wonderful blessing as well.
[20:23] So. Applause We do have a number of, a couple of other joys to share with you and some concerns as well before we go to the Lord in prayer.
[20:35] Jill and Keegan Roberts, who are, Jill is a member of the church, usually comes to the 815. Um, they were blessed on Thursday by, um, child number two. Kyler Allen was born on Thursday.
[20:47] And, um, I bring greetings this morning from Jean Beger. Uh, many of you know Jean. She was, um, she's an elderly person now and a shut-in at her home.
[20:57] But, um, she wants, I had the opportunity to visit her on Thursday. And she wants you to know that she prays for this church every day. That she doesn't just pray for the church and its ministries, kind of as a, a sort of an abstract, intangible sort of thing.
[21:14] But she prays for each member of the congregation. That we would fulfill God's call. Isn't that a blessing? I, I just noticed that we had sung Sweet Hour of Prayer for our opening hymn this morning.
[21:26] And Jean prays faithfully for this church and all of its members every day. Isn't that a blessing? To know that someone's praying for us. Um, we do, um, have some concerns to bring up as well.
[21:41] Kelsey James, um, had surgery on Thursday. And Kristen, um, Kromoek, who was one of our preschool staff, had an emergency appendectomy on Saturday morning.
[21:51] Um, I'd like to also lift up my daughter Carly, who's hurt her back again. She's trying real hard to play softball for this team. I'll tell ya. But, um, but she's, she's done something to her back again.
[22:02] So we're praying for healing for her. Um, we also have, um, Tom and Lisa Pagallo. Um, Tom is the lay leader over at Pastor Bob's Church, um, in Royalton.
[22:14] And, uh, their house was badly damaged by fire last Sunday night. Um, so they're in need of our prayers as well. And Mike Brzezki's father, David, passed away suddenly on Wednesday.
[22:27] Um, we need to keep Mike and Rose in our prayers. And Mike's mom, Joanne, and all of their family. So we have many joys. We come before the Lord with joys. We come before the Lord with concerns.
[22:37] And we trust that God hears and answers all of our prayers. Amen? Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we do give you thanks.
[22:54] You are the mighty God of all. The God of all creation. Awesome in power and mighty. And you call on us to pray. You want us to ask.
[23:07] You want us to tell you those things that we need. To tell you the things that we're thankful for. That you have blessed us with. Even though you already know all these things.
[23:19] It's a wonder. So, Father, we come before you this morning. Lifting up all of our joys. And rejoicing in them. And we lift up our concerns.
[23:32] We pray, Lord God. For new life. We thank you for the life that you have given. And into the families of this church.
[23:45] We thank you for Anna Lynn. And for her baptism. We thank you for her parents. And for the sponsors who have promised. To look after her.
[23:56] And bring her up. In the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We pray that you strengthen. Each and every one of them. And strengthen your church to accomplish this task. For Anna Lynn.
[24:08] And also for all. Of the young people we have in our church. We thank you, Lord. For the blessing of those who are. Moving toward the end of their lives.
[24:22] We thank you that they see the world. In a way that we don't. And that they hold us up. As we go forth in your name. And pray, Father.
[24:33] For all of those who are sick and infirm. Who are in need of healing. And we ask that you would touch them. Let them be whole. From the top of their heads. To the soles of their feet.
[24:44] And their spirits. Their souls. And their bodies. Lord God. Be with their doctors. And nurses. And other caregivers. Give them wisdom. Beyond their learning. Beyond their experience.
[24:56] So that they can know. How to best care for your people. Lord God. We pray in Jesus name. For those who are suffering. From losses of all kinds.
[25:08] Loss of homes. Loss of the ability to. Provide for themselves. And their families. Losses of loved ones. Lord. There are so many ways.
[25:20] That we experience. The pain of loss in this life. Fill us Lord. With your peace. Fill us Lord. Touch us with your compassion.
[25:33] Bring comfort. To all who are mourning. Father we pray in Jesus name. For all of those people. Who don't know you. Whether they be in our schools.
[25:44] In our places of work. In our neighborhoods. Or in the wider world. Make us to be your witnesses Lord. Give us words to say. And actions to do. That will draw them near to you.
[25:57] We pray for all those. In your church Lord. Who are being persecuted. All over the world. We pray that you continue. To strengthen them. And let all people.
[26:08] Who look upon them. See Jesus. Now we pray Lord. As we hear your word. That it would wash over us. And transform us.
[26:20] That your word spoken. Would teach us. To be more like Jesus. Pray that you anoint. Pastor Tom. To deliver the message. That you have given him. For us this morning.
[26:32] Just touch him. And anoint him. Make it be a blessing. To him. And a blessing to us. Lord God. May all. Of our worship. Be a blessing. To you this day.
[26:43] That we may be transformed. And go forth. To speak of your love. And grace. And mercy. Wherever we go. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
[26:56] Shall we hear from the word of the Lord. Good morning.
[27:21] Good morning. Scripture lesson this morning. Is from James. Chapter 5. Verses 13 to 20. Is anyone of you in trouble? He should pray.
[27:32] Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church. To pray over him. And anoint him with oil.
[27:43] In the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith. Will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned. He will be forgiven. Therefore.
[27:54] Confess your sins to each other. And pray for each other. So that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man. Is powerful. And effective. Elijah was a man.
[28:04] Just like us. He prayed earnestly. That it would not rain. And it did not rain. On the land. For three and a half years. Again he prayed. And the heavens gave rain. And the earth produced its crops.
[28:17] My brothers. If one of you should wander from the truth. And someone should bring him back. Remember this. Whoever turns a sinner. From the error of his way. Will save him from death.
[28:28] And cover over a multitude of sins. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you Timothy. He's a woman. You know we hear about things like.
[28:41] Young people who. Go into the hospital. Suddenly. This morning. We got a fellow. Whose house burned down. I got a call from a friend of mine.
[28:52] Who's a chaplain. In the air force. And they were all excited. Because they're about to go over to Guam. On a whole new adventure. With their family. They got to Seattle. And got a phone call.
[29:03] from back here in western New York that her mother was struck by lightning and killed. Things happen. These kind of tragedies, these kind of painful things, these broken things about life.
[29:17] And when they occur, it makes us wonder what kind of world we live in. Why do these things even occur? In the book of Romans, in chapter 8, we read, The creation was subjected to frustration.
[29:33] Not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it. In hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
[29:47] Sometimes we try to think that nature is somehow perfect. It's not. It's broken. It's subject to decay and destruction. When sin entered into the world with the fall of humanity, it not only infected our lives and made them imperfect, it wrecked everything.
[30:05] We don't live in a good, perfect world. We live in a broken world. Where broken things happen and bad things happen. And it can be difficult. We've been looking at the book of James for these last few weeks, and we're on the last sermon.
[30:20] We went through the seven deadly sins, and now we're to this last chapter which talks about healing and about God answering prayers. In the midst of our lives, we've got brokenness where we need help.
[30:35] We've also been looking at Gilligan's Island. They went for a three-hour tour, and it ended up on an island for 15 years. Could you imagine?
[30:46] What should we say? Why did this happen to me? You know, they say if we exercise, it'll help us to feel better, right?
[30:57] I'm in, I'm out, I'm up, I'm down. You do jumping jacks? My mother used to exercise. She had polio, so she couldn't walk. She used to exercise on the floor, you know?
[31:08] In, out, up, down. You can do it. Go ahead, try it. In, out, up, down. Yeah, some of you are lazy, I get it. Or maybe you're like me.
[31:21] You found out that even if you do these stretching and these exercises, it still hurts. You know? My back, it's hurt for 40 years. My knees are starting to hurt.
[31:34] I don't like this. I don't know what this means long term. My hands, the arthritis is kicking in these days. I need that ibuprofen, Adrian, you know?
[31:47] It's hard. It's hard when we struggle with these different pains, and all we want is the pain to go away. And not all the pain is in our bodies.
[31:58] The truth of the matter is, is health comes in a holistic way. We're told to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
[32:09] And our health comes the same way. We need to be healthy not just in our bodies. We need to be healthy in our minds. We need to be healthy in our relationships with other people. We need to be healthy in our soul to truly be healthy.
[32:21] And verse 15, which is a key verse for this passage, it says, The prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. The Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.
[32:33] It's interesting because as you look at the original words, it kind of changes it a little bit. Because the word for sick actually means weak.
[32:45] And the word for well is actually the same word that in the Bible is usually used for saved. The prayer offered in faith will make the weak person saved. And the Lord will raise them up.
[32:57] Kind of shifts the whole feel of the thing a little bit. But that's not just about having our bodies healed. We need to have our whole lives healed.
[33:09] Because you see, these things affect each other. Have you ever been sick? You know what happens when you're sick? You get depressed. Don't you? All of a sudden your spirits are down.
[33:21] The next, you know, you don't want to be around people. Not only that, they don't want to be around you. It can't even affect our very soul. And it goes the other way around too. You can have problems in your mind and be so emotionally upset that it destroys everything in your life.
[33:36] Sin is the same way. It can create brokenness and pain and a sense of guilt and a sense of struggle and disconnect from God to a point to which it actually makes us physically sick.
[33:47] We often just focus on getting our bodies and our minds fixed. We've got doctors up the gazoo, right? We have psychologists and counselors to help us with our emotional issues.
[34:01] But where do we go to get our relationships fixed? And what do we do about our soul? And after all, if it comes right down to it, what good is it if we get physically fit and mentally alert and we don't have anybody to love or love us and our soul is destined for destruction?
[34:18] You will be made well. You'll be saved. You'll be restored. You'll be redeemed. Job is a book about a man who went through real tragedy. Everything in his life fell apart.
[34:30] His wife died. His family died. His businesses went under. He went through every struggle you can imagine, even physical illness. And it says in the book of Job that Job once said, I know my Redeemer lives and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
[34:48] He held on to the idea that there's a God that even in the midst of brokenness will lift him up, will save him, will help him, will rescue him. The whole point of Gilligan's Island, the whole show, every single episode they were trying to do what?
[35:04] Get off that island. Get rescued, right? Well, I got bad news for you. That series ended. They were still stuck on the island. It never got off. And that whole series, it never got off the island.
[35:16] It wasn't like today where, you know, they finish it out and do that final episode so they conclude things. Back then, they just said your show is canceled. Oh, well, you're stuck on the island, right? But because we like Gilligan's Island enough, they actually made a movie later, which showed them getting off the island.
[35:33] What happened was a typhoon came along and pushed them to the point to which they had to make a boat out of their huts. And they ended up floating out in the middle of the ocean. It looked like this.
[35:44] Mmm, boy, broiled snapper. Everybody's going to be so happy. Hey, everybody, I got some good news.
[35:57] You spotted a rescue boat. No, that'd be great news. All I got is good news. Hey, we're having broiled snapper for dinner. Broiled? Uh-huh. How are you cooking it? With a fire.
[36:08] With a fire? Where did you build a fire? On the deck. On the deck! Uh-huh. Look. uh-huh. Uh-huh.
[36:34] Not by the way, reach out to us, boy. Point Bridge, Captain 1445, smoke of undetermined origin at approximately 230.
[36:56] Proceeding to investigate. Point Bridge, Captain 1445, smoke may be distress signal from very strange-looking fire.
[37:12] Proceed and assist. Of all the dumb, idiotic, thoughtless things that you've ever done.
[37:26] Well, I was only trying to cook the fish. But, yeah, but you almost cooked us. That would have been the end of the rescue. I can't believe it.
[37:46] After 15 years, we're finally rescued. Rescued? Rescued. Rescued. Rescued. Rescued.
[37:57] Rescued. Hey, hey, down here! Hey, down here! Hey! Ahoy down there!
[38:11] The Coast Guard cutter is on the way. Good thinking, folks. Starting that fire saved your lives. We never would have seen you without that smoke. I'll stay with you until the cutter arrives.
[38:22] If you're okay, wave. Great! And we're first! Thanks to Gilligan! I see you, you can do it, little buddy!
[38:33] I see you, you can do it, little buddy! He tells Gilligan that he did it and he's all happy, so he whacks him. You notice that about Skipper?
[38:45] He's always hitting that poor little Gilligan guy, you know? He's got some real anger management issues, that guy does. You see, getting rescued was not just about somebody reaching down and pulling them up.
[38:56] That's what we think. Being saved or finding help is about just God will do everything like a magic genie and fix everything. That's much more of a process. They had to do something themselves.
[39:08] Then they had to reach out and let other people help them. They even had to look up to the helicopter pilot, who had an amazing voice that sounded a lot like God's, and then reach down to pull other people along with him.
[39:23] So healing is a process. It's a process that comes in steps, in stages, if you will. I want to share a story that some of you know about Jesus meeting on the beach after his resurrection with Peter.
[39:37] It comes from the 21st chapter of John. It sounds something like this. When they finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me more than these?
[39:49] Yes, Lord, Peter answered, you know that I love you. And Jesus said, feed my lands. Again, Jesus said, Simon, son of John, do you truly love me? And he answered, yes, Lord, you know I love you.
[39:59] And Jesus said, then take care of my sheep. The third time he said to him, Simon, son of John, do you love me? And Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, do you love me?
[40:11] He said, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. And Jesus said, feed my sheep. But I tell you the truth. When you were young, you dressed yourself and went where you wanted.
[40:22] But when you are old, you'll stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go. This represents the stages we have of healing.
[40:36] First of all, we need to reach in. We need to figure out in our own world where we're broken. We need to admit our brokenness. We need to confess our brokenness.
[40:47] You notice that Peter had to confess how many times? Three times that he loved Jesus. And if you know the story of Peter and Jesus, when Jesus was facing the crucifixion, Peter denied him three times.
[41:02] He had to admit. He had to recognize his brokenness, his faults, what was not working in him. The difficulty is, so oftentimes, we don't want to take any initiative.
[41:13] And God expects us to do something. If you're in need, let them pray. He says, let them sing. Let them call. Do something. As long as they stayed on the island and did nothing, they weren't going to be saved.
[41:29] They had to actually take the initiative. And we need to do the same thing. We have to confess that we're broken. And we don't want to do it.
[41:39] In verse 14, it says, if anyone is weak, God will save them. Do you really want to admit you're weak?
[41:51] Nobody wants to admit they're weak. We want to say what's wrong. We can do anything. We can take care of ourselves. The confession is admitting that we have a problem.
[42:03] There's something broken, something wrong with us. And we don't like that. We don't want to do that. But we can't get healed until we admit we have a problem.
[42:16] So long as I pretend there's no pain in my hands, it won't get better. And I won't take a cure to fix them. We have to work on reaching in and begin with confession.
[42:28] The next one is we need to reach out. We need to reach out and accept help. And that's not easy. Asking for help.
[42:40] Did you hear that passage towards the end? We don't very often preach about that in the church. We leave that one at the end of John off. You know, where it talks about when you're older, you'll be led around by the hand. And you go places you don't want to go.
[42:52] Some of you have been around long enough to know when I used to tell Chuck stories. My friend Chuck. I haven't told a Chuck story in a long time. That's because Chuck now lives in his daughter's garage down in the Carolinas.
[43:06] They fixed it up. It's okay. He can't drive a car anymore. He's got one of those little scooters he can get around with. And if he wants to walk somewhere, he needs somebody else to take his hand to keep him steady.
[43:18] I was talking to him the other night on the phone. And he said, I know what that passage means in John now. When it says when you get old, people are going to lead you around by the hand and make you go places you don't want to go.
[43:30] No. It's not easy. Nobody wants that. Nobody wants to get to the point where we have to say, I can't do this myself. And so we try to do things we can't.
[43:43] Try to lift up something that's too heavy for us because we don't want to ask for help. And then we go, oh, I don't know why my back hurts. Because we're not willing to ask for help.
[43:54] In fact, James in chapter 4 says, you don't receive because you don't ask. Simple as that. A lot of it comes down to our pride.
[44:07] Proverbs talks about our pride when it says this. It says, pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. We hurt ourselves. We damage our relationships.
[44:18] We make a mess of our lives because we won't ask anybody for help. When we absolutely need it. Sometimes we need help. You know, I'm sure that there are things I could do to mitigate my pain if I go and talk to my doctor.
[44:34] But you know what I got to do? I got to go. I got to make an appointment myself. And then I have to listen to what he says. They don't like to do that. We like to say we're smarter than our doctors.
[44:45] I've heard everybody say that I changed my medicine because my doctor doesn't know what he's talking about. You know, we do it all the time. When my mother-in-law passed away, we inherited this little place down in Florida.
[45:00] It was my in-law's home for about 30 years. And so for my wife, it's like the place where she feels surrounded by her parents' love. It doesn't cost us very much, and it's not worth very much, so we keep it.
[45:13] And you know, we hope someday we might even use that as we get older. We go down from time to time. One of the big concerns I had was not even the expense of keeping this house.
[45:24] It was, how am I going to keep it up? You know what I'm talking about? What am I going to do if something breaks? I'm up here. I can't, like, fly to Florida because something broke. This is really a problem.
[45:36] There's a guy down in Florida named Jim. And he said, don't worry about it. I'll take care of your house. I said, really, how much do you want? He says, nothing. Really, no, what can I pay you?
[45:47] Because then, see, I can feel like I don't owe him anything. No, that's okay. Once in a while, we can buy his wife and him dinner. But basically, he just does this because he's a nice guy.
[45:59] We call him up and say, Jim, we've got a problem. Do you mind? Could you go over and check on the, sure, no problem. Sometimes we need help.
[46:10] But our pride doesn't want us to do that. We'd rather pay somebody to do it. We'd rather suffer and struggle than to ask somebody to help us and admit that we need something or be worried that we might owe somebody something.
[46:26] There's people out there that can help us. It says the prayers of a righteous person are powerful. Elijah prayed, and he changed the entire weather. Do we turn to the people that can help us, help us understand our faith, help us grow in God, help us with our lives, help us with our children, help us with our finances, help us with all the things that are broken in our lives, or do we say, no, no, no, no, I can do it myself, and then get ourselves in trouble.
[46:52] When we're broken, we have to reach in and say we've got a problem, and then we've got to reach out and say to people, yeah, I need some help, and be willing to do that, and be willing to receive that help. You know, we're terrible at receiving help.
[47:06] We'd much rather give it sometimes than receive it. Even with God. With God, we oftentimes won't accept his forgiveness. He will forgive our sins, but we won't accept it.
[47:18] So walk around saying, oh, yeah, I'm a sinner. I sinned back 40 years ago. It's like God forgot that years ago, dude. Really? Stop dragging it around.
[47:29] Oh, and that's the third one. Reach in. Reach out. Reach up. To God. To God. Because God actually has the ability to do what we can't do.
[47:45] In the book of Mark, in chapter 10, we read this. The disciples were even more amazed and said to each other, who can be saved? And Jesus looked at them and said, what's impossible with people is not impossible with God.
[47:58] All things are possible with God. What's impossible with God? All things. All things. We don't need God for what we can do. We don't need God for what we can ask somebody else to do.
[48:09] We need God to do what's impossible for us to do. Amen? Because if it isn't impossible, what do you need God for? Just go do it. Really? Seriously? We need God for the stuff we can't do.
[48:23] When you're in trouble, it said, pray. I got to tell you, I checked it out. They once mentioned prayer on Gilligan's Island. They never did it.
[48:34] 15 years, they never prayed. Never prayed. So God didn't answer the prayers that they didn't offer. You know, children of Israel in the Bible were in captivity for 400 years.
[48:46] And it says, and then they called out to God and God answered them. What would have happened if they would have called out to God after 10 years? Maybe they wouldn't have been down in Egypt for 400 years. They just never really thought about God.
[48:57] We don't think about God. It says, when you're happy, sing praise songs to God. How many of you do that? When you're happy, you start singing church songs, right? Yeah, I don't think so. We'll sing, you know, some little tune we saw in a movie or heard on the radio.
[49:15] Do we even have faith to believe what it says when it says that God will raise us up? God himself will lift us up. Reach in. Reach out.
[49:27] Reach up. Reach up. And what's left? Reach down. What are we reaching down for? I'll tell you what we're reaching down for.
[49:38] We're reaching down for the people who are also broken. It says if you've got a problem, you should go to the church. There should be people there that will help you. Do you know what that means?
[49:50] You don't come to church to figure out where you can find somebody to fix your problem. You come to church to try and fix somebody else's problem. That's your job. That's your job.
[50:01] That's your job. That's your job. That's your job. That's your job. church. You're supposed to be there as a resource to reach down and pull people up out of their brokenness. It's a place of healing. Jesus looked at Peter and said, if you really love me, feed my sheep.
[50:20] Take care of the people that I made in my image. Look out for other people. Reach down to somebody who's hurting and help them out. That's how we show our gratitude to God.
[50:30] Now, some people would say, yeah, but I've got more problems than everybody else. Well, that may be some. You know, we have this way of looking at our problems as being the only problems.
[50:41] And never seeing other people's problems. All we see is their blessings. So I know right now that some of you, as soon as I mentioned that I have a place in Florida, thought must be nice. I know you did.
[50:52] All right? Sure. Sure. It is nice. We have a little place down in Florida that maybe when we retire, we could go and live in.
[51:02] But the only way I could get that is for all four of my parents to die. Do you think that's a trade I wanted to make? Do you think I wouldn't trade everything I've ever inherited just to have one of them back?
[51:16] You know, what we see as blessings in other people's lives, we don't see the other side of it, of how that happened. People who look like they're successful sometimes are lonely. Sometimes they're struggling with something.
[51:27] Sometimes they're broken in their bodies, but they don't admit it to people. Sometimes they just need somebody who will talk to them when they're standing alone. Church is supposed to be a place where we look for people who are in need to help them.
[51:40] Now we try to avoid them so we can go around and be with the people who are all fixed up. That's not what God put us in a community for. He put us in a community so that we would have the resources to help everybody.
[51:52] Amen? And reach down and lift them up. That's what God created us as a church to be.
[52:02] It says, pray for other people in verse 16. Verse 19 and 20, it says, there's people out there who have wandered away from God, and you could go and bring them back.
[52:16] You might say, well, I have nothing to offer. You all have Jesus to offer. There's people that don't even know that there's the possibility that God will forgive their sins, that they can live forever, that they can have not only eternal life, but they can have life and joy in this world.
[52:33] They're not aware that there's a place where they can go to church and actually not fall asleep. Who's falling asleep out there? We have a gift that we can offer.
[52:47] And by the way, it ended by saying in that verse, and if you do this, you bring somebody back to God, you cover over a multitude of sins. Now, I'm not sure if they mean a multitude of sins in the other person's lives or your own.
[53:00] If God just forgives you because you're going out and helping someone else, don't you think that God is going to bless you for blessing someone else? I know He is. What goes around comes around.
[53:17] Someday I'm expecting that I'm going to be in Florida at least part of the year. Not all year, man. Nobody wants to be there in the summer. It's awful. It's, you know, it's hell. It really is.
[53:28] Bugs and heat and misery. But someday I'm going to be down there. And this guy, Jim, he's going to be like another decade older.
[53:39] And he's already a good bit older than me. What do you think I'm expecting? Hey, Tom, I've got a problem with something. You think you can come over and help me? Right?
[53:51] You see, the point is, you start putting out healing. You start putting out help. You start putting out love. You start putting out caring. And it won't happen with every single incident, but it will start coming back your way.
[54:03] And it will help to heal you. And make your life actually better as well. You ready? Here we go. Reach in.
[54:15] Reach out. Reach up. Reach down. I'm happy all the time. You know, I'm not happy all the time.
[54:28] I have a lot of pain. And I believe in God. And I do sometimes ask for help. I try to help others, and I've prayed to God. But I'm expecting the arthritis to get worse.
[54:40] I've seen what happens with it. In my own family, I've seen what happens with it to people's lives. I don't think the pain in my back that I've had since I'm 17 is going to go away. And I'm worried about when I'll no longer be able to walk on these legs because of my knees.
[54:55] And who even knows what's still yet to come. Sometimes being made well is about being made into a person who's capable of going through the troubles and the brokenness and the struggles.
[55:09] Not making them disappear. Just making them something that we can live with and live in. And my mother would have wished to have pain in her leg.
[55:22] For 60 years, she had to drag around a leg that was made completely without feeling by polio. That's why she was crippled. She would have been glad if it just had pain in it.
[55:34] Instead of being absolutely something that was of no use at all. She exercised every day to make her arms stronger until her shoulders gave out.
[55:48] Even with surgery, she had to sit now just in a wheelchair all the time. I'm going to tell you something about my mother. She was the most popular person I ever met.
[55:59] We had this cottage out at Silver Lake. And the place was always full of people when my mother was around. Everybody wanted to be with my mother. Not just family.
[56:10] Everybody on the street. Family, the world, friends. Everybody wanted to be with her. She even, at the age of 81, had two marriage proposals.
[56:23] Go figure that out. All these ladies hunting around for a guy. She's like, yeah, go away. I got no time for this. And why?
[56:35] Why? Because in the midst of her struggles, in the midst of her tragedy and brokenness, she smiled. She didn't talk about her problems.
[56:48] She looked to help other people. She always was positive about things and looking for places to pick everyone up. She prayed to God every single day.
[56:59] She looked forward to the time that is now. When she would run and not faint. When she would not cry or mourn or have pain or suffering.
[57:12] Because that would all pass away, which has for her. See, ultimately, we want to be healed in our bodies, in our minds, in our relationships, and in our soul.
[57:26] But if it comes down to it, if I have a choice of having problems with my body instead of my mind, I'll take them. If I have a choice between having my mind and my body messed up, but I have people to love me and that I can love, I'll take that.
[57:39] And after all, if I lose all three of the others and I still gain eternal life, I know someday I will have no pain, no problems, no struggles, no hurt, but only pure love.
[57:50] We start with our soul and we work down to our relationships and get to where we need to go. We live in a broken creation.
[58:02] It's not a perfect place. If they fix what's wrong with you and they wipe it off the face of the earth, don't you believe something new will come up? Seriously? Right?
[58:12] As soon as we wipe out one disease, what happens? We get one we never heard of. This is temporary. We're not meant to stay here.
[58:25] It's like living in an apartment or something like that, or maybe a motel room. God has something much better planned for us. In the book of John, he says to us, Don't let your hearts be troubled.
[58:37] Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. And he's building your mansion for you. How cool is that?
[58:49] So we live into the promise of the future. Working through the best we can to mitigate the pain and trouble in our lives and other people's lives as well.
[59:02] We confess. We look for where we can find help. We reach out to God for what's impossible. And then we reach down to others to pull them out of their brokenness too.
[59:18] Right? Do it with me. Reach in. Reach out. Reach up. Reach down. And let God be your salvation. Let God be your hope. Let God be your way through all the struggles and pains and hurts of life.
[59:35] With us who come to take care and forget the best мы,uteur and be held to others. When God was God. Amen. You called me out upon the waters.
[60:01] The great unknown Where feet may bend And there I find you in the mystery In oceans deep My faith will stand And I will call upon your name Keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise My soul will rest in your embrace For I am yours You are mine You raise the mountain deep as waters
[61:13] Your sovereign hand Will be mine Where feet may fail And fear surrounds me It never is And you once are now And I will call upon your name And keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise My soul will rest in your embrace For I am yours And you are mine Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders
[62:24] Have you walked upon the waters Wherever you would call me Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander And my faith would be made stronger In the presence of my Savior Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders And my trust is without borders And my faith would be made stronger And my faith would be made stronger In the presence of my Savior And my faith would be made stronger And my faith would be made stronger And my faith would be made stronger In the presence of my Savior I will call upon your name
[63:36] And I will call upon your name Keep my eyes above the waves When oceans rise, my soul will rest in your embrace For I am yours, and you are mine When we feel we need healing in our hearts, our minds, our bodies, our very souls No matter what the healing is needed, we always just need to come to Jesus Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen
[64:36] Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen Amen As we are alive Amen And the love of earth has lifted and carried far away.
[65:19] And precious blood has washed away the stain. So sing to Jesus. Sing to Jesus.
[65:34] Sing to Jesus. Sing to Jesus and me. I've got you, my baby.
[65:48] Don't be afraid to crawl. Remember when you walk, sometimes we fall.
[65:59] So fall on Jesus. Fall on Jesus. Fall on Jesus. Fall on Jesus.
[66:11] Fall on Jesus. And me. Sometimes the way is lonely. And steep and filled with pain.
[66:24] So if your sky is dark and pours for rain. Cry to Jesus. Cry to Jesus.
[66:36] Cry to Jesus. Cry to Jesus. Cry to Jesus. And rain.
[66:47] Cry to Jesus. Cry to Jesus. Cry to Jesus. And rain.
[67:01] contain the joy inside. Dance for Jesus. Dance for Jesus.
[67:15] Dance for Jesus. And live. And with your final heartbeat, kiss the world goodbye.
[67:32] Go in peace and laugh on glory's side. Fly to Jesus. Fly to Jesus.
[67:48] Fly to Jesus. And live. Come to Jesus.
[68:01] Dance for Jesus. Fly to Jesus. And live.
[68:12] Jesus is our healer. The master physician. We just need to trust. Believe. You hold my heavenly wall.
[68:27] You calm my raging seas. You walk with me through fire. And fear of my disease.
[68:44] I trust in you. I trust in you.
[68:56] I believe you're my healer. I believe you are all I need.
[69:12] I believe you're all I need. I believe you're all I need.
[69:25] You're all I need. Jesus, you're all I need.
[69:38] You're all I need. our healer. I believe you are all I need.
[69:58] I believe you're my portion. I believe you're more than enough for me.
[70:14] Jesus, you're all I need. Y'all have things we're broken about.
[70:34] Some of us feel broken in our bodies in such a deep way. Some of us feel broken in our relationships. Others are broken in their minds. We have to start with our soul because after all everything we can do and even those people around us can do is just the possible.
[70:54] We've got to start with the one that can do the impossible. Reach up to God. Will you pray with me? Dear God in heaven, I confess I'm broken.
[71:07] I have things that need fixing. Sins that need forgiving. Relationships that need restoring.
[71:22] Things I need taken out of my mind. And things I need put in my mind. And even my body, Lord, hurts.
[71:37] Forgive me, Lord. Heal me. Pour out your Holy Spirit. Give me a fresh beginning. In Jesus' name.
[71:51] Amen. It only matters if you receive it. God decided to forgive your sin and give you a brand new beginning. A healthy beginning before you even walked in the doors here.
[72:05] But you have to receive it. You have to let God help you live into that healthiness. With God, with other people, with your own self.
[72:17] Receive it today. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Glory to God. Amen. Amen. I cast all my cares upon you.
[72:54] I lay all my burdens down at your feet. And any time that I don't know what to do, I will cast all my cares upon you.
[73:24] Amen. You know, our God does reach down. He has reached down to us and called us up. He's reached down and connected with us in the most amazing way, becoming one of us to live here among people and make a way for us to be forgiven of our sins, made a way for us to be restored to life.
[73:52] When you come to the table, you partake in that life that God has offered us. You can receive Jesus Christ into your heart, into your soul, into your spirit as you receive the body and blood of Christ in the bread and the juice.
[74:14] So come. Everyone is welcome. You don't have to be a member of this church. You don't have to be a member of any church. You can come to the table if you love God, if you earnestly repent of your sin and seek to live in peace as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
[74:32] You are welcome to the table this morning. Come and receive, expecting God to bless you, expecting God to bring healing into your life.
[74:46] The Lord be with you. Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give thanks to the Lord.
[74:56] It is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth. You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.
[75:09] When we turned away and our love failed, your love remained steadfast. You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God and spoke to us through your prophets.
[75:21] And so with your people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn. Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
[75:38] 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.
[75:49] Your spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.
[76:05] He healed the sick, fed the hungry and ate with sinners. 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.
[76:24] And on the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread and he gave thanks to you. And he broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying, Take, eat.
[76:36] This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of you. And when the supper was over, he took the cup and he gave you thanks and praise and gave it to his disciples and he said, Drink from this, all of you.
[76:57] 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.
[77:10] 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.
[77:29] 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.
[77:51] By your Spirit, 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.
[78:04] Through your Son, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit and your Holy Church, all honor and glory is yours, Almighty Father, now and forever. Amen. Shall we pray together with confidence of children of God the prayer Jesus taught us?
[78:20] Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[78:31] 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 for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
[78:52] Amen. By the way, I agree with our baptism baby, don't you? I mean, it's over. It's supposed to be done by now. How long are we going to go? You know, I get it. I get it.
[79:02] Stop torturing me. My back hurts. I'm starting to feel the pain. You know, I'm with her. If you're able, I'm going to invite you to stand as we're going to sing to God. Babies have the timing down.
[79:14] You know, they know. It's so sweet to trust in Jesus just to take him at his word just to rest upon his promise and to know the saith the Lord Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I've proved him o'er and o'er.
[79:53] Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him more. Oh, how sweet to trust in Jesus just to trust his cleansing blood and in simple faith to plunge me to plunge me meet the healing cleansing blood.
[80:19] Jesus, Jesus, how I trust him, how I've proved him o'er and o'er. Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus, oh, for grace to trust him more.
[80:38] Quick announcement. If you have a graduate or are a graduate or no graduate, next week we're going to honor our graduates. We try to do it on graduation weekend. It doesn't work. They're all sleeping. Okay?
[80:48] So we're going to honor our graduates next week when they're still away just to let them know about that. I'm in, I'm out, I'm up, I'm down, I'm happy all the time.
[81:01] No, I'm not. You've heard that, right? But you know, the truth is that the greatest lesson I learned from my mother is just because you're hurting a little bit doesn't mean you have to complain to everybody you meet, right?
[81:12] What an inspiration that she would go through and struggle with those pains and smile and have laughter and joy. I see people like that. I know their troubles. I know their problems. And yet they're still smiling and sharing the joy of the Lord.
[81:23] We need to be those people. That shows that we really have a faith so powerful that it overcomes the pains and struggles and brokenness of our lives. May God fill you with that joy. May God fill you with his grace, his wonder, his healing touch, and bless you this night and into eternity.
[81:39] Go in his peace. Amen. Amen. Amen.