[0:00] Good morning, everyone. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. If any of the kids want to come up, they can welcome them to come up and sing.
[0:16] This is the day This is the day That the Lord has made That the Lord has made Let us rejoice Let us rejoice And be glad in it 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 Hi, welcome to our church. I'm Mike Maciejewski. And I'm Julie. Please fill out your friendship card to get on the mailing list, to sign up for any activities, any prayers or concerns, and any notes you want to send for the staff.
[1:09] And if you're new to our church, please be sure and pick up a gift that we have for you in the back of the church at the connection site after worship. Thank you for coming today and welcome to Pendleton Center Church.
[1:21] And we are glad to have you here with us this morning. There are two clipboard opportunities for ministry going around. The first is about our dinners in Niagara Falls where we feed about 80 to 100 people each week. And so if you can help out with that effort, we would appreciate your gifts for that.
[1:37] Also, the second one is for Vacation Bible School, which is coming a week from Monday. Not this, not tomorrow, but a week from Monday. And so if you can help with that, it would be appreciated.
[1:48] If you're a young person who wants to be a guide or help with VBS and you're a teenager, there will be a training after the late service today. Now, you've already been to training. You don't have to go again. This is for people who haven't been there yet and would like to be a guide or help out as a youth helper in our ministry with VBS.
[2:09] We also wanted to mention that there are a couple of part-time positions available in the church, various different things, working with our youth, working with our children's ministry, working in mission outreach, different things.
[2:20] So if it sounds like something that you've had an interest or a thought about, please give us a call and let us know. Okay. Let's have a moment for prayer, shall we? Dear God, there is a wonderful joy that you give us when we come to worship you.
[2:33] And so we thank you for bringing us here. And we thank you for your presence here. And we pray now that you'll pour that presence down upon us, that your Holy Spirit will touch our worship and lift us up in joy and wonder before Jesus Christ.
[2:47] In whose name we pray. Amen. And now, if you're able, I'm going to invite you to stand as we sing together, Go Make of All Disciples. Go Make of All Disciples.
[3:06] We hear the call, O Lord, That comes from thee, our Father, In thy eternal word, Inspire our ways of loving, To earnest, fervent prayer, And let our daily living Reveal thee everywhere.
[3:38] Go make of all disciples, We at thy feet would stay, Until each life's vocation, Accents thy holy way.
[3:57] We cultivate the nature, God plants in every heart, Revealing in our witness, The master's teacher's heart.
[4:16] Go make of all disciples, We welcome thy command, Lo, I am with you always, We take thy guiding hand, The task looms large before us, We follow without fear, In heaven and earth, Thy power, Shall bring God's kingdom near.
[4:54] The Lord be with you, Take a moment if you will, And greet your neighbor, With the peace of the spirit. He, Get ready for the eight fiftieth kids, Mon' down.
[5:25] Any other kids want to come up? Morning, boys.
[5:39] How are you doing this morning? You know what this is? What's this stuff called? Money. That's right. You know when they first came out with money, do you know what money really was?
[5:49] Money was just a promise that there was gold somewhere. That if you turned this in, you would get gold. Did you know that? So all the money that the United States printed, they had gold in the bank that you could actually exchange for the money.
[6:04] Because it got difficult for people to carry around big bags of gold. That was a lot to carry around. So they gave out money instead to carry around. But there was gold behind it. You know what's behind the money now? You don't know, do you?
[6:18] Just a promise. A promise that the money's worth something. And you know what? If everybody decides the money is worth nothing, you know what it is? It's just a piece of paper. Do you know that?
[6:30] So actually the money is actually not worth anything. It's just the fact that we believe the money is worth something that makes it worth something. And you'd probably like some of that, wouldn't you? Yeah, because even though it's just a promise, we'd like it.
[6:42] Because it's actually combined things right now. You know what? God wants us to make a promise that's even more important. A promise to God that we'll serve him and that we'll live in his world and that he'll live in ours.
[6:54] And he's promised that he'll do that for us. And what's standing behind God's promise is all heaven and all earth and everything he's ever made and all of eternity. So if we turn in our promise, God will give us everything.
[7:08] All right? Does that sound good? Yeah, so he's actually got something backing it up still in the back, which is good. That's better than the money right now. And so we're thankful for that. What are you guys thankful for this morning? Is there anything you want to share? Raise your hand.
[7:19] My mom. My kids. Do you want to share anything? Lord, we do thank you for our parents, our pets, all the good things you bless us with, and especially the promises you give us.
[7:33] Be with us this day and forever. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen? Okay, you guys go out to church school if you'd like to. All the kids are welcome to go out to church school, Mom. This morning I am thankful for this gorgeous weather, beautiful sunshine.
[7:51] Even yesterday we were in worship and it started to rain and a bright rainbow came up and over while we were taking communion. It was just beautiful. And just all the things that we look at and see around us between the nature and the people in our church community, we just know that God is good and God is blessing each and every one of us.
[8:11] And as we reflect on just how good God is to each and every one of us, let's return our gifts, tithes, and offerings to the Lord. Amen. Thank you.
[8:49] Amen. Amen.
[9:49] Amen. Amen.
[10:49] Amen. Amen.
[11:42] Lord, we thank you for your goodness and we thank you for your blessings. and we pray that this gift back to you, a small portion of what you've given to us, will be reflected throughout this world to bring people closer to you and enhance your kingdom.
[11:57] May we be a part of what your blessing, in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. We do have a great joy to share that we have two young boys who are going to be baptized later by immersion in the next service, so that's a great joy.
[12:14] We do also have some concerns to share. I know Bob Dimmick is going for surgery soon, and we continue to pray for Jan Gertz. Is she in rehab now? Yes, she's in rehab.
[12:25] So I also know that there's many within this congregation who have concerns on their heart that are not spoken aloud, but no one's life is perfect, and we all have struggles, so let's come to the Lord for prayer.
[12:40] Gracious Redeemer, we thank you. We praise you, and we humbly come to you with heavy hearts for the things that are going on in some of the lives of people in this congregation.
[12:55] And there are those among us, Lord, who are struggling in their hearts, they're confused, who are being abused, and they need your guidance.
[13:06] We pray that your presence will fill them, and they will become wise through you to make the right decision. There are those within this congregation, among us here, Lord, that are struggling in their bodies, and we pray for healing, that pains may go away, that you may come in, and great miracles happen.
[13:28] Be with doctors and nurses, guide their hands. We're thanking you for the healing that you are giving to your people.
[13:41] We pray for our families, Lord, that some are going through such struggles. Help us to recognize your presence among us and draw closer to you.
[13:56] Strengthen bonds. And help us to grow in love toward one another. Help us all to be better parents, better grandparents, and better examples and mentors to the youth and the children around us.
[14:17] We pray for our church, that we may go in the direction that you have called us to go. May your blessing be upon us as we try to make an impact in your kingdom.
[14:32] And we pray for this world that is so broken, and we feel so helpless to help it in any way, but we know that you are there, and that you will be with us, that we may make an impact one step at a time.
[14:44] Amen. May your Holy Spirit break out in a powerful force upon this congregation, that we may know you and feel you, and grow more deeply in love with you, and change this world in your name.
[15:03] Amen. Now let us hear the scripture reading. Good morning.
[15:31] Good morning. Scripture lesson this morning is from Matthew 16, verses 13 to 20. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say the Son of Man is?
[15:49] They replied, Some say John the Baptist. Others say Elijah. And still others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. But what about you, he asked.
[16:00] Who do you say I am? Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus replied, Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
[16:14] For this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter. On this rock I will build my church. The gates of Hades will not overcome it.
[16:27] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Then he warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
[16:42] This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Thank you, Tim.
[16:57] The other day I was trying to go to Google on my new smartphone. And it wouldn't work. No matter what I did, it didn't work.
[17:08] So I showed it to my wife and that didn't work. And my grandson wasn't around. So I had to go to the Verizon store. And I stood in the line and I waited and I waited and I waited.
[17:19] And eventually they came over. And this woman took my phone. And she said, oh, I can fix that. And she went like this. And I thought, what are you doing? What's the big secret?
[17:30] Why can't you show me what to do with this phone so I don't have to come here all the time? It's not like I paid them anything to do this. It's just like this. Sometimes I feel like this world we live in is designed to make us feel like we're ignorant about everything.
[17:47] Do you know what I'm talking about? I just feel sometimes like everywhere I go, somebody's trying to make me feel like I don't know very much. Like the whole world is filled with secrets. And I'm not in on it.
[17:59] Jesus turns to his disciples. The people have been following him for two or three years. And he says, who do people say I am? Now you can picture that this is like the pop quiz in school, you know?
[18:12] And they're all looking at him like, what are we supposed to say? I don't know. That's kind of a weird question. Who are you? You're Jesus. I don't know. What else are we supposed to say? One of the prophets?
[18:23] Maybe Elijah? Maybe you're John the Baptist? I don't know. Who do you think you are? Right? It's hard. Who do people say Jesus is?
[18:36] It seems like people today are saying all kinds of things about God. Who is Jesus? A lot of people say he's a great man.
[18:47] He said some wonderful things. He taught people all these kind of things. Jesus is talking to his own disciples, and they don't know what the answer is. I have to be honest with you.
[18:58] I think for a lot of people who call themselves Christians today, we feel like we don't know enough answers. And so we're quiet. We feel like we just don't have enough to be able to go out and say, I'm a Christian, and you can ask me about God, and I'll have the answers.
[19:16] So we keep it shallow. We've been talking about words that block other people from coming to God. And today I want to talk about shallowness.
[19:27] About the idea that we just keep our faith on the surface, if at all. Because we're afraid we're going to give the wrong answer. Some of you grew up in a church a few years ago that said that if you ate meat on Friday, you were going to go to hell.
[19:43] But now you can eat meat on Friday, right? Some of you grew up in a place where it said, if you dance, you're in trouble, but now you can dance. Some of you said you couldn't drink. Now you can drink.
[19:54] Don't even get me into sex. I don't even want to talk about that. And what do you call the pastor? Am I Pastor Tom? Am I Reverend Kraft? Am I Hey You? It's so confusing.
[20:04] I don't know about you, but I understand why people feel sometimes they just don't even want to try. This pole has been hanging around our sanctuary for about a quarter of a century.
[20:17] Some of you have seen it over the years. Does anybody know what this pole is for? Opening windows, hanging stuff up on the walls.
[20:28] They've used it for hanging stuff up on the walls. In fact, somebody, it may even have been me, add a little addition of a little nail on there to help lift things up. That's what a lot of people think it's for, but that's not what it's for.
[20:41] It's a pole that's been in our sanctuary for years, and it has a special meaning. But most, in fact, so far, nobody, nobody, even the people that work here, don't know what it's for. It's frustrating, because we've been taught in this world that everything is changing so much, and the truth is kind of moving.
[21:02] And we're supposed to question everything, that we don't even know what to expect out of the world anymore, or what life is going to be like. I read an article the other day in the newspaper that just weirded me out.
[21:15] They were talking about these cars that drive themselves. You've heard about this, right? They should come out on the market about the time they take my license away, so I'm like, cool, right? But they said, what are we going to do with the garages?
[21:29] I'm like, what? What do you mean, what are we going to do with the garages? Well, see, the theory is, if you have cars that drive themselves, the expense of a taxi is not the car, it's the guy driving the car.
[21:39] But we don't need a guy driving the car, so you won't own cars. You'll just, you know, order them, whatever you want. So we're not going to need garages to park all these cars, because at the most, we'll have one.
[21:50] Why would we have more than that? You need a car? Just call for it, and it comes. We won't even have these big parking lots at church. It's still just all lined up at the door. When you go out, you get in a nice heated car, and it drives you away wherever you want to go.
[22:02] I'm like, oh, man, this is freaking me out. How can we have houses without garages? What are they going to do with them? And I was thinking, you know, that not even 20 years ago, we didn't have cell phones.
[22:19] Remember pagers? Beepers, we called them. Some of you are totally saying, what are you talking about? Yeah. And a cell phone, if you did have one, was about this big, right?
[22:30] And it didn't do anything but make a phone call. That's why we called it a phone. It's making me crazy. So we become unsure of what we know, because everything keeps changing.
[22:43] You see, we used to know a lot more years ago, believe it or not. We didn't know a lot more. We just felt like we did. Because there was a day when if you read the encyclopedia, how many of you remember what an encyclopedia is?
[22:54] How many of you have even seen one, really? I mean, I'm not talking about Wikipedia, by the way. Those don't count. Right? This was a series of books. And if you read it, you would know about everything.
[23:07] Seriously, everything. And if you actually spent the time studying some particular area of life, they would give you a certificate. You could hang on the wall saying, you were a master of it.
[23:20] And you knew everything about that. You were an expert. I have one of those hanging on my wall in my office. I got it 25, 30 years ago.
[23:31] Which means I'm a master of nothing now. Because the truth is, everything that we know now is going to be doubled in quantity in about two years.
[23:43] So you can't master anything. You can't be sure of anything. It is so hard. It is so difficult to know anything that we just don't even try. And we keep everything shallow.
[23:53] Our relationship shallow. Our discussion shallow. What we talk about, we keep on the surface. Because we're sure whatever we say will be wrong tomorrow. This was that type of world when they wrote the Bible.
[24:09] Things were changing so quick. Nobody could keep up with it. He was in the region of Caesarea Philippi, which is a Roman area. Where things were moving so fast nobody could keep up with them.
[24:20] And we live in the same sort of place. A place where we have tons of information and new technology and amazing amounts of information. But we don't know anything, it seems, about God.
[24:34] We have a culture that is absolutely ignorant about God. And the people who know about God are afraid to talk about it because they feel that the knowledge they have is shallow.
[24:47] Because how could you possibly say you know anything about anything anymore? Who do people say that I am? Jesus is asking that question of his disciples.
[24:59] But he's asking us of that today. Does anyone know the truth? Who do you say that Jesus is? And the problem with ignorance is it creates mistakes.
[25:12] So people think that this pole, we bought it or got it or somehow acquired it so we could hang banners on the wall and things like that. Somebody said last night, it's to put the cloth over the cross for Good Friday.
[25:25] Like we went out and bought a pole just for that. That's not what this pole is for. But you see, if you don't understand, then things become confusing. There was a church where every day people would come in, every Sunday they'd come in, and they'd go up to a blank white wall and they'd all bow, say a prayer, and then they'd go to their seats.
[25:47] But when the new pastor came to that church, he was like watching everybody come in, go to this white wall, bow, pray, and go to their seats. And going, what? Why? Huh?
[25:57] What's the story? Nobody in the church knew why. They said, we've been doing this for hundreds of years. We have no idea. It's just this is what we've done since we were little babies. We came in. We went over and prayed by this wall, and we went to our seats.
[26:10] That's how we do things. So he decided to figure out why. So he had people start working on the wall. They washed the wall a bit. They tried to chip away a little bit, and they found out that underneath the paint, there was paint.
[26:24] Not just a different color, but there was actually vivid paint. And when they started removing it all, they found a picture of Jesus. Everybody was going over to honor Jesus.
[26:35] They just forgot the reason behind it. We live like that in a life where we're doing stuff, and we're not even sure why.
[26:46] And sometimes it can create problems and difficulties. Jesus calls Peter the son of Jonah. Peter's father's name was John.
[26:58] We know that in the Bible. Now, we could say that John is short for Jonah, but I don't think so. I think Jesus was talking about Jonah. He was saying, you're like Jonah, and we're like Jonah. We run away from God.
[27:11] We hide from God. We try to pretend God isn't there and doesn't see what we're doing, because at this point in time, we're not sure about God, and we're not sure we can really even trust God.
[27:22] So we trust in anything, everything else. And then we're disappointed when that fails us. In our culture, it's common that we trust in people.
[27:37] We think people will be the answer. If we could just get the Donald into office, we would fix everything. Hillary's got the answer. Bernie will take care of it. Jeff's got it.
[27:48] Pastor Tom could fix that. You see, the problem with trusting his people and people is that people are broken. You all know that, don't you?
[27:58] The Bible says we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Or in other words, we're all dysfunctional. Every last one of us, no matter what Facebook says, the truth is they only put the good pictures out there. There's a whole lot of junk going on behind the scenes, and nobody has that perfect life that they put out there for you to see.
[28:15] That's just a mirage. It's an image. It's just made up. I know. I've seen behind the pictures. The world is broken. It's made up of broken people. You're broken.
[28:27] I know you might not like to think that, but you are. I'm broken. And I want you just to think about it. Every leader you've ever had lead you is as broken as you are, including me.
[28:38] That's scary. It should frighten you a lot. It frightens me a lot. The world is broken. It's flawed. It's the way we are. So trusting in people, trusting in anything in this broken creation is trusting in a flawed plan.
[28:53] And yet that's what we teach. We teach our children that. We teach our teenagers that. They tell me that. We've even created an entire life designed to ignore God.
[29:05] It doesn't matter. It's important. About church, it's more important that you get good grades in school. If you've got a choice between a sports activity or church, you should go to the sporting activity.
[29:17] In fact, if you have an opportunity for a job, then forget about church. Forget about God. Because making money, you know that paper stuff that really isn't worth anything anymore, is the most important thing you could ever do.
[29:29] By the way, if you haven't noticed, the plan is to make it worth even less. That's the goal. But we trust in these things. We ignore God over these things.
[29:43] But we have a chance for a vacation or a trip or a party. God bless you. You're here today. I just want to applaud you. Thank you for being here today. I am glad you're here today.
[29:54] It's a beautiful sunny day. There are so many other things and places you could go and things you could do. You could be ignoring this entirely, but you came today. Good for you.
[30:05] I appreciate that. The best and most powerful faithful Christians are the ones that show up on a sunny summer day. Anybody can show up when the weather's lousy outside. We have so many things.
[30:17] I'm sure there's a festival somewhere you could be at, right? You know? The Greek yogurt potato festival or something? I don't know.
[30:29] I'm going to be in trouble now with the potato people. See, the truth is all these things are really mirages. They're good. I don't want you to misunderstand. They're good things.
[30:41] And they can be valuable in our lives. But we have the truth. We have the real, genuine item, the power of God.
[30:52] Jesus appears to these guys and he says to them, who do people say I am? That's not just a coincidence. Those two words mean a lot if you understand the Bible.
[31:04] Because the name of God, when Moses asked him, is, anybody know? I am. I am's what I am's and that's all that I am's. That's what he said. For those of you who aren't old enough, that's Papa.
[31:15] But it also was God. I am. Jesus is God. Peter says, you are the Christ, the Christos, the Messiah.
[31:27] You are the Savior of the world. You are the anointed one. You are the power to transform brokenness into life. And Jesus says in response, on this rock, I can build my church.
[31:43] And the gates of hell won't even be able to prevail against it. The rock is not Peter, by the way. The rock is not even religion or the church. It's confessing that Jesus Christ is someone that can save us from our brokenness, admitting that and making him our Lord.
[31:59] Jesus Christ is our Lord and our Savior. Savior. In that is more power than anything else on the face of this earth. How many of you want to be blessed by God? The rest of you either are asleep or, you know, don't care.
[32:13] I don't know. I think even people that don't believe in God would like to be blessed by him in case he is there, right? It's a good idea. Rather be blessed by him than cursed by him.
[32:23] And this fall, we're going to talk about miracle living. And what we need to do and how we need to live to experience the power, the wonder of God in this life and in the one to come.
[32:37] But the reason why most of us do not experience the blessing of God is because our God is too small. Our God is too small.
[32:48] Our God is not a God that determines our life. Our God is not a God that determines our values. Our God is not a God that directs who and what we should be. Our God is a pastime.
[33:00] He's an occasional opportunity. He's a little ego boost on Sunday morning. He's a pick-me-up like one of those five-shot energy drinks you can get. Not a life-changing, reorienting God.
[33:16] Nobody knows what this poll is for seriously. Somebody who's been around a long, long time, you know what it's for? Not sure?
[33:29] Okay. The bell. Somebody knew. It's to ring the bell of our church. Didn't you know that? This poll is to ring the bell.
[33:43] That also tells you something, by the way. Oh, we have a bell. No, we have a bell in this church. Some of you don't even know we have a bell.
[33:55] We have a bell. Well, we just haven't rang it in a long, long time. You know what the bells were for?
[34:13] Bells were to announce something important is going to happen. Bells were rang when the nation's being invaded. Bells were rang when a president was made or a pope was announced.
[34:24] The bells rang out when something super important was happening all over the city. You'd hear the bells ringing, and it meant something serious is happening. We've got to go find out.
[34:35] Like somebody lit up your cell phone. Only more so. And everybody would run to find out, why are the bells ringing? And the only other time the bells rang is to tell us something important is going to happen.
[34:51] And it happens at church. Come to worship and experience the power of the living God. Our faith is broken.
[35:06] You see, behind this wall is supposed to be a representation of the church, of the place of God, of our faith lives, that we've been keeping hidden. But the problem is, part of the reason we're keeping it hidden is not only because of all these things we've talked about, but because it's messed up.
[35:24] It's got problems. It's seriously broken. And if we fix our faith, we could fix the world itself. Jesus refers to himself as the son of man.
[35:39] In Daniel, it talks about the son of man. And it says this. In my vision at night, I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man.
[35:50] Coming with the clouds of heaven, he approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory, sovereign power. All peoples and nations, all the people of every language worshipped him.
[36:03] His dominion is everlasting dominion that will not pass away. His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. He has entrance to the very throne room of God.
[36:14] He has the power to raise people up or bring people down. It is God himself, the Messiah. Become human. To walk with us.
[36:25] Stepping into our brokenness to pull us out of it. And he can save us. If we fix our problem.
[36:42] And remember the truth. That really gives real power and real life. Christians have the truth. Wikipedia can be wrong.
[36:53] For those of you who don't know, you look something up on Wikipedia, it can be wrong. It has been for me a number of times. Everything on the internet isn't true. That's the French guy in that commercial.
[37:06] Everything you hear isn't necessarily true. But what we say about Christianity is true. It leads to real power.
[37:19] To the purpose of life. Our faith. Our church. The message of God. Has the ability to fix brokenness.
[37:32] To bring salvation. In this life. And the one to come. It's deep. Abiding. Lasting.
[37:43] Truth. Not the stuff that comes and goes. And is true today. And is gone tomorrow. And we need to talk about it.
[37:55] But the problem is. We feel. We just don't know enough. I'm not a pastor. You can't expect me to talk about God. I'm no expert. Many years ago.
[38:05] I was trained to be an expert on grass. You may or may not know that. I used to take care of people's lawns. I was given tests. And all kinds of stuff. I had to read lots of books. I still know more about grass.
[38:17] Than most people know about grass. I know it's no great big deal. But I do. So people would call me to their homes. And they would ask me questions. About their grass. And 98% of the time.
[38:28] I could answer their question. Oh you have a disease in your lawn. And what you're going to need is a fungicide. Oh. That's dog pesitis. That's from I know.
[38:42] There's all sorts of things that I knew. And I learned about lawns. But every once in a while I could come across something. And people would ask me a question. And I didn't know the answer. And I had a very smart pause.
[38:54] You know what he told me? If you don't know the answer. Just tell people. I don't know. I don't know the answer. But I'll try to find out for you.
[39:06] Did you know you don't have to have all the answers? This might bother you. I have a master's of civility degree. I've been studying this stuff for 30 years. Ask a pastor.
[39:16] I've been teaching you about this stuff. People come up to me all the time. And ask me stuff I don't know. Maybe you've done that. And maybe your pastors turn to you and say.
[39:27] I don't know. I don't know. I'll try to find out. I'll go look it up on the internet. I don't know. I don't have the answers to everything. It hasn't stopped me from talking about God though.
[39:40] And it shouldn't stop you either. Because we have access. To greater wisdom than anybody else.
[39:52] Jesus says. Blessed are you. Simon son of Peter. Because flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. You got this directly from God.
[40:04] I went in to see my district superintendent a couple days ago. For those of you who don't know who a district superintendent is. He's the closest thing I have to an actual boss. Okay. In theory he could move me from this church to another church.
[40:17] They haven't done it for 25 years. But that's the idea of the way the system works. And he asked me. So what have you done for continuing education this year? I see you haven't filled out a report. What workshops have you been to?
[40:27] What books have you read? Things like that. And I said. You know. I got to tell you the truth. I look at the books. And I look at the workshops. And they're teaching stuff that I knew 4 or 5 or 6 or 8 or 10 or 20 years ago.
[40:39] They're not teaching anything new. I already know that stuff. I don't mean it to sound wrong. I just already know that stuff. So I haven't found anything so far that's going to teach me something.
[40:51] I don't know. So I haven't gone to anything. Now that's not really a good thing to say to somebody who's evaluating it. All right. I've done nothing to.
[41:03] No, I didn't say that. I haven't gone to anything. What I've done, I said, is this. I have simply made times in my life to get away, be quiet, and pray to God.
[41:17] And then be quiet and listen to what he has to say. Because what I've discovered is, is that the stuff they write about 5 or 6 or 8 or 10 years from now, God can tell me right now.
[41:31] And I've had God do that with me many times. Many times. Where the stuff we're working on as a church gets written about in a book a few years later. Whether you're aware of it or not, this church in many ways has done things that have been considered innovative.
[41:46] But they're not innovative. They're inspired. Which means they come directly from God. I don't want you to hear that wrong. I know some people say, you talk to God.
[41:57] You're thinking, yes, I do. And so can do. This is not some special ability I have. It's what we all have. It's access to the living God.
[42:09] We call it the Holy Spirit. God with us and in us. Can teach us more than we could ever know. 1 Corinthians talks about it in chapter 2 where it says, Who has known the mind of the Lord that he might instruct someone?
[42:23] But we have the mind of Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, we actually have access. Imagine to instantly have access to the entire internet in your head.
[42:34] We see it in movies like a chip or something. You have better than that. You have access to the living God and everything he knows and does. What could be more important?
[42:45] But we don't see it that way. In our culture, anything, almost anything, seems to be more important. But I could read a book.
[42:57] I could watch TV. They know everything. I could go on the internet. I could talk to my friends. I could go to school. Then I could get another one of those degrees that will be obsolete in four years.
[43:09] I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. True. True. True. Try to teach, you know, a fifth or sixth grader about math. I don't know what they're doing. All right?
[43:20] And I studied it. I have a degree in it. But it says so in the Bible. You know this is a book. Do you all understand this is a book?
[43:32] This is not God. It's a book. It's a very good book. A book about God. Just like school is very good. Just like learning things from the internet or TV or friends or other people.
[43:45] It's a good thing. I'm not against it. I went to school. I have degrees. I'm not against that idea. But even this book is not the truth.
[43:56] The truth comes right from God. I don't believe in God because of the Bible. I believe in the Bible because of God. What I'm saying to you folks is open up your hearts.
[44:09] Open up your lives. Open up your ears. Close your mouths and listen to God. And God will give you truth. God will give you truth.
[44:20] We need to call the world out. It's our job. On this rock I will build my church.
[44:34] The rock was not Peter. The rock is faith. That we can know that God will give to us. That he interacts with us. That he blesses us. That he fills us.
[44:44] And that we can share that with others. Faith is so real. That we have the confidence to proclaim it. Do you know what church means?
[44:55] Does anybody know what the word means? It comes from the Greek word ecclesia. Which means a community of people called out. A community of people who have been called out of their homes.
[45:07] Called out of their life. Called to come to God. And you know the way we used to do that? We'd ring the bell. And the people would come to church.
[45:19] It's time to hear about the most amazing truth there is. And tell others about it. Who do you say Jesus is?
[45:32] Who do you say Jesus is? And do people even hear it? Because they don't hear the bells anymore. We still have a bell.
[45:43] Yes. See? You didn't even know we have a bell. We have a bell. Anybody know where it is? On the roof.
[45:54] Well that's where most bells are in churches. But not this one. Our bell is out in the yard on the sign. You can go out and ring it anytime you want to. I've got a pole. You've got to reach up.
[46:07] And you can ring it. We didn't make it long because we thought the kids might be over there ringing it all the time. And instead nobody ever rings it. Nobody wants to walk that far. You would?
[46:18] Okay. You can ring it after church. There you go. He would. He'd ring the bell. The truth is.
[46:31] The truth is. We don't ring the bell because you know what? How many of you if we rang a bell would even hear it? Yeah.
[46:42] You don't live around here. The people of our church don't live close enough. I've got to tell you the truth. I live next to the church. If somebody rang the bell I don't think I would hear it. So ringing the bell is not the way to fix things.
[46:53] It's not going to make the difference. There are other ways we can share about God. And we need to because God is the real power of this universe.
[47:05] Even the gates of hell he says. Even Satan. Even death. Even depression. Even pain. Even brokenness. Even sadness. Even all the diseases that have ever faced the earth.
[47:16] Even life itself cannot stand against God. And his church. It is the most important thing in your life.
[47:33] People say I don't know enough. I can't talk about this. I've got to tell you something. Up until a few months ago. Most of you know I didn't have a smart phone. Right?
[47:43] In fact I used to pull out my phone and say I'm proud that I've got a... Am I allowed to say dumb phone? I was proud of it.
[47:54] Oh I've got a dumb phone. But lately if you listen to me. I've been telling hundreds of people. This is so much smarter. I could do things with this phone. I couldn't possibly do with that other phone.
[48:06] It's amazing what I could do with this phone. In fact if I'm lost I can ask it where I am. And it tells me. That's pretty cool isn't it? I don't know 90% of what this thing does.
[48:21] I am not good at it. Don't ask me about your phone. Somebody asked me yesterday how to fix their phone. I'm like seriously guy? I have no clue how to fix your phone. But I do know that this has been an improvement in my life.
[48:33] If you can talk that way about a phone. Couldn't you talk that way about God? God's alive to me. I've trusted God to guide my life.
[48:45] He has changed who and what I am. And maybe he could do something for you too. Or just invite him to church and I'll talk to him about it.
[48:57] I don't care. Some of you may have gotten one of these on the way in. You can get one on the way out. It's a postcard. This is the new bell by the way. Because bells. You know. Nobody hears them right? So if you want to invite somebody to church.
[49:08] Here you go. Write their name on the postcard. And we can put it in the mailbox and send it. If you're concerned about the postage. Give it to us. We'll mail it. I don't care. It simply says. A friend wanted us to ask you one simple question.
[49:19] Would you like to come to church sometime? That's it. That's it. And we can send the bells out. To everybody. Anybody. It's got to be something you know. Who needs to go to church somewhere.
[49:30] Or would be helped by going to church. Even if you don't want to put your name on it. And you could if you want to. But you don't have to. We'll send that out. The point is we need to share about God.
[49:42] Because God is essential in our lives. And we've gotten so distracted by so many things. Anybody here ever see the movie Up? They had a dog in that movie.
[49:54] And they put a collar on them. So that the dog. You could hear what the dog was thinking. Look like this. My name is Doug. I have just met you. And I love you. My master made me this collar.
[50:05] He is a good and smart master. And he made me this collar. So that I may talk. Squirrel. That's what dogs are like. You know. They're going along.
[50:17] I love my master. I want my food. I'm a squirrel. Right. But we're like that too. I got to tell you the truth. The other day. I had some quiet time. Driving down the road in the car.
[50:27] And I said. You know this would be a good time to pray. And I was praying. I said. God. I'm just going to be quiet and listen. Tell me what I need to know. Especially tell me what I need to say.
[50:38] This weekend. When I get up to preach. And I got quiet. And I'm focusing. And all of a sudden I went. Rain. It started to rain. Totally lost everything.
[50:50] I mean. I didn't remember God. For I bet you 10 more minutes. All kinds of things started coming into my mind. And I was totally distracted from God. Anybody else ever have that happen? You see.
[51:01] That's what we're like. We're like the dog in that movie. Squirrel. Almost everything. Almost anything could distract us. But the church. It's so important. We need to get our focus back.
[51:13] Back. It has the power. To release the Holy Spirit. The power of heaven. To overcome Satan. And demons. The power.
[51:23] To change everything. To take broken lives. Like mine. And turn them into lives. Heading in the right direction.
[51:35] We have that power. We need to access it. Maybe today you need to take that step. And access it. Maybe today you need to make that commitment. To share it with somebody who needs it.
[51:47] Maybe today. You just need to focus on God. And forget about the squirrels. And move on to the Messiah. And hear the bells. As they call out. He became sin.
[52:20] And knew no sin. That we might become. His righteousness. He humbled himself. And carried the cross.
[52:34] Love so amazing. Love so amazing. Jesus. Jesus Messiah.
[52:47] Jesus Messiah. Name above all names. Blessed Redeemer. Emmanuel.
[53:03] The rescue for sinners. The ransom from heaven. Jesus Messiah. Jesus Messiah.
[53:14] Lord of all. Lord of all. His body of red. His blood of wine. Broken and poured out.
[53:27] All more love. The fallen would have traveled. And there were storms. Love so amazing. Love so amazing. Love so amazing. Jesus Messiah. Jesus Messiah.
[53:39] Lord of all. Jesus Messiah. Lord of all. Jesus Messiah. Jesus Messiah. Jesus, Messiah, made of our lollies, blessed and redeemer, Emmanuel.
[54:04] The rescue of sinners, the ransom from heaven, Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all.
[54:24] All I hope is in you, all I hope is in you, all the glory to you, God.
[54:40] The light of the world, Jesus, Messiah, made of our holy names, blessed and redeemer, Emmanuel.
[55:02] The rescue of sinners, the ransom from heaven, Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all.
[55:22] Jesus, Messiah, Lord of all. Lord of all.
[55:36] Lord of all. Lord of all.
[55:52] Lord of all.
[56:04] Lord of all. You lived. You died. You said in three days you would rise.
[56:16] You did. You're alive. You, you raised.
[56:27] You said you're coming back again. I know you will. I know you will. All the earth will sing your praises.
[56:41] All the earth will sing your praises. I know you will. You live. I know you will. You moved.
[56:52] You gave. You saved. You saved. You saved. And I know you will. You did. You gave. You gave. You gave. Your life.
[57:03] A way for us. You came down. You saved. The food of us. Our hearts are changed because of your love You live, you die You said in three days you would cry You did, you're all out You move, you reign You said you're coming back again I know you will All the earth will sing your praises All the earth will sing your praises No one, no name
[58:06] Who dies above the Lord One world, one mind will shine forevermore Your kingdom, live heaven and honor Your children stand in the sing of your prayer You live, you die You said in three days you would cry You did, you're all out You move, you reign You said you're coming back again I know you will All the earth will sing your praises All the earth will sing your praises All the earth will sing your praises
[59:07] All the earth will sing your praises Wonderful, merciful Savior Precious Redeemer and friend Wonderful, merciful Savior Precious Redeemer and friend Who would have loved that all heaven Rescue the souls of men Rescue the souls of men Rescue the souls of men Oh, you rescue the souls of men Counselor, comforter, comforter, keeper Searingly long to embrace
[60:10] You are the woman of heart's end Hopelessly lost and hopelessly lost away Always hopelessly lost away You are the one that we praise You are the one we adore You give the healing and grace You are the one that we praise Our hearts always under full Oh, our hearts always under full Oh, our hearts always under full Almighty, infinite Father Faithfully loving your own And here in our weakness you find us
[61:13] Calling me for your love Calling me for your love You are the one that we praise You are the one we adore You give the healing and grace Our hearts always under full Oh, our hearts always under full Please be seated So easy It's so easy In our culture to get distracted From God There are really so many good things So many good things out there They're blessings They're wonderful things
[62:14] So long as So long as We remember That God's first You should go to school You should get an education You should learn new technology You should take care of your family And your friends You should go enjoy yourself And live in this wonderful world With all the blessings God gives you But always remember to do it With God Walking right beside you So that these become blessings And not distracting curses That keep us From God And what he intends for your life So let's turn our brokenness over to God And ask him to fix it Shall we?
[62:55] Dear God in heaven Dear God in heaven I've sinned I've sinned Sometimes on purpose Sometimes on purpose Sometimes I know I'm doing wrong Sometimes I know I'm doing wrong Sometimes I just get distracted I'm chasing after good things And forgetting the better thing Which is you Keep my heart focused Keep my mind focused Keep my soul with you Pour your Holy Spirit into me To guide me Direct me And forgive me In all that I do wrong For it's in Jesus' name we pray Amen God said that
[63:55] Everything broken in our lives Would take away All the things that are wrong with us He'll fix Today Right now God promises To fix your life Everything that's been in the past He's not going to remember So you should forget it too Don't let other people Bring it up to you either Because it's in the past Walk with God And live a life of blessing As he's promised And your life will be deep In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven In the name of Jesus Christ The person who's left Glory to God Amen Amen Or insightful All that you are Fields to be Built neets Says the evil In the name of Jesus Christ All I once have here
[64:59] Built my life upon All this world reveals And more still long All I once thought came I have crowned and lost Stent and worthless towns From death to death Knowing you, Jesus Glory to you There is no greater thing You're my all, you're the best You're my joy, my righteousness And I love you more Now my heart's desire Is to know you more
[66:01] To be found in you And known as yours To pose as by faith What I could not earn Also passing in A righteous man Knowing you, Jesus Knowing you, Jesus Knowing you, there is no greater thing You're my all, you're the best You're my joy, my righteousness You're my joy, my righteousness You're my joy, my righteousness You're my joy, my righteousness You are my joy, my righteousness You're my joy, my righteousness And I love you more
[67:03] You're my joy, my righteousness You're my joy, my righteousness You know, the table we set on Sunday morning It's only prepared by our hands It's not our table it's actually just a little bit of bread.
[67:25] It's not worth much more than the paper that we were talking about earlier. But when we bless it, it becomes the very presence of God in our lives.
[67:40] When we receive it, it means that we're receiving Christ. That God is welcome to be the Savior, the Master, the Lord.
[67:53] And so because of that, it's really open to everyone who seeks after Christ. It doesn't matter if you've been with us for years or this is the first time you've walked into this sanctuary. If you want God in your life, you're welcome to come and receive God and receive this table that represents him.
[68:11] For God wants to be a part of your life. So you're welcome to come and join him. The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts.
[68:23] Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give thanks to God. After all, everything good comes from him.
[68:35] Even the things that distract us from him, that are good, come from him. It's all his to pour down on us as he wishes to bless us.
[68:45] Because we're his. And so with all the people on earth and all the angels in heaven, we praise his name and join their unending hymn and saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.
[69:03] Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Holy are you. Blessed is your son, Jesus Christ, who came and walked this earth, was willing to become one of us, that he might lift us from the brokenness, was willing to be abused and accused and denied and betrayed, even by those who followed him.
[69:25] And the night in which he was betrayed, he gathered with those who were his followers that would run away from him, deny him.
[69:39] And he gave him this meal. He took the bread. He gave thanks to God. And then he broke the bread. He said, Take and eat. This is my body, which is broken for you, for the forgiveness of sin.
[69:55] Eat of this, remembering me. When the supper was over, he took the cup. He gave thanks to God. And then he gave it to his disciples. And he said, Drink from this, all of you.
[70:06] This is my blood of the new covenant. It's poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sin. Drink of this, remembering me and all I have done for you.
[70:17] And so in remembrance of these 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.
[70:33] Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. Pour out your Holy Spirit on us, Lord. Pour it into every aspect of our lives.
[70:44] Pour it into us as we walk through our day. Pour it into us as we lay down to sleep. Pour it into us as we teach our children. Pour it into us as we go and grow through life.
[70:56] Pour it into us, Lord, to be our presence, our guidance, our every thought that we might be a blessing to this world to share the wonder and amazing blessings that God can give to the rest of the world.
[71:10] we offer this prayer in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen. And now as Jesus taught his disciples to pray, let us join together in saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
[71:27] Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
[71:39] 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. Amen. Will those who are assisting with the table come forward at this time, please?
[71:52] Amen. Amen.
[72:34] Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you.
[73:09] Thank you.
[73:39] Thank you.
[74:09] Thank you.
[74:39] Thank you.
[75:09] Thank you.
[75:39] Thank you.
[76:09] Thank you.
[76:39] Thank you. Thank you.
[77:09] Thank you. Thank you.
[78:09] Thank you. Thank you.