[0:00] Good morning everybody. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. If any kids would like to sing, come on down. 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 Welcome to Pendleton Center United Methodist Church I'm Scott Dabb
[1:00] If you are new to our church, please pick up a gift at the connection site in the back of the sanctuary after worship And please fill out your friendship card to get on the mailing list, sign up for activities, and for prayers and concerns or notes for the staff. Enjoy the service.
[1:17] We are glad to have you here this morning. The ministry opportunities on our clipboards are to sign up for our prayer vigil. We're doing a 24-hour prayer vigil. It's a great, amazing experience. And we'd love to have you sign up for it. If you'd like to sign up a prayer, send a prayer to the prayer vigil. There's green cards in the pews and seats. You can fill one out for that. The second one is to help with funerals. Funeral dinners and such. Not a specific one. Just if you're the kind of person that thinks you'd like to help with that ministry.
[1:47] A number of people that they can give a call to help out with that. I did want to mention that next week they're having an orientation tour after all of our services. Just an opportunity to learn a little bit more about the church that's going to be out in the fellowship call.
[2:01] So if you're new to our church or just like to know more about our church, you can meet after this service with Pastor Lisa about that. And she's also starting a 13-week Bible challenge. This is an opportunity to read the Bible and make it a short-term thing.
[2:16] 13 weeks. So that's starting as well. Lots of things are starting up this week. There's a dance thing this afternoon. And there's a new youth ministry. And there's our little ones, our small choir, the Frogs, are starting on Wednesday nights.
[2:31] Each week you'll see something new will begin. Take a look at your little good news and see the opportunities for ministries you want to be involved. Shall we turn our hearts and our souls to the Lord in prayer? Dear God, there are lots of things that distract us from what we should be doing when we come here.
[2:47] We're worried. We're full of joys. We have plans and thoughts about the rest of the day. Pull away from us, Lord, all the distractions, all the things that keep us from you.
[2:59] And help us to focus our hearts and our souls and our minds on everything you want to give us today. Words in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I'd like to invite you, if you're able, to stand us. We're going to sing How Firm a Foundation.
[3:11] How Firm a Foundation, ye saints of the Lord.
[3:25] He is laid for your faith in his excellent word. What more can he say than to you he hath said?
[3:37] To you who for refuge to Jesus hath led? Fear not, I am weeping. O be not dismayed.
[3:50] For I am thy God and will still give thee aid. I'll strengthen and help thee and cause thee to stand.
[4:02] O upheld by my righteous, O near potent hand. When through the deep waters I call thee to go.
[4:16] The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow. For I will be with thee by troubles to bless.
[4:28] And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress. When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie.
[4:42] Thy grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply. The flame shall not hurt thee, thy holy design.
[4:55] Thy broth to consume and thy gold to refine. The soul that on Jesus still leans for repose.
[5:09] I will not, I will not desert to its foes. That soul though all hell should endeavor to shake.
[5:22] I'll never, I'll never, I'll never forsake. The Lord be with you. Take a moment if you will and greet your neighbor with the peace of the spirit.
[5:36] I'd like to invite the kids to come up and join us now if they would.
[5:52] Good. Happy. Happy. Happy.
[6:04] Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. Happy. A bicycle, it's not tricycle is it?
[6:16] No. But what do these things on the back here? Training wheels, yeah. Training wheels. Do you think they stay on the bike forever and ever? No. They're just for when you start now, right?
[6:29] And then when you get good at a bicycle, what happens? You take off the training wheels and you're all on your own. Yeah. You can do tricks on the training wheels or on the bike?
[6:42] Yes, you can do a lot of tricks, but you've got to be careful. You've got to be careful. You know, God designed us to grow and change. He makes us go from little to big.
[6:52] We don't all stay little, do we? He gives us bikes that go from tricycles to training wheels to big bikes. All kinds of things. God wants us to grow and change. God doesn't want us to stay the same.
[7:04] So look forward to growing because that's what God made you to be, okay? It's something different, something better, something that you're going to grow into. All right? What are you guys thankful for this morning? Anything you want to share?
[7:15] Raise your hand. My mom and dad. My mom and family. My cats. My family. Friends and family.
[7:29] My three cats. My mom and dad. My mom and dad. My aunt Betty and Danville.
[7:43] Okay. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank you for all the wonderful things in our lives. Our pets, our family, our parents, our friends, our aunts and uncles. All the good things that you give to us in helping us to grow.
[7:56] Bless us today and always as we grow into your grace. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay. You guys can all go out to church school. All the kids are welcome to go out to church school this morning. This morning I'm thankful for the diversity of talent we have.
[8:19] Where people slip in and step in where they're needed and fill up the gaps sometimes that we have. Today we happen to have Lori playing for us on the piano. We're thankful for her to be here while Sue's away.
[8:31] And as we're thankful for all these gifts of the people and the wonders that God gives to us, let's return our Thanksgiving with our morning tithes and our offerings. We'll be right back.
[9:09] We'll be right back.
[9:39] We'll be right back.
[10:09] Halloween, peace, thy name. You're the only God and there will never be another. Halloween, peace, thy name. And ten thousand angels could not tell how much I love you.
[10:23] Halloween, peace, thy name. I'm gonna lift you up, lift you higher and higher. Halloween, peace, thy name. And everybody will see as you set my soul on fire.
[10:37] Halloween, peace, thy name. You are love, you are life, you are Lord over everything. Oh, Omega, Jehovah, the King of kings.
[10:48] Wonderful way, maker, worthy of my offering. Halloween, peace, thy name. You are love, you are life, you are Lord over everything.
[10:59] Oh, Omega, Jehovah, the King of kings. Wonderful way, maker, worthy of my offering. Halloween, peace, thy name. Halloween, peace, thy name.
[11:12] Halloween, peace, thy name. Halloween, peace, thy name.
[11:35] Thank you.
[12:05] Praise in the holy heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
[12:22] Amen. Holy Lord, we thank you for your many blessings and we praise you for your goodness. We pray that these gifts back to you will be a reflection of our love, that your love and joy may be spread through the world.
[12:39] May these gifts be able to be a blessing in this world in your name. Amen. Please be seated. We have a couple of concerns to share with our church body.
[12:54] We have John Maracle had his surgery, but he ran into some complications. So he's still going through some things with that. So please keep him in prayer. Also, pray for Willie Lopez and his family.
[13:07] His father passed away this past week. And I'm also aware of just many things that are on the hearts of our church family. So let's turn to the Lord in prayer. Gracious Redeemer, we are overwhelmed by your love and mercy.
[13:25] And yet sometimes we feel overwhelmed with life. We pray that your healing power will come upon us that we may be able to experience you.
[13:41] We pray that you'll open up our hearts to be able to feel your presence. For those who are struggling with physical problems, we pray for your healing physically because we know you are the great physician.
[13:54] And we know that you will touch not only their bodies, but their souls and their minds. Give all the doctors your wisdom and surround them with your care.
[14:10] We pray for those who are mourning, that they may feel your comfort and peace, and that they may be surrounded by your people expressing your love.
[14:25] We pray for our families, many of whom are just struggling and broken. We pray that you will mend the brokenness and build up and strengthen our families that we may reflect you.
[14:41] Fill our families with your love. We pray for this church, that you will send us your wisdom and your guidance, that we'll know the right direction to take the paths that we're supposed to walk, that we may be able to have a great impact in this world in your name.
[15:03] We pray for our nation that is just ripping one another apart. We pray for healing, for peace, for wisdom that this nation will be able to grow up in a godly way.
[15:22] Fill us all with your love so that people will not attack one another, but will instead reach out across uncertainty in love.
[15:34] we pray for our world that is so broken that it is overwhelming. We don't know how to fix it and we know however that you are there.
[15:52] We pray for the refugees who are struggling and seeking that you will open their hearts to feel your presence and bring to them the help that's needed. And Lord, if there's anything that we can do, anything you'd have us to do, show us the way.
[16:12] We pray for our people. We need your peace. We need your presence.
[16:23] We need to know that you've got us and help us to lean back in your everlasting arms, trusting in you.
[16:33] we pray for our people. We pray for our people. We praise your name this day. Amen. Now let us hear from the word of the Lord. Good morning.
[16:46] Good morning. This morning's scripture lesson is taken from the Gospel of Mark, the fourth chapter, verses 35 through 41. That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, let us go over to the other side.
[17:05] Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up and the waters, waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.
[17:22] Jesus was in a stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, teacher, don't you care if we drown?
[17:34] He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, quiet, be still. Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
[17:49] He said to his disciples, why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, who is this?
[18:02] Even the wind and the waves obey him. And this is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. This'd become not as io either no part of form.
[18:40] Come on, come on.
[19:10] Come on, come on.
[19:40] Give me a hug! I almost drowned once.
[20:17] I can feel so helpless, so out of control. Do you ever feel like life is overwhelming us?
[20:30] That somehow it seems like the world is out of control, and you just want to say, don't you care if we perish? Don't you care? Don't you care?
[20:41] Don't you care? The disciples are out in the Sea of Galilee, and a storm comes up. The waves and the winds are tossing them all over the place, and there's Jesus sleeping through it all.
[20:54] Now the boat is starting to get swamped. He's sitting in a puddle of water, and he's still sleeping. And the disciples come to him and say, don't you care?
[21:08] Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? We're drowning here. We're drowning here. It can feel like we're going under. It can feel as if we're being tossed all over the place.
[21:23] With all the storms going on, why doesn't God fix things? There's somebody I'm longing to see.
[21:35] I hope that he turns out to be someone to watch over me. Isn't that nice? It was so much easier when I was a kid.
[21:49] Mom and Dad took care of me. Mom and Dad kept me safe. If I was at school and I had a problem, there were teachers, principals, all sorts of folks. Even in the neighborhood, if there was something going on, I could probably go up to just about any house, and they'd take care of the little Tommy Crabt, because everybody knew everybody.
[22:09] So much easier when I was a kid. It's hard, because the world is so different now. To understand this story that Jesus is experiencing here, we have to go back in the fourth chapter of Mark to the beginning.
[22:30] And what happens is we hear Jesus teaching a crowd of all kinds of people, probably hundreds, maybe thousands of people. And he's teaching them parables, four parables exactly.
[22:42] The first one, many of us have heard. It's the parable of the seeds. The farmer throws some seed on the path that the birds take away. Some amongst the stones. It grows up quick, but then burns out with the hot sun.
[22:53] Some amongst the weeds. It gets choked, and it barely grows very well. And then a little bit of seed lands in the good soil. It produces 30, 40, 100-fold.
[23:06] Story says we're supposed to be the seed that produces. Then he shifts the metaphor completely, and he starts talking about a light on a stand. Nobody lights a light and puts it under a bowl.
[23:17] You stick it on a stand for the world to see. You are the light of the world. Let your light shine. And he goes back to the seeds again and talks about the growing seeds. And he talks about a mustard seed, the tiniest of mustard seeds.
[23:31] And he says the kingdom of God is like this mustard seed. That little bit of faith becomes huge when we start doing what God wants. Jesus is talking about changing the world.
[23:44] Changing the world. It was so much easier when I was a kid. It certainly felt that way anyways. Now things seem to be all mixed up and messed up.
[23:59] It's as if somebody changed the narrative, changed the story. And it's all crazy now. Today's Sunday. I'll tell you what Sunday was. Sunday was a day you'd get up, you'd go to church, you'd come home, you'd have Sunday dinner with the family.
[24:15] Later on in the evening, you'd have sandwiches and soup, and we'd all watch The Wonderful World of Walt Disney. Anybody remember that? The whole nation watched The Wonderful World of Walt Disney. The next morning, we all had the same thing to talk about.
[24:28] We knew what the narrative was. Nowadays, I don't know what the narrative is. I guarantee you tonight that this group will watch 40 or 50 different stations. All sorts of stuff. We're not experiencing the same thing.
[24:41] We're not telling the same story. We're not teaching the same story to our children. This one has this story. That one has that story. This one's coming from here. That one's coming from there. Is it any wonder our nation is flying in all different directions?
[24:52] Because we don't agree on anything. We're all over the place. And the story. The story of God saving grace.
[25:04] The most important story of all. Is slowly fading into the background. Has sort of a secondary narrative. That only a few people care about.
[25:17] Yet God calls us to change the world. And the way we change the world is not by changing the laws. Because people won't listen to them if they don't want to. It's not by conquering other nations.
[25:29] The way we change the world is by changing the hearts of people. So that they want to live differently. They want to live to the story. The story of God's grace.
[25:43] We have the ability to grow a great faith movement. That will change children. Change teenagers. Change each other.
[25:56] Help the broken. Fix the mess. But it's not going to happen if we stay safely on the shore. Most of them stayed on the shore.
[26:08] Jesus sent the disciples over to the other side. Now, theologically, that actually is geographically connected. Because on one side of the Sea of Galilee were the Jewish people.
[26:19] And on the other side of the Sea of Galilee were the Greeks and the Romans. So when they went from one side to the other, they were going from the people of faith out to the people who had no faith. And across the dangerous seas in the process.
[26:32] And Jesus is calling his disciples to go. A lot of them didn't go. They just stayed on the seashore. In the book of Romans, in chapter 10, it says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
[26:50] Amen? Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. But how can they call on one they've not believed in? And how can they believe in someone they've never heard of?
[27:01] And how can they hear without somebody talking to them and telling them about it? And how can someone go and preach? Unless they're saved.
[27:13] As it's written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. We live in a world where everybody's keeping a secret, keeping it to themselves.
[27:23] No one's sharing. And the storms are getting bigger. Anybody here ever been in a big storm like a hurricane or tornado or something? I've been in that a couple times. First time was when I was a little kid.
[27:35] And I had, we had this tent, you know. It seemed big to me, but it was probably 12 by 12. I really don't know, right? And there were seven of us.
[27:45] Five kids, my mother and father. All of a sudden, my dad says, everybody, grab a pole. We don't know why we're grabbing a pole, but we grabbed a pole. We're not losing this tent, he says.
[27:57] So there you've got all these kids on these poles. Five of us scattered around the perimeter. My mother even grabbed a pole, and the old man is in the middle with the big pole. Right? And all of a sudden, something really weird happened.
[28:10] All of us went up two feet in the air. I was like, really? Really? But I've got to tell you the truth. We weren't frightened at all. Not even the littlest bit were we frightened.
[28:23] Do you know why? Why? Because the big guy in the middle wasn't scared. And so long as he was okay, we were okay. Right? Right? The truth is, is the storms are flying around us.
[28:43] And God needs people to help fix that. This isn't work for everybody. You know, he only took his disciples with him.
[28:54] There's a whole crowd of people. Hundreds, maybe thousands. And he's like, you, you, you, you, you over there. You, you, and you, and you. In the boat. Let's go to the other side. Hand selected.
[29:05] He picked his best people. They went out in the boat to change the world. They got halfway across the sea, and the storms started blowing around, and they became crybabies.
[29:17] Oh, no, we're going to drown in. They went out to change the world. And they doubted.
[29:28] They were afraid. They want to give up. They're saying to God, excuse me, this was your idea. Don't you care? Why don't you fix this thing?
[29:40] Did you notice Jesus woke up in the story? And he doesn't say, oh, there, there, it's okay. I know life's been hard on you. Come on over here, and I'll comfort you. He says, really?
[29:51] Really? I picked my best, and you bums can't even make it through a little storm? Seriously? I want you to remember. These are fishermen.
[30:02] James, John, Peter, Andrew, they sailed on this sea all the time in their own boat. These are fishermen. And they turned to the preacher who's sleeping in the boat to save them.
[30:15] Let me tell you, if we're ever out in a storm, and you're a fisherman, don't be turning to me. I'm a preacher. What do I know about sailing a boat in the middle of a sea? Oh, no!
[30:27] Oh, no! Grown fishermen turn into little crybabies. They become like the rest of the crowd.
[30:38] Shallow. Afraid. No faith. Weak. No power. Acting like children. Jeremiah was one of the great prophets in the Bible.
[30:53] God had a mission for him. He told him his mission when he was a little child and said, I chose you before you were even born. There was something incredible. Jeremiah was supposed to go preach to the nation of Israel that they were headed the wrong way.
[31:07] Everybody else was saying things were fine. Jeremiah was supposed to go out and be the voice that told them what God had to say. That things are not going fine. You're in trouble. In the 12th chapter of Jeremiah, Jeremiah starts to kind of get a little ticked off at God.
[31:25] And this is what he says. Now, I'll interpret it for you. I would sue you. See the second line? I would sue you. But you're God.
[31:36] See your righteousness. See your win. But I'm going to talk to you about this thing you call judgment. Why do the ways of the wicked prosper? Why do the faithless live at ease? You made them.
[31:47] You put them into the ground. They grow and bear fruit. You're always on their lips, but far from their hearts, it's not fair. What's the matter with you? Fix it. That's what Jeremiah said.
[32:00] I like Jeremiah because he says what I think a lot, right? What did you expect from God at this point? Oh, poor Jeremiah. You've been so faithful. Come here.
[32:10] Let me give you a hug. God says, seriously, boy? You think you've had problems? This is just a little foot race. You've seen nothing yet.
[32:22] You have no idea the troubles I have in store for you in your life. This is just a little bitty thing. Fuck up, pal, because you've got big stuff coming your way.
[32:33] You think you've had problems? You haven't seen anything in the way of problems yet. Boy, that's comforting, isn't it? Isn't that what you want to hear from God? Well, the problem is that we get all attracted to the wonder in this story and miss out on the real miracle power.
[32:55] We think that it's all about taking away our problems. But it's not. I had a friend of mine who got something called neuropathy.
[33:10] It's a painful condition that actually when you walk, your feet hurt. And he was really struggling with this. I took a bad one. We were talking about it one time.
[33:20] And he turned to me and he said, you have no idea what it's like to wake up in pain every day. I said, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Back up the train here. You've had days that you woke up without pain?
[33:34] I said, well, yeah, of course I did before this. I said, you have to understand. Since I was 17 years old, I haven't had one day I haven't woken up without pain. I just assumed everybody had pain.
[33:46] It was just something we did. We all go through the little pains and that's the way it is. We just hurt. It's part of life. You just live with it. I had no idea that there's some of you that actually have days without pain.
[33:57] I had no concept of such a thing until he told me that. I thought pain was just what you did. You see, here's the point. We think trauma, these bad things, these terrible catastrophes, these horrible things that happen to our lives, that they're actually the problem.
[34:16] They're not. Some people have these traumatic situations that are horrific happen to them, and they come out the other side, they're smiling, they seem fine. Other people have the littlest problem happening in their lives when they're shattered.
[34:29] It's not the trauma. It's the reaction to the trauma that really matters in life. 1 Corinthians 13, we read a lot for lots of different reasons, often at weddings, but there's one little line in it.
[34:46] When I was a child, I talked like a child. I thought like a child. I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put childish ways behind me.
[34:59] And I wish we'd let our children be children. We spent too much time in life trying to make our children be adults. But we have too many adults who want to act like children.
[35:13] Sometimes we have to recognize who we are. We're supposed to be the adults in the crowd. Sure, they could have stayed with the crowd on the shore. But then they accomplish nothing.
[35:26] You know, the parable of the seeds has three different seeds that do nothing, accomplish nothing with their lives. All they do is take up space and create absolutely nothing but taking away the resources of this world.
[35:37] And that's what most people do. Most people do nothing but satisfy their own desires and live for themselves and their own pleasures. One quarter.
[35:49] Our world changes. They make a difference. And God is calling the people to be world changers. World changers.
[36:02] And these disciples have been put to the test. And they fail. The brother of Jesus, James, writes in his first chapter of his book, Consider it pure joy, brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds.
[36:16] Don't you all consider it pure joy when you face trials and struggles and troubles? Aren't you all like, yeah! Or rights or problems? Love it! Love it! You know the testing of your faith develops perseverance.
[36:29] Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature, complete, lacking nothing. The prayer is not, God, take away my problems.
[36:44] The prayer is, God, make me strong enough for that. The wonder is, God, calm the seas and the waves. Miracle is what can happen on the inside.
[36:58] And what did happen to these men to the point to which they changed the whole world. We are sitting here today because they lost their fear. Seems like God's asleep.
[37:13] But maybe God wants us to be more than just spectators in life. He wants us to do things ourselves. He wants us to be strong. Do you know that in the Bible, it says that in the end times, when we are resurrected, God expects us to be his sisters and brothers, joint heirs with Jesus, equal friends, people to be with Jesus as God is.
[37:39] Not little children, babies, but people that live with God. Know God.
[37:52] At the end of this story, the disciples in the book go, who is this dude? That's the problem. They don't know him yet. They really don't know him. They think they know him, but they don't know him.
[38:03] And so many people think they know about God, but they don't know God. We come to the table every week. It's to remember whose we are and to reintroduce ourselves to Jesus and to get to know him completely and personally in our lives.
[38:21] The miracle didn't happen for us to overcome a hurricane because we grabbed the pole. You know how we overcame the hurricane? We trusted in the dude in the middle, right?
[38:33] We trusted that my father showed no fear. Now don't tell me he didn't have any concerns. If you're going through a hurricane and you've got five little kids rolling around in the tent, you've got some concerns and worries, but he didn't show an ounce of it.
[38:50] And so we went through the storms and we faced it down like it was nothing. I don't have a father anymore to protect me.
[39:01] Fathers are interesting people in our lives, at least in my life. When our fathers die, it's not just that we lose somebody we're close to and spend there all our life.
[39:18] It's that all of a sudden we feel like there's nobody backing us up, nobody behind us. When everybody's turning to someone, you expect them to be there and all of a sudden you're realizing you're the one.
[39:30] I don't have my father with me anymore, but I know what I'm supposed to be because his witness gave me the ability to stand up in a storm.
[39:48] Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. God gives us confidence. He gives us his presence.
[39:59] He gives us something to have faith in, to trust in, to experience his actual power. That's more than taking away the winds and the waves. God doesn't want to just rescue us from every problem.
[40:12] That would make us dependent on God. That would make us weak. That would make us people who are afraid all the time. God treats us like grown-ups. God takes off the training wheels and sets us free.
[40:32] When I was a teenager, I used to borrow my dad's car, the big station wagon. Do you remember those big old station wagons? I remember one time I was on my way to Rochester.
[40:43] Of course, I knew all about driving because I'd had my license for at least six months, so I knew everything about it, right? Until I hit this ice patch on the 490, right? You're going along around 60 miles an hour, and all of a sudden the car goes, whoo, whoo, whoo, whoo, like this.
[40:59] Back then they were all rear-wheel drive, you know? And there were no anti-lock brakes, none of this stuff we have today, right? And all of a sudden the car is swinging wider and wider and wider until all of a sudden, whoo, I'm off the road.
[41:14] Looking back at the highway going, oh, what am I going to do now? Fortunately, we didn't get hurt. But there's my father's car sitting out in the middle of a snowbank, out in the middle of a thruway.
[41:26] There's no cell phones, man. This was back in the day. You had to get out of the car and walk somewhere, somewhere, and find somebody to drag that car out of the ditch.
[41:39] And I had to tell my father that he put his car off the road in a ditch. I didn't like that.
[41:53] But you know, the interesting thing was the next day I had to go to work. I'm thinking, man, how am I going to get there, you know? I said, well, I've got to go to work. My dad said, well, here's the car.
[42:05] Here's the keys. Take the car. I'm like, really? Sweet. I had a father that let me crash his car and still let me drive it the next day.
[42:19] God knows we're going to crash the car sometimes. God knows we're going to fail the test sometimes. God knows we're going to fall apart in a wimpling blubber of blah.
[42:32] Read Jonah. It's fish vomit. It's pretty nasty stuff. But God picks us up out of that and throws us the keys again.
[42:46] And it's time to pick ourselves up. It's time that we change the world. Because we have the story to do it. All these stories that they're telling all over our culture, that they're saying are so important, they don't matter.
[43:01] They have no power. They have no ability to take us from this life to the next. They have no ability to take us through the storms. All they are is information and made-up stories. And they're telling us, we have the story that will change the world.
[43:14] Well, we're going to be seed that produces a light on a stand. Something that makes a huge thing.
[43:26] But Christians, they are hiding. They're hiding. They're hiding like as if they're the crowd on the shore.
[43:39] We have our safe neighborhoods. And we have our particular schools. We build fortress churches where you can do everything and anything to keep yourself busy every single day of the week without having to go out once into that real world out there and face real life.
[44:01] And we think that will keep us safe. But you know the same storm that hit the disciples in the boat came crashing on shore where the crowd was too. And if we hide from it, these storms are going to overwhelm us.
[44:19] I think they already are. Jesus didn't call the disciples out into a comfortable, easy life. He called them out into troubled waters, unsafe places, more than outside their comfort zone.
[44:36] These were really dangerous places where the broken world is. And God calls us to go out where people are crushed, where people are destroyed, where people are broken, where people are confused, and bring the light of the world to change this world.
[44:56] The crowd won't vote. And they shouldn't because it's disciple work. It requires somebody who has strength, somebody who has courage, somebody who can face down their fears.
[45:11] Jesus will go with them. We need people where the miracle has changed them on the inside so that they're able to face the storm. How many of you have a dog or have had a dog in your life?
[45:23] And how many of you, when the thunder and lightning comes, their dog was running away somewhere and hides under a bed, jumps in the bathtub or squirrels away, you know? My dogs, when the lightning and thunder came, went out in the yard to watch.
[45:41] Hey, cool, look at that one over there. There's another one. When they would put on the fireworks up at Town Park, they would sit in the backyard going, yeah. Wow, look at that one. Yeah, pretty deep.
[45:53] You want to know why? Because when my dogs were this big, they made a mess in the kitchen. And I threw them outside. I said, you live out there now. They weren't afraid of the storms. They'd seen them all their lives.
[46:04] Big deal. It's a thunderstorm. Let's go watch the show. You've got your dogs all wimped out. Heck, you won't even let them go outside unless they've got their little jacket on, their little booties on or something like this, right?
[46:15] Like, seriously, man, that's not a dog. That's a stuffed animal. Honestly, you've got your dogs all afraid of everything. They're not dogs anymore. They're pets.
[46:27] My dogs are dogs. The only thing my dogs were afraid of was meat. I could tell you how to do that, too. You see, we need to be like that.
[46:42] We need to live a life without fear. God is with us. God walks through this life with us. And I'm going to tell you today, he can calm the storms.
[46:54] He can tell the waves to be quiet. He can take away the problems. But he wants much more than that for us. God wants us to have power over the winds and waves.
[47:10] And be able to shut them down ourselves. The miracle is that God wants to give you the miracle power. So you can crush the storm. So you can tell the waves to be quiet.
[47:22] So you can say, this doesn't scare me. Bring it out. I'm a child of God. We feel alone.
[47:34] Sometimes it's frightening and we feel like God's just taking a nap. It's dark. Lonely. God's still with us.
[47:46] Testing us. Calling us to go out into the storms. Tossing us the keys. Not because he's forgotten about us.
[47:59] But because he knows we're made to do a lot more. A lot more. That most of us even realize. It seems so far away.
[48:31] A million miles or more. It feels today. Though I haven't lost my faith.
[48:49] I must confess right now. That it's hard for me to pray. But I don't know what to say.
[49:04] And I don't know where to start. But as you give the praise. With all that's in my heart.
[49:19] I will sing. I will praise. Even in my darkest hour.
[49:31] With the sorrow and the pain. I will sing. I will praise.
[49:43] Lift my hands to honor you. Because your word is true. I will sing.
[49:55] Lord, it's hard for me to sing. All the bonds and plans. You have for me.
[50:08] I will choose. You have for me. You are. I will love you. I will burn my trust in you. I will burn my trust in you. Knowing that you died, set me free.
[50:19] Knowing that you died You set me free But I don't know what to say And I don't know where to start But as you give the grace With all that's in my heart I will sing I will praise Even in the darkest hour Through the sorrow and the pain I will sing I will praise Lift my hands to honor you Because your word is true
[51:23] I will sing I will praise Even in the darkest hour Through the sorrow and the pain I will sing I will sing I will praise I will praise Lift my hands to honor you Because your word is true I will sing I will praise I will sing I will sing I will sing I will sing
[52:25] I will sing I will sing I will sing I will sing In Christ alone My hope is found He is my life My strength My song His word of stone His solid ground Burned in the fiercest drought And storm What heights of love What depths of peace When fears are still And strides cease My comforter My all in all Here in the love of Christ I stand Christ alone Who took my flesh Oh, Mr. God
[53:26] In help Will stay This gift of love And righteousness Scorned by the ones He came to save Till on that cross That Jesus died The wrath of God Was satisfied For every sin On Him was laid Here in the death Of Christ I live There in the ground
[54:27] His body laid Light of the world In darkness Slain And bursting forth In glorious day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stand In victory Since curse has lost It's grim on me For I am His And He is mine Open the precious blood Of Christ No guilt in life No fear in death This is the power of Christ In me From life To life To life To life O death
[55:28] Jesus Commends My destiny No power of hell No steam of man Can ever run Be upon His hand Till He returns Or calls me home Here in the power Of Christ I'll stand Here in the power Of Christ I'll stand And He leads To death For life To life hear the stars In the leaves Andц Though even not He says Job 15.13 Says Though He slaved Though he slay me, yet will I still hope in him.
[56:30] Our hope is in Christ and in Christ alone, and he's given us each and every day as a blessing, as a blessing to be a blessing. It's a day of rejoicing no matter what may come.
[56:43] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
[57:04] I'm casting my tears inside. I'm leaving my past behind. I'm setting my heart and my heart on you, Jesus.
[57:19] I'm sending my hands to yours. We're leaving there so much more Knowing that all it happens Only it's good It's good Today is the day you have made I will rejoice and be glad in it Today is the day you have made I will rejoice and be glad in it And I won't worry about tomorrow I'm trusting what you say Day to day Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh I'm pulling my fears aside I'm leaving my doubts behind I'm giving my hopes and dreams to you Jesus I'm reaching my hands to yours
[58:24] I'm leaving there so much more Knowing that all you have Only it's good It's good Today is the day you have made I will rejoice and be glad in it Today is the day you have made I will rejoice and be glad in it And I won't worry about tomorrow Trusting in what you say Trusting in what you say Day to day I will stand upon your truth I will stand upon your truth In all my days I live for you All my days I live for you And all my days I live for you I will stand upon your truth
[59:25] I will stand upon your truth In all my days I live for you You know my days I live for you And all my days I live for you I will rejoice to be glad in it Today is the day you have made I will rejoice to be glad in it And I won't worry about tomorrow I'm giving you my fears and sorrows When you see me I will follow I'm trusting in what you say Today is the day Today is the day Today is the day Amen, please be seated According to the Bible 75% of you are going to say
[60:32] I'm not doing it 75% of you will bail out and say Not my job That's somebody else's Send them out in the boat I'll clap as they leave the shore Today God is calling you to be More than that More than that Not to take all the storms away But to go out and conquer the storms And change this world We sometimes confess our failings But our failings aren't just in what we do wrong It's what we refuse to do right Let's confess that to God Dear God in heaven I have sinned I do things wrong Forgive me Lord I also don't do everything right I know I could do I get afraid I get distracted I get worried I bail out Forgive me Lord Strengthen my heart
[61:34] Strengthen my soul Strengthen my resolve That I might change the world Through your grace In Jesus name we pray Amen God gives you the power God gives you the power To overcome the storms Live into that power In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven Glory to God Amen Be still my soul Your God will undertake To guide the future As the ages pass Your hope Your hope Your confidence
[62:34] Let nothing shake Oh now his tears Shall be bright At last Be still my soul The waves and winds Still no harm The cries to rule Their worldly draft below The Lord be with you Lift up your hearts Give thanks to the Lord our God It is right and a good and joyful thing Always and everywhere To give thanks to you Father Almighty Creator of heaven and earth
[63:35] You formed us in your image And breathed into us The breath of life When we turned away And our love failed Your love remained steadfast You delivered us from captivity Made sovereign Made covenant to be our sovereign God And spoke to us through your prophets And so with your people on earth And all the company of heaven And 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 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 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
[64:37] When you would save your people 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 When the Lord Jesus ascended He promised Promised To be with us Always Always Always In the power Of his word And his holy spirit On the night He was betrayed He took bread And he gave thanks To you Father Almighty And he broke the bread And he said This Is my body Which is broken
[65:38] For you Eat of this often Remembering me And when the supper was over He took the cup And he gave thanks to God And he said This Is the blood The blood of the new covenant Poured out for you Poured out for many For the forgiveness Of our sins And so In remembrance Of these Your mighty acts Of Jesus Christ We offer our In praise And thanksgiving As holy And living sacrifices In union With Christ's offering For us As we proclaim The mystery of faith Christ has died Christ is risen Christ is risen Here And on these gifts
[66:39] Of bread and wine Make them be for us The body and blood Of Christ That we may be For the world The body of Christ Redeemed By his blood By your spirit Make us one With Christ One with each other And one in ministry To the whole world Until Christ comes In final victory And we feast At his heavenly banquet Through your son Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit In your holy church All honor and glory Is yours Almighty Father Now and forever Amen And now let us pray The prayer that Jesus Taught us saying Our Father Who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name 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 And lead us not
[67:39] Into temptation But deliver us From evil For thine is the kingdom And the power And the glory Forever and ever Amen For those who are serving Please come forward y'all Thank you.
[68:50] Thank you.
[69:20] Thank you.
[69:50] Thank you. Thank you.
[70:24] Thank you. In Christ alone.
[70:59] Know His power in quietness and trust.
[71:11] When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm.
[71:24] Father, you are king over the flood. I will be still and know you, O God.
[71:36] When the oceans rise and thunders roar, I will soar with you above the storm.
[71:50] Father, you are king over the flood. I will be still and know you, O God.
[72:02] I will soar with you, O God. I will soar with you, O God. I will soar with you, O God. I will soar with you on the ground.
[72:14] I will soar with you, O God. I will soar with you, O God. I will soar with you, O God.
[72:30] I will soar with you, O God. I will soar with you, O God.
[72:42] If you're able, I'm going to invite you to stand as we sing together. By and by. You'll understand it better. By and by. We are tossed and driven on the restless sea of time.
[73:03] Summer skies and howling tempests all succeed, a bright sunshine. In the land of perfect days, when the mists have rolled away. We will understand it better, by and by.
[73:18] By and by. When the morning comes. When the saints of God are gathered on. We'll tell the story of you've overcome.
[73:31] And we'll understand it better, by and by. By and by. Try and start on every hand. And we cannot understand. By and by. Try and start on every hand.
[73:42] And we cannot understand. All the ways that God will lead us. Through that blessed and proudest land. But he guides us with his eye. And we'll follow till we die. And we'll understand it better, by and by.
[73:53] By and by. By and by. By and by. By and by. By and by.
[74:04] By and by. By and by. By and by. I don't know if our generation is the one who messed it up, but we just happen to be the lucky ones to get to go into this chaos and craziness.
[74:22] All I do know is I've seen the narrative shift and shift and shift in the wrong direction. But there's good news. In fact, I think it's great news. I've seen the next generation coming up to be the people that can fix this, straighten this out, and make this better.
[74:38] Now, I'm not saying the people in my generation and over are off the hook. We have to provide them with the resources, with the motivation, with the support.
[74:49] We need to be the ones holding the pole in the middle of the tent. But we also have to toss them the keys and let them go and change the world, because I believe that there's a generation, many of which are in this room, that we'll change the world for God if we go out into the storms, if we go out into the waves, and we push them down and change the world for Jesus.
[75:12] Go out and be changemakers. Do something with your life. And may God bless you and give you peace along the journey. Amen. Amen. Amen.