[0:00] We are the Fish Fry Order Tangers.
[0:21] A welcome gift is available for new visitors and can be picked up at the connection site in the back of the sanctuary following worship. Fill out your friendship card to get on our mailing list, sign up for activities, list any prayers or concerns and any notes for the staff.
[0:38] Welcome to our church! We do welcome you to church. We do have one more Fish Fry coming up. We served 395 dinners last week, which was a little more than last year this time.
[0:50] So we're really glad about all the people supporting it. You can come out and help with the last one. We'd love to have you here this Friday. There's also another clipboard going around and that's for our junk sale. I mean our rummage sale.
[1:01] You know the UMW puts together all these attic treasures that people can use really. People look forward to coming and actually taking care of their household needs. So if you have things you don't need and you want to drop them off at the church, when can they start doing that?
[1:16] Yes. Next Sunday, you can start, after next Sunday, you can start doing that. So we do call that to your attention. Also next Sunday, there will be a membership class if you're interested in knowing more about the church.
[1:28] And also next Sunday, you can start bringing your donations for the Thanksgiving baskets. Lots of things going on this year. Look in your little good news and you'll see all sorts of stuff that you can be a part of at the church.
[1:39] Shall we turn to the Lord in prayer? Dear Lord, we do thank you for the great blessings you give to us of being able to come here and worship you. Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, Lord, and touch us.
[1:50] Fill us with your strength, your wisdom, your understanding, and your joy as we offer our prayers in Jesus' name. Amen. I'd like to invite you, if you're able, to stand as we're going to sing, Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing.
[2:03] My great Redeemer's praise. The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His praise.
[2:16] Jesus, the name that chimes our praise. Jesus, the name that chimes our praise, the glory of the Lord. The triumphs of His praise.
[2:27] Jesus, the name that chimes our fears, that beats our sorrows cease. Tis music in the sinner's ears.
[2:41] Tis life and hell and peace. He breaks the power of canceled sin. He sets the prisoner free.
[2:53] His blood can make the foulest flee. His blood of aid for me. He speaks and listening to His voice.
[3:06] The life the dead receive. The mindful, broken hearts rejoice. The humble poor believe.
[3:18] Hear Him, ye death. Have His praise ye done. Your loosened tongues employ. Ye blind me all. Your Savior come.
[3:30] And meet me lame for joy. The Lord be with you. Take a moment, if you will, and greet your neighbor with the peace of the Spirit.
[3:41] I sent me a text. Oh. I'd like to invite the children to come up now if they want to join us.
[3:56] It's Barb's birthday today. Who? Barb Smith. Jeffords. Any kids want to come up and join us? I took my jacket off because I want to show you some things on my arms. See these little spots? You know what those are? Those are scars.
[4:08] I got those scars. I got those spots cooking fish. I did. Yeah. Grease got on my arms and burned me. I got close.
[4:19] Any vida here as an actress, you know? He Kendall. Please come up and join us? I took my jacket off because I wanted to show you some things on my arms. You see these little spots? Those are scars. I got those spots cooking fish.
[4:30] I did, yeah. Grease got on my arms and burned me. You know what that taught me? Not to cook the fish like that. Yeah, because the things we were doing weren't the safest things, and so I got hurt.
[4:45] And so I got scars that are going to last forever on my arms. They're getting a little better, but they're still there, yeah. And that's just because I wasn't doing things the right way.
[4:56] You know, sometimes we get hurt a little bit when we do things the wrong way. We don't do what we're supposed to do. We get hurt or we hurt somebody else. And you touch the cooker from the pancakes.
[5:14] Yeah, what happens? You go, ouch, right? Yeah, yeah. And so then it takes time to heal. Now, the good thing is God gives us the ability to heal, which is a great thing.
[5:26] So we don't have to carry around those scars forever a lot of times. But the truth is we got to learn. Don't touch the hot pans, right? Don't get near the hot grease because it's not good for you.
[5:36] And don't do things that are bad, okay? What are you guys thankful for this morning? Raise your hand if you want to share something. Lord, we do thank you for our family, our friends, our siblings, the people who bring joy to our life.
[6:10] Bless us today and always in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, you guys go out to church school. All the kids are invited to go out to church school now if they'd like to. Good morning.
[6:36] What a blessing it is to be here and worship God. Is everybody blessed to be here? Really? Wow. Amen. Amen.
[6:47] All right. I'm sure you noticed in your bulletin that there's an envelope, a special offering envelope for Mission Sunday. We have so many missions that this church is involved in. Isn't that a wonder?
[6:59] To know that from this congregation we reach out and touch the hearts and minds and lives of so many people who are in need of knowing the love of God. And we would ask that you would prayerfully consider how you would like to support missions.
[7:12] This is just kind of a general one. You know, we have specific ones at other times during the year. But every now and then we have a couple of missions that come up that just need some, you know, a little bit of help, a little bit of extra.
[7:23] And that's what it's for this morning. So as we lift up this offering and bring also our gifts, tithes, and offerings before the Lord as God has called us.
[7:34] Let's remember this is an act of worship in our hearts. A demonstration of our love for God. Our appreciation for all God has so richly blessed us with. Thank you.
[8:12] Thank you. Thank you.
[8:42] I am determined. I am determined to live for the King. I am determined to be invincible.
[9:00] Till he has finished his purpose in me. Till he has finished his purpose in me. And nothing shall shake me.
[9:14] For he'll never forsake me. I am determined to live for the King.
[9:27] Hell's gates are trembling.
[9:42] From saints' prayers ascending. Darkness is coming from praises we sing.
[9:56] Our sovereign victorious is marching before us. And we are determined to live for the peace.
[10:15] I am determined to be invincible. Till he has finished his purpose in me.
[10:33] And nothing shall shake me. For he'll never forsake me. I am determined to live for the peace.
[10:53] When I am weary, I'll look to his face. When I am tempted, I'll trust in his grace.
[11:10] I am determined to be invincible.
[11:27] Till he has finished his purpose in me. And nothing shall shake me.
[11:41] For he'll never forsake me. I am determined. I am determined.
[11:54] I am determined. To live for the peace.
[12:05] I will live for the peace. I will live for the peace.
[12:17] I will live for the peace. I will live for the peace. I am determined. I will live for the peace. I am determined.
[12:29] I am determined. I am determined. I am determined. Amen. Heavenly Father, we give you thanks and praise for this day and for the opportunity to gather together and worship you.
[13:15] Lord God, we are so grateful for all the blessings you pour out into our lives. And we just ask in Jesus' name that you would bless this small offering that we give back to you for the work of your kingdom, for the work of your hand.
[13:30] We ask that you would bless it, Lord God, especially those offerings this day that are going to be reaching out beyond these walls to draw people to salvation in Jesus Christ.
[13:41] Lord God, we offer up all of the gifts you have given us and ask that you would bless them. We ask that you would give us wisdom to know how to best use them for the furtherance of your kingdom.
[13:55] For it is in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated. What a blessing it is.
[14:08] We have one more fish fry to go. And this one, I don't remember if Pastor Tom announced it or not, but there were 395 dinners sold this week. And that was an amazing thing.
[14:20] And next week, this coming Friday, it promises to be a wonderful, wonderful evening. So you all come out and join us. It's the last one of the fall. And we just hope that you'll be there.
[14:31] We are looking for prayers this day for Julie Edmister Edwards, who is Pastor Gene and Pastor Bill's daughter. She has some health concerns and is in need of our prayers.
[14:43] And Claire Bolslaw is at Absolute Care in Gasport. She is in need of our prayers for healing and for strength. And Joanna Papaleo is healing from surgery.
[14:55] And so we want to lift her up as well. I know that we all have those things that are on our hearts that we are in need of. And these things will take to... Welcome to join me in prayer from your seat or to come to the rail and pray with me.
[15:11] Our Lord.
[15:29] God of heaven and earth and all creation. What a blessing it is to know that you hear us and that you answer our prayers.
[15:44] To know that you know what we need before we even ask. But Lord, that you call us to pray. To be part of bringing healing into your world.
[16:00] Lord God, we are grateful. So grateful for everything you pour out into our lives and blessings. So often, Lord, when we come to you in prayer, we think of those things that are troubling us.
[16:17] Or that are troubling someone we love. Or something in this world that we see and say, God, why? Help us, Lord, to remember your blessings as well.
[16:32] They are so abundant. They fill our cup to overflowing. They fill our hearts and our souls and our minds. We are blessed beyond anything we can count.
[16:47] Keep it in our hearts to remember that, Lord. To remember you. We have the blessing of walking with you each and every day.
[17:00] That you never leave us nor forsake us. But stay with us. No matter what. That is the greatest blessing there is.
[17:14] Lord, we lift up those who are in need of a healing touch from you. We ask that you would touch them in their spirits, their souls, and their bodies.
[17:24] Whatever it is they need, Lord, you know what it is. Be with them. Help them. Pray, Lord, for those who are grieving losses.
[17:36] Let us know your comfort and your peace. For you to surround them, Lord God, with your love. Let them know your presence.
[17:49] Let us each know your presence, Lord God. And whatever the troubles and the struggles and the trials and the challenges that this life might bring us, let us know that you're there.
[18:02] Help us to remember you. We trust you. We trust you. We trust you in all things. Lord, we pray for all of those folks who are in the Carolinas and Haiti and wherever else from the troubles that they have because of the hurricane.
[18:27] It's not in the news anymore, Lord God. But those people will be dealing with the aftermath and the suffering, the pain of loss for such a long time.
[18:46] Send help, Lord God, and let us know what we can do to help if you would call us to do that. Lord, remind us, Lord, to remember to pray for them, even if it isn't in the news.
[19:05] Lord God, we lift up all that is happening in this nation from now to the next couple of weeks as the elections draw nearer. We pray, Lord God, that you would cut through all of the noise, all the noise and the chaos of people yelling at each other and accusing one another.
[19:30] Cut through it for us, Lord, so that we can see your face. Cut through it for us, Lord, so that we can know what you would have us do, how you would have us participate in this process where we are electing officials.
[19:52] Help us to know, Lord God, who those are who might have a heart to listen for your voice to.
[20:07] Help us to know what to do. Lord God, wash over us with your word this morning. Let it transform us.
[20:20] Help us to become the people that you have called us to be. Be with Pastor Tom as he delivers the message you've given. Let it be a blessing to him and to us.
[20:32] Lord God, make all of our worship to be a blessing to you. That's why we came. To bless you, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray.
[20:46] Amen. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord? Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[20:56] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[21:07] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Good morning.
[21:20] Today's reading is from 2 Samuel, the 13th chapter, verses 1-22. In the course of time, Amnon, son of David, fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of Absalom, son of David.
[21:35] Amnon became so obsessed with his sister Tamar that he made himself ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible for him to do anything to her. Now Amnon had an advisor named Jonadad, son of Shemiah, David's brother.
[21:50] Jonadad was a very shrewd man. He asked Amnon, why do you, the king's son, look so haggard morning after morning? Won't you tell me? Amnon said to him, I'm in love with Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.
[22:06] Go to bed and pretend to be ill, Jonadad said. When your father comes to see you, say to him, I would like my sister Tamar to come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in my sight so that I may watch her and then eat it from her hand.
[22:22] So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to him, I would like my sister Tamar to come and make some special bread in my sight so I may eat from her hand.
[22:35] David sent word to Tamar at the palace. Go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him. So Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down.
[22:46] She took some dough, kneaded it, made the bread in his sight and baked it. Then she took the pan and served him the bread, but he refused to eat. Send everyone out of here, Amnon said.
[22:59] So everyone left him. Then Amnon said to Tamar, bring the food here into my bedroom so I may eat from your hand. And Tamar took the bread she had prepared and brought it to her brother Amnon to his bedroom.
[23:12] Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the ornate robe she was wearing. She put her hands on her head and went away, weeping aloud as she went. Her brother Absalom said to her, has that Amnon, your brother, been with you?
[23:25] Be quiet for now, my sister. He is your brother. Don't take this thing to heart. And Tamar lived in her brother Absalom's house, a desolate woman. When King David heard all of this, he was furious.
[23:38] And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad. He hated Amnon because he had disgraced his sister Tamar. This is the word of the Lord. Thank you, David.
[23:51] In the book of Exodus, in the midst of the Ten Commandments, we read this. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above, or on earth beneath, or in the waters below.
[24:05] You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.
[24:18] That's a hard verse to read, isn't it? Punishing the children for the sins of their parents to the third and the fourth generation.
[24:29] Last week, I was a little uncomfortable to preach a story about David and Bathsheba. About David having an affair on his six wives.
[24:42] I don't even know how that works, really. But anyways, having an affair on his six wives with a woman who was married to a friend of his. He broke a lot of the commandments.
[24:55] He coveted. He committed adultery. And then he killed, murdered his friend. That's a harsh story. In the midst of this story, we know that his son, Amnon, is watching.
[25:11] Amnon is the crown prince. The first son born to David by his second wife, which was his mother-in-law's mother-in-law.
[25:24] Saul's wife. Are you kidding this? David's first son was the child of his mother-in-law. Because, well, David ran off with his mother-in-law.
[25:37] You see, Amnon is watching this. He's watching the behavior. He's watching what happened with his grandfather. He's watching what his father does.
[25:48] And now his father takes whatever he wants and sins in any way he chooses. Because the kids, the kids, they're heroes.
[26:00] Whether good or bad, they follow your patterns. And there's many good things we teach our children. Without parents, children wouldn't be able to walk. They would run around in the street in the traffic.
[26:10] They wouldn't know how to lift the fork. And eat food. There's all sorts of wonderful things we teach our children. But they also see the things that we do that are wrong.
[26:22] Do you remember this commercial from 100 years ago? Are these your drugs? Look, Daddy, it's not how much you get it. Daddy, answer me. Who taught you how to do this stuff?
[26:33] You, all right? I learned it by watching you. Ouch. Remember that? I learned it by watching you. Amnon is watching his father, who seems to take whatever he wants without consequences.
[26:48] So Amnon wants to do the same. After all, he's a crown prince. He should be able to do anything he wants. Take anything he wants. And he's obsessed with his half-sister tomorrow.
[27:03] An obsession that just doesn't seem to go away. The one thing he can't have, the scripture says, is what he wants to have. And so he obsesses about it and thinks about it.
[27:19] We took some of the scripture out when we read the passage this morning. It's a little more graphic than we like to use in church. You can read it if you'd like.
[27:31] Amnon took from his sister Tamar something that was very precious to her. Something very special. Do you understand what I'm saying? Some things are hard.
[27:46] Amnon disgraced his sister. And she had done nothing but love him. Care for him. Go to feed him when he was sick. The first question that comes up whenever we see passages like this in the Bible, or things like this in life, is, why do bad things happen to innocent people?
[28:08] And why didn't God stop this? It goes back to the story in the garden. Remember that story? God said to Adam and Eve, you can eat anything you want except one fruit.
[28:24] Now this was the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, but I have a feeling it could have been an orange. And if he said you can't eat it, they would have wanted that too. Just like Amnon, we become obsessed with the one thing we can't have.
[28:37] And Adam and Eve took the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. And they ate of it. And the world became broken. Some people have asked the theological questions for centuries.
[28:51] Did God create evil? Well, God didn't create evil, but God created the possibility of evil. Why would God do such a thing? Because God created us in his image. He wanted us to be like him.
[29:03] So he created us with the capacity to be very good. He created us with the capacity to be creative, to be powerful, to learn and to grow. And he gave us the ability to choose.
[29:17] And if it was just a choice between two things that were exactly the same, that's not a choice at all. So he gave us a choice between two real things, good and evil. Not that evil existed yet, but there was the possibility of it.
[29:31] And God gave us the possibility of giving it life. And we chose it. And I say we because this is not just a story of Adam and Eve. This is our story too. We go through life having that same choice.
[29:44] And we choose to do what's wrong. God created that possibility and we chose it, gave it power, and the world broke.
[29:56] We have choices. And sometimes we choose to do very good things. And sometimes we choose to do very bad things. And most of us do a little bit of each, right? Somewhere along the line.
[30:10] There was a man named Jonadab. This was Amnon's cousin. And he was very shrewd, it says. And he put together a plot, a plan, for how Amnon could do this horrible thing to his sister.
[30:28] He wasn't just bad. He was evil. One of our difficulties in life is we want to believe that people are basically all good. They're not all good. In fact, none of us are really good, but some are really bad.
[30:41] This guy's a bad man. In our world, we'd label him a predator. He tries to find a way to get Amnon and Tamar to be alone.
[30:55] So that Amnon can do his awful thing. We live in a broken world. We don't live in a good world where everything turns out for the best.
[31:07] God gave us a choice, and he still gives us choices. And yes, he could change the whole thing, but he still wants us to have the opportunity to see what we will do.
[31:19] And see what we will choose. If we choose God, then we make the choice that a time will come when we won't have this choice anymore. This is what it says in the book of Revelation.
[31:30] He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the old order of things will pass away, and the one seated on the throne will say, I am making everything new.
[31:42] This is a trustworthy and true thing. Some people say they want to live forever. I don't want to live forever. If we live forever, we live in the world between brokenness and joy, between good and bad, between blessings and curses.
[32:01] I've said it before. Life is actually a commercial for heaven and hell. God says that we can choose to live in glory where there will be no choice anymore. And that day will come, but right now we live where we are, in a broken place, where a lot of broken things happen, sometimes by people's own choice and sometimes just by the brokenness of life.
[32:23] My mother was a 20-something-year-old woman, alive, loved to dance, and she was struck down by polio. Couldn't walk the rest of her life.
[32:35] Why her? No particular reason. Polio hit lots of people in that day and age. Nothing they did right or wrong. We don't even talk about polio much anymore, right?
[32:46] You know why? Because my mother insisted when I was young that I wouldn't get polio, so she sent me for vaccinations. Do you remember those things? So I had to get these shots.
[32:57] I didn't know what they were for. And every time I went into the doctors, this was the size needle they used. In our closet of phobias, we've got my phobia.
[33:08] I hate needles. I hate needles. I can't stand the things. When I go to get my teeth drilled by the dentist, I don't use Novocaine.
[33:21] That's fine by me. I'll take the pain. You're not putting a needle in my mouth. I remember one time my daughter was getting a shot when she was young in the hospital and I passed out.
[33:35] Not good things, needles. You can have your clowns. I've got my needles, okay? But sometimes we need difficult things.
[33:47] Things that even hurt to help us. You know, I read an article about Tamar. And this woman said, you know, I went to church all my life.
[33:59] I read the Bible. I studied it in Bible studies. I go to Sunday school class. I never heard of this woman Tamar. It's an interesting thing.
[34:11] The Bible deals with real stuff. Difficult stuff. Real life stuff. Things that are hard. And things that we don't necessarily want to read. And interestingly, Tamar is actually named after a great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandma.
[34:29] And that story is a little weird, too. Because, you see, the original Tamar was married to Judah's first son. But he died before they had a child. So she married his second son.
[34:40] But he died before they had a son. And Judah had one more son. He said, that ain't going to happen. So Tamar dressed up like a harlot. One waited on the roadside for when Judah came by.
[34:53] And so Tamar's child was actually Judah's child. And Judah wanted to put her away as a harlot until he found out it was his own kid. The Bible's made up of strange stories.
[35:07] Real stuff. Stuff that happens. And somehow avoiding it doesn't make it better. We've all sinned. According to the Bible.
[35:19] Fallen short of the glory of God. Or the way I like to say it is, we're all dysfunctional. Each and every one of us. There's something wrong with us in some way.
[35:30] And the Bible doesn't avoid that dysfunction. It doesn't avoid reality. It deals with the brokenness. It deals with the pain. With the tragedy. With the disappointing things.
[35:42] We, on the other hand, want to whitewash it. And make it clean. So that nothing ever comes out of the Bible but good easy stuff. Stuff we could read anywhere we'd want to. And explain to our four-year-old children.
[35:54] But that's not the real Bible. The Bible deals with the conflicts and struggles of life that we want to avoid. Just like we want to avoid needles.
[36:07] I don't want to avoid needles.
[36:37] One or two. That's why I came in. Very quickly. Very quickly. Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. This is what I look like when I go to get my blood drawn, right?
[36:52] No, no, no. No. Sometimes, we want to avoid the pain, the hurt, the trouble.
[37:05] the difficulty. It says in verse 21 of this passage, David was furious. He wasn't just upset. He was angry beyond anger.
[37:16] He was furious over this when he found out. But then, you go to the next passage and you found out that for two years, David did nothing.
[37:28] Absolutely nothing about it. Why? Why didn't David do something about this?
[37:40] Well, he was afraid. This whole series is about facing our fears, isn't it? He was afraid. He was afraid to discipline his son.
[37:52] He was afraid to deal with the difficult consequences, partly because he was afraid that he had lost his moral authority and because he had done something wrong, he couldn't point it out in anyone else.
[38:07] And when we've done something wrong, we sometimes feel that we can't say anything, even when we know something's wrong. And he was afraid that somehow he would lose the love of his son, Amnon.
[38:26] And we get afraid of that, don't we? I remember years ago, my mother, God bless her soul, had invited my brother to come down and visit. My brother at the time had a live-in girlfriend and we had a rule at our house that unless you're married, you sleep in separate bedrooms.
[38:42] It was just our rule, you know? And my mother said, well, you're not going to have your brother do that. He's an adult. I said, well, I am, Mom. I don't know what you're going to do. And she said, well, but then I'll never see my son.
[38:56] I said, well, Mom, that's the way it is. This is our house. And I'll say what has to be said. My brother didn't talk to me for about a year.
[39:08] We get along well now again. He couldn't understand why we had this rule. I said, you know, we've got nieces and nephews and we're not sending out the word that Grandma's house is the love shack, right?
[39:24] Because, you see, the little ones are always watching. They're seeing what we do. How do we respond? What do we say? Do we stand for our principles or do we fold as soon as it feels somehow comfortable or it feels somehow it might hurt or it feels like we may not have everybody like us?
[39:45] It's hard. We want to hope that it'll go away. If we just ignore it, it'll go away and we can forget about it, but it doesn't go away.
[39:59] Tamara's hurt. In so many ways, it's hard to even describe. It says that she remained desolate. Desolate, what an awful word to use for a beautiful young woman.
[40:13] Absalom, her brother, is so angry. He's nursing a grudge against his brother Amnon and he's totally disappointed with his father, David.
[40:25] He's lost all respect for his father and he's just waiting and waiting for the opportunity to get his revenge on his own brother. See, the problem is when we don't deal with things, we get stuck in the brokenness and the brokenness from our past holds us.
[40:45] That's what the devil wants to do. The devil wants to keep you in the past. The devil wants to keep you in the brokenness. It may be because you've done something horrible like Amnon.
[40:58] You've done something so awful that you feel there's no way you could be forgiven. There's no way that you could possibly be okay. You could never do anything right again. So you feel like David.
[41:10] You can't say anything or do anything or live in any way because you did something horrible in the past. But God wants to take that away from us.
[41:20] That's what grace is about. Maybe it's like tomorrow or Absalom where somebody has done something so horrible and painful and difficult to you that you just don't know how you can let it go.
[41:37] And so you nurse a grudge and you hold on to that pain and you live in that brokenness and you can't move forward because you're stuck in the past and the broken life of yesterday.
[41:52] And like Absalom, you nurse that until eventually, two years later, he killed his brother Amnon. And so the person who in some way was the righteous one becomes the killer.
[42:07] And David, he lost both of his sons and his daughter as well. Sometimes we need to face the reality.
[42:21] We need to recognize when there's a problem. This kid has a problem, Amnon. David needs to deal with his son. He doesn't even see that his son is obsessed with his sister.
[42:34] He lets this thing occur that should never have occurred. He should have stopped it early. There's rules against stuff like this. We stop the obsession by setting the boundaries for safety.
[42:50] Obsession with anything but God causes trouble. And you know, if you read the parts that we didn't read, you'll find out that Amnon went from having this incredible lust for his sister to having disgust and hatred for her.
[43:06] So even when we satisfy these weird obsessive desires of ourselves, it doesn't make us really feel better. Somewhere along the line, we need a word we don't like to hear, discipline.
[43:22] It's hard, but it's necessary. I was working on the floors of the parsonage one time and I was opening boxes with a razor knife and I went like this and cut my finger, sliced it right across.
[43:39] Well, I grabbed the rag off, you know, we've all got a cloth around the kitchen sink, you know, sitting around there. I wrapped that around the bleeding finger and went back to work. After a while, I felt that finger kind of go, and then I looked at it and it started growing.
[43:55] And then I looked at the hand and it started growing. I said, this doesn't look good when your hand looks like a rubber glove been blown up, you know. That's not a good thing. I knew that. So I went to the hospital and I walked in.
[44:07] I didn't even say what I was there for or give them my name. They saw my hand and they took me back in the little room immediately. And a doctor came in and he didn't even ask anything or say anything to me.
[44:18] He pulled out of his little tool kit that one dreaded thing, that thing, you know, bam, right into my hand, just like that. I didn't want a shot, but I needed it.
[44:31] Right now, I remember that incident forever because they said my finger would never go farther than that. I got it down to here, but I can't do what the other finger can. You know, sometimes we need to take the medicine we don't want to take.
[44:45] Take the action we don't want to take. You heard that passage from Proverbs 13, quoted, spare the rod and spoil the child.
[44:56] Actually, it says, right, it is, whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
[45:09] You see, discipline is a form of love. Discipline says that we love, respect, and care for our children so much we don't want to make them rotten.
[45:20] We don't want to spoil them. We don't want to cause them to live in sin and brokenness. We want them to live in grace and goodness. I want to be very clear. There's a difference between discipline and abuse.
[45:34] Abuse is when we hurt someone because it makes us feel better. Discipline is when we use just the right measurement to correct the behavior in the person who's going the wrong way.
[45:46] So discipline should always be done for the person being disciplined. If it ever feels good, it's wrong. It's wrong. But discipline, properly applied, changes the broken behavior and causes someone to go the way they should.
[46:08] I don't like discipline. I don't like when people point out what's wrong with me. I don't like when you tell me how I've fallen short and I know you do it and I don't like it.
[46:20] But I appreciate it because it means to respect me enough to tell me if I've gone too far and it's kept me from going even farther than I should.
[46:33] You know, children have a job in the world. I don't know if you're aware of this. Their job is to push your boundaries every single minute of the day. All their lives.
[46:45] That's what they do. If you say they can go out to the sidewalk, they go step past. If you say they can stay out, I'll tell you the clock coming at 8.05. Whatever you say, they go one step farther because they're not sure if the boundaries that you say are the safe boundaries are the real boundaries.
[47:02] So they're going to test them. And you know why? Because they believe that at some point if they go past the real safe boundaries, you will stop them. So it's not the sidewalk that's a safe boundary.
[47:15] We know it's the street. And if they get anywhere near the street, we don't hesitate to grab them by the hair and bring them back. I shouldn't say you're dragging kids by the hair.
[47:27] I'm saying we don't hesitate if that's the only way we could stop them. You don't understand. Oh, come on. Don't get it. I don't want letters. I never grab my daughter by the hair.
[47:37] The point is boundaries are the parents' job to help the children know where it's safe and where it's not.
[47:50] And if we don't set clear boundaries, then they don't know where life is safe anymore. And by the way, if you set your boundaries too tight, well, then you're kind of deceiving them.
[48:03] And if you set them too loose, you put them in danger. So discipline is a form of love. You remember in that song that David wrote, it says, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me?
[48:15] David was a shepherd. The staff is that thing with the hook, you know? And what the shepherds did is if the sheep were getting a little out of line, they would kind of pull them back, right? You know what the rod is?
[48:28] It's a club. It's a club. Now sometimes they use it to defend themselves against wolves and bears and things like that. But a lot of times they just used it on the sheep themselves. Because if the sheep weren't going to listen to that general little hook, they were going to get whacked with the club and they would learn, don't do that again.
[48:45] And interestingly, David says that God's rod and his staff, his discipline, are a comfort to us. Or as the way Hebrews says it to us, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it.
[49:01] How much more should we submit to the father of spirits and live? They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good in order that we might share in his holiness.
[49:17] No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained up by it. If we set the boundaries, if we set the discipline, if we help people to know what's right and wrong, then they have the opportunity to confess their mistakes and change and be transformed.
[49:41] So discipline and conviction along with confession are what lead to grace and grace and love can bring healing.
[49:55] Grace points to hope. It points to the idea that God can put anything that's broken in our past behind us.
[50:08] When we confess our sin and repent of our sin, it says God will forgive us and God could have forgiven Amnon and I suspect it's even possible that David and Absalom and maybe even Tamar could have forgiven Amnon if he truly repented and who knows what would have happened if he became the crown prince.
[50:30] It may have changed the course of history as Amnon was the child of Saul and the child of David. God can change all that.
[50:43] He can transform things as it says in Romans 8.28. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and have been called according to his purpose.
[50:56] Or what James tells us, submit to the Lord and resist the devil and he will flee from you. The devil wants to keep us in brokenness.
[51:08] The devil wants to keep you so caught up in the sin that you have committed in the past that you will never live into the promise that God has for you in the future. The devil wants you to be so crippled by what you feel in terms of guilt and struggling with what you've been that you never become what you could be.
[51:31] And the devil wants to hold you in the past with pain and hurt and grief and grudges as well.
[51:43] Absalom was innocent in this story until that grudge took hold of him and caused him to sin even more than his brother Amnon if you could imagine such a thing.
[51:57] God wants to remove the scars the brokenness of the past and move us into the future. the devil wants to keep you caught up in the anger in the pain in the brokenness of yesterday.
[52:17] In that song we sang in the beginning of the service that says God breaks the power of canceled sin. See, there's forgiving sin but there's breaking the power of the canceled sin.
[52:31] The sin that we've already taken to God and it's already been forgiven or somebody's taken to us and we forgave them but we don't let go. We hold on to it and it hurts us and breaks us and crushes us and tears us apart because we can't let it go.
[52:47] So instead of living in grace and love in the future we get stuck in the past. Love can make a difference. Absalom loved his sister.
[52:59] He took her into his home even though it would have been considered a shame because love was more important than the shame. He nurtured and cared for her even in her despair and somehow it led to a healing because there's another tomorrow in the Bible and it's the daughter of Absalom and we rarely talk about her either.
[53:23] It says that she was beautiful and she broke the curse. She ended up marrying a king. she ended up becoming the mother of king and lived into the life that God intended.
[53:39] Second Corinthians says to us if anyone is in Christ the new creation has come the old is gone and the new is here. Amnon Absolute Son Tamar David all of them could have been healed and you and I do not have to be held by yesterday whether it's guilt and shame or whether it's pain and resentment all it does is leave us in the brokenness of yesterday and God has not called you to live in the yesterday he calls you to live in tomorrow.
[54:20] It says in Exodus chapter 20 You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I the Lord your God am a jealous God punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments God wants to break the pain God wants to break the chain of sin and resentment and hurt and guilt God does not want to visit your sins to the next generation He wants to visit His grace His hope His possibilities We can't do it We're just people but God can do it because He's the one who heals He's the one who saves He's the one who breaks through the brokenness and gives His hope for tomorrow
[55:23] You hold my every longing You count myagle And to bow give your mercy Only jed是 其要潮你中金 Happy New You hold my every mistakes You count my advice You count my previously You walk with me through fire and hear all my disease.
[56:06] And I trust in you. I trust in you.
[56:18] I believe you're my healing. I believe you are all I need.
[56:34] I believe you're my portion. I believe you're more than enough for me.
[56:52] Jesus, you're all I need. I believe you're my healing.
[57:08] I believe you're all I need. I believe you're my healing.
[57:24] I believe you're my healing. I believe you're more than enough for me. I believe you're my healing.
[57:36] I believe you're my healing. I believe you're my healing.
[57:50] I believe you're my healing. I believe you're my healing.
[58:02] I believe you're my healing. I believe you're my healing. But your healer can be in time.
[58:13] You certainly have that journey. And I promise you that the Lord is drinking life.
[58:24] Come to Jesus and live Now your blood is lifted And carried far away And precious blood has washed away the sea Sing to Jesus Sing to Jesus Sing to Jesus And live And I saw you, Lord, baby Don't be afraid to come
[59:28] Remember when we will walk Sometimes we fall So come on, Jesus Come on, Jesus Come on, Jesus Come on, Jesus And live Sometimes the way is lonely And sea man fill with pain So if your sky is dark Then falls the rain Ride in Jesus Ride in Jesus Ride in Jesus Ride in Jesus
[60:33] And live And when the love spills over And music fills the night When you can't contain The joy inside Dance for Jesus Dance for Jesus Dance for Jesus Dance for Jesus And live And live And with your final heart Kiss the world goodbye Go in peace and laugh
[61:36] And man fill as Jubilee And plac今日は Fly to Jesus and live.
[62:02] Come to Jesus. Come to Jesus. Fly to Jesus and live.
[62:23] Fly to Jesus and live.
[62:53] Fly to Jesus and live. Sing praise. Sing praise. Sing praise. With a mighty hand and an acid song.
[63:06] He's more than those forever. For the life that's been reborn. He's more than those forever.
[63:17] Sing praise. Sing praise. Sing praise.
[63:28] Sing praise. Forever God is faithful Forever God is strong Forever God is in us Forever Forever The brightening through the setting sun His love and mercy forever By the grace of God we will carry on His love and mercy forever Sing praise Sing praise Sing praise Sing praise Forever God is faithful Forever God is strong Forever God is with us
[64:30] Forever Forever Forever God is faithful Forever God is strong Forever God is with us Forever Forever Please be seated Forever And that's a long, long time God wants us to live in the joy and the wonder and the blessings of a place where there's no more pain or sorrow or hurt or mourning or suffering or needles That's the intended place Right now we live in the brokenness And in the brokenness we're broken and others are broken as well but we don't want to live in that We don't want to live in the past We don't want to hold on to that and we certainly don't want to let that hold on to us That's a devil's word God calls us to live
[65:32] Into the possibilities of what He can do with our lives So our prayer of confession Is our way of putting yesterday behind us Not just our sin But the grudges And the pain and resentment we hold on to of other people's sin too Because we need to put all that brokenness in the past So that we can live the life that God intended to be embraced Dear God in heaven I have sinned I've done things terribly wrong And I hold on to grudges Resentment And pain Forgive me Lord Change me Lord Help me to put yesterday where it belongs in the past Help me to put yesterday where it belongs in the past And help me to live into the future In your grace Your love And your joy In Jesus name we pray
[66:33] Amen God has ordained for you to have a better life A new beginning I know you've been hurt badly And I know you've done some things you regret But you can't live there You can't live there It will kill you And that's what the devil wants to have happen God wants to change that today Tomorrow Begins In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven In the name of Jesus Christ Your sins are forgiven Glory to God Amen Protect or protecter of my soul You will stand against the foe In the dark you'll be our life for me
[67:34] O protector of my soul O gracious God above I could never earn your love I'm amazed to see all your peace in thee O gracious God above You who created the ends of the earth Gided me under your door Offered your healing plan to me But simply made me your own O Holy Spirit, come Show the world where life comes from May we always see you alive in me O Holy Spirit, come May we always see you alive in me
[68:40] O Holy Spirit, come Amen God loved us so much Isn't it amazing That God knew just what we needed Before we even asked We needed to be forgiven We needed to have a way to be set free from our sin And so God did it And we remember at the table this morning You are invited to come to the table To come and to receive What God has promised To meet with God And have God come into you In a unique and amazing way Everyone is welcome If you love God Earnestly repent of your sin And seek to live in peace As a disciple of Jesus Christ You are welcome to come to the table this morning
[69:41] You don't have to be a United Methodist You don't have to be With any kind of a church If today is the day That you have felt in your heart Known Deep down in your being That you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ You come to the table this morning And God will meet you The Lord be with you Lift up your hearts Let us 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 So with your people on earth And all the company of heaven We praise your name And join their unending hymn Holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might
[70:42] 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 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 spirit He commissioned us To be his witnesses To the ends of the earth And to make disciples Of all nations On the night in which He gave himself up for us He took bread And he gave thanks to you He broke the bread And gave it to his disciples Saying take and eat This is my body Which is given for you Do this in remembrance of me When the supper was over
[71:45] He took the cup And he gave you thanks And praise And he gave it to his disciples He said drink from this All of you This is the cup of my blood The blood of the new covenant Poured out for you Poured out for many For the forgiveness of sin This is often as you drink it In remembrance of me So in remembrance of these Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ We offer ourselves In praise and thanksgiving As a holy and living sacrifice In union with Christ's offering for us As we proclaim the mystery of faith Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again Pour out your Holy Spirit On us gathered here And on these gifts of bread and wine Make them be for us The body and blood of Christ That we may be for the world The body of Christ
[72:46] Redeemed by his blood By your spirit Make us one with Christ One with each other And one in ministry To all the world Until Christ comes In final victory And we feast at his heavenly banquet Through your son Jesus Christ With the Holy Spirit In your holy church All honor and glory Is yours almighty father Now and forever Amen Shall we pray together The prayer With Jesus Christ 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 into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom
[73:46] And the power And the glory Forever and ever Amen Those who are serving Please come forward We shallaur I'll WrestleMania 많이имabsteno otur They are You Farewell Thank you.
[74:53] Thank you.
[75:23] Thank you.
[75:53] Thank you.
[76:23] Thank you.
[76:53] Thank you.
[77:23] Thank you.
[77:53] Thank you.
[78:23] Thank you.
[78:53] Thank you.
[79:23] Thank you.
[79:53] Thank you.
[80:23] Thank you.
[80:53] Thank you.
[81:23] Thank you.