Trust

[0:00] This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. If any kids would like to come up and sing, they're welcome to join us. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:19] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:34] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is the day that the Lord has made.

[0:49] Hi, it's me, Julie, again. I'm here in the office where I work on the bulletins and newsletters. I apologize for any and all typos you may see. I'm here again because we need some new welcome videos.

[1:03] And Adrienne asked me to help them out to recruit new people. If this is your first time visiting with us, I hope you'll pick up a welcome pack, either at the Connection site or at the Welcome and Information desk.

[1:15] And for everybody who's here, we would like you to fill out your name on our friendship card so we know you're here. If you'd like to receive our newsletter, be sure to fill in your address.

[1:26] On the back, you can do prayer concerns, blessings, or notes to the staff. And that's where you want to write video. Thanks for coming to Pendleton Center Church and have a wonderful day.

[1:37] It is good to have you here this morning. If you'd like to do a video, you, your group, your family, anything you'd like to do, we'd love to have a few more welcome videos. You can talk to Julie at the Welcome Center or you can talk to Adrienne.

[1:50] They'd be glad to set that up with you. I did want to mention the clipboard going around is for a family skate, church family going skating next weekend. If you'd like to go along, if you could sign up on that. So they have some idea about how many are coming.

[2:02] And we're also planning a trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for the Satan Sound Theater. Maybe you've never been to that. It's a pretty amazing theater, huge theater where they do things with live animals and all sorts of stuff.

[2:17] So if you'd like to know more about that trip, they're going to rent a bus and head on south. You can talk to Holly Britton. She's in the back of the sanctuary after service today. Shall we turn our hearts and our souls to the Lord in prayer?

[2:29] Dear Lord, we thank you for this morning. And we ask that you would help us to experience you more completely here. We know you're everywhere with us, Lord, but we're not always with you everywhere.

[2:42] So as we come into this place and you focus our hearts and our minds on who and what you are for us, we pray that you'd bless us in a special way. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

[2:53] Hear these words, if you will, from the book of Romans in chapter 12. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.

[3:09] This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will.

[3:25] For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you, do not think of yourself more highly than you should, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

[3:39] For just as each of us has one body and many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

[3:53] This is the word of the Lord. I'd like to invite you, if you're able, to stand as we're going to sing together. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness.

[4:28] O God, my Father, There is no shadow of burning with thee. Thou changest not.

[4:41] Thy compassions may fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be.

[4:52] Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see.

[5:05] All I have needed, thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness.

[5:17] Lord, unto me. Summer and winter and springtime and harvest.

[5:28] Sun, moon and stars in their courses above. Join with all nature in manifold witness.

[5:42] Great is thy faithfulness. To thy great faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness.

[5:54] Great is thy faithfulness. For in thy morning new mercies I see.

[6:05] I have been in thy hand, and I have both I live. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto thee.

[6:22] God, I will more sin and of peace that endureth. Thy holy presence to cheer and to guide.

[6:37] Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow. Blessings, O Lord, with hidden proud and peace.

[6:51] Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning new mercies I see.

[7:08] All I have needed, I have both I live. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto thee.

[7:25] Lord be with you. Take a moment, if you will, and greet your neighbor with the peace of the spirit. Amen. I'd like to invite the children to come on up.

[7:47] If any kids want to join me. Any kids want to come on up?

[8:02] I know what that is. It's a stick, isn't it? Yeah, I know what it is. It's actually a welcome. Do you know what this is?

[8:17] It's a big stick. I can reach all of you with it. I can hit you on the head. Wham! Couldn't I? You think I'll do it? No.

[8:28] No. I wouldn't do that. That would be so wrong, wouldn't it? Yeah. You know what? In life, sometimes we have to trust people. And there's some people that we're supposed to trust.

[8:40] Our parents will help us to know who they are. You know, and you can trust that I won't hit you on the head with a big stick. I'm not that kind of guy. Okay? Sometimes God wants us to find people in life to trust.

[8:53] Because we need people to trust. We trust our parents. We trust our grandparents. We trust our teachers. We trust pastors. We trust police officers. Lots of people, right? Because by doing that, we make a world that works a lot better together.

[9:08] Okay? So hopefully you're going to find friends as well that you can trust. And people in your church that you can trust. All right? So that you can have good friends. What are you thankful for this morning? Anything you want to share?

[9:18] Raise your hand. My family and friends. My family. My family. The plans that God has for me and everybody else.

[9:29] My friends and family. Bobby. My mom. And a big stick.

[9:46] Oh, no. We're not thankful for a big stick, right? Okay. Lord, we thank you for the blessings you give to us. The plans you have for our lives. Our parents. Our grandparents. Our brothers and sisters.

[9:57] The friends we have. All the blessings you give to us. Help us to always be blessed by you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You guys can all go to church school if you'd like to. All the kids are welcome to go out to church school now.

[10:23] Good morning. Good morning. We have a wonderful day. A wonderful day of worship and a wonderful day all day long. I'm sure that you're going to have. We have a special mission moment this morning that you'll find in your bulletin.

[10:36] It's for Super Sunday, which is what the church does on Super Bowl Sunday. Because Super Sunday and taking care and loving one another in Jesus' name is really important.

[10:49] Yeah? Yeah? I would say, ready? I'm going out on a limb here. More important than the Super Bowl. We're going to be supporting the Pendleton Food Pantry with this offering to bring them whatever they need in terms of food and all of those wonderful things that Food Pantry does provide.

[11:10] So please think and pray hard about what God would have you do. There are many folks. You know, the song that we just sang, the hymn, talks about how God provides for us all that we need.

[11:23] And sometimes the way God provides for other folks is through the people that God has provided for. We are the church. Amen? Amen? Amen. And God provides through us all that is needed.

[11:36] Let's bring our gifts, tithes, and offerings before the Lord. Amen. Amen.

[12:08] Amen. Amen.

[12:24] When you wake into the rising sun, greet the morning that has just begun.

[12:41] Count your blessings, each and every one. Find the awesome wonder in what God has done.

[13:04] When troubles get you down and make you feel afraid, or when you're all alone and think you've lost your way, take the time to look around, see the beauty, hear the sound.

[13:23] Let your heart rejoice in the wonders that abound. Count your blessings, name them one by one.

[13:36] Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one.

[13:48] Count your many blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one.

[14:23] Count your blessings, б Temperance, or ducks. Count your blessings, name them lenta. Count your blessings, name them one by one.

[14:37] Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, name them one. Count your blessings, name them one. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, name them on your way.

[14:52] Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done.

[15:05] Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

[15:17] Count your many blessings, see what God has done. Thank you. Praise God and God.

[15:56] Amen. Dear Heavenly Father, we do give you thanks and praise for this day that we have the opportunity to gather together and worship you.

[16:15] What a blessing, Lord. We offer up ourselves to you, Lord, and all of the gifts that you have given us. And we lift up this offering as well. We ask that you would bless it, multiply it, and use it for the furtherance of your kingdom.

[16:31] Give us wisdom, Lord. We desire through the ministries of this church and the outreaches that you have provided for us to draw many to salvation in Jesus Christ.

[16:43] We ask especially this morning, Lord, for a blessing on the Pendleton Food Pantry as they minister to the needs of so many people. In Jesus' name we pray.

[16:55] Amen. Please be seated. We have a joy to share that has a little bit of a concern with it.

[17:06] We want to make sure that we lift this one up. Randy and Diane Hasley have become grandparents, and that is their grandson, Landon.

[17:16] Landon Kajowski was born recently, and we want to keep Landon's mom, Rhiannon, in prayer as well as Landon.

[17:27] They have some health concerns going on right now, but what a blessing to have them join us in praise over that birth. We also need to keep in prayer Linda Canudala, who is struggling with some health issues that are ongoing.

[17:44] Carol and Mike Quesada, who are from our Niagara Falls church. Mike was recently diagnosed with ALS, and so we want to keep that family in our prayers.

[17:55] And Carol's mother died unexpectedly. So we also have to remember Jim Garrig and his family. Jim's mother, Sheila, died on Monday.

[18:05] And we will be holding the memorial service for Bob Wurttenberger on Saturday the 18th at 1 o'clock. So we want to keep these families in our prayers as well.

[18:17] We know that you have needs in your hearts. God knows them before we even say them out. We're going to turn to the Lord in prayer now, and you're welcome to join me from your seat or at the rail.

[18:35] Heavenly Father, what a blessing it is to come before you.

[18:49] We thank you for this opportunity. We thank you that you are the God who hears and answers our prayers, that you are the one God of all creation who holds us and this whole world in the palm of your hands.

[19:09] Thank you, Lord. You know what we need. We need all kinds of healing in our world. We need all kinds of healing in ourselves, in our communities, in our families.

[19:27] We lift them all up to you now, Lord. We pray for those who are in need of physical healing or spiritual healing or emotional healing as well.

[19:40] We pray that you will touch by your spirit. Touch them with your healing power. Let them be made whole from the tops of their heads to the soles of their feet and their spirits, their souls and their bodies.

[19:56] And bring healing to all. That it might draw them closer to you. Help them, Lord.

[20:08] Help us, Lord. Father, we pray for those who are grieving losses. How hard it is to be separated from someone that has been a part of our lives for so many years.

[20:27] To have them suddenly not here. Lord, we pray for your comfort. We pray for your peace. Come in by the power of your Holy Spirit.

[20:39] Wrap your arms of compassion around those who are grieving. Help them to remember those times that are blessed and good and lovely. Give each and every one the hope of eternal life in you.

[20:59] Lord God, we pray for our communities. We pray for our schools. We pray for our nation. We pray for our world. That the love of God would be shed abroad through your people.

[21:17] Give us wisdom, Lord, to know how to share your love. Help us not to be so focused on ourselves that we forget that we are the ones who bring your love and grace and mercy and your salvation into all situations.

[21:37] Lord, we pray now that as we continue to sing songs of praise and hear your words spoken to us, that it washes over us, that it transforms us into people who can be vessels of your love.

[22:01] Be with Pastor Tom as he delivers the message you've given him for us. Let it be a blessing to him and to us. Lord God, make all of our worship to be a blessing to you as we turn our eyes upon Jesus, as we receive your Holy Spirit once again.

[22:29] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Shall we hear from the word of the Lord? Amen. Good morning.

[23:01] Good morning. Our scripture lesson today is found in the first book of the Bible, the book of Genesis, and it's chapter 2, verses 18 to 25.

[23:15] And the Lord God said, It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him. Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds and all the birds in the sky.

[23:32] He brought them to the man to see what he would name them. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky, and all the wild animals.

[23:49] But for Adam, no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. And while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.

[24:04] Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

[24:21] She shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man. That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

[24:36] Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. I wish they'd drop some bananas.

[25:04] There's one. There's one.

[25:23] Baby, he's inside that car. He's trapped. Let's go tell mother and daddy. Hey there. Hey, I'm in here.

[25:38] I'm in here. Hey, let me out. I'm in here. I'm all alone.

[25:54] No one knows I'm in here. All alone. All alone. All alone.

[26:05] All alone. Some of you are old enough to remember that on Sunday mornings this was the only cartoon we got to watch. Davey, you shouldn't play by that train, Davey.

[26:18] Davey and Goliath. And this particular episode of Davey and Goliath has haunted me all my life. All alone. All alone. All alone.

[26:29] Don't play by the trains, kids. You could get stuck. You know, there's times in my life when I'd like to be alone. I'm with a lot of people all the time.

[26:40] And a lot of times I just want a quiet moment to get away just to be by myself. I think most of us do. Until we are alone. You know, my wife goes away for some kind of military thing for a month and I'm sitting there by myself going, I don't like this.

[26:56] You know? We can feel alone in life. Alone in a crowd. Alone in the universe. Imagine Adam sitting in the Garden of Eden all by himself, looking up at the stars in the sky and saying, is there anyone else out there?

[27:15] By the way, you could go see this set of stars at the planetarium, the Woodworth Ferguson Planetarium, which is located at Buffalo State College.

[27:29] Although, when you go there, you might find yourself in a little plastic bubble because their regular planetarium is closed right now. But you can still see some pretty cool things. They show videos, believe it or not, and you can go to them like this one.

[27:42] Long ago, when a great forest grew in this very spot where you are sitting, there came a family of storytellers.

[27:55] They told tales of old, of mirth and of laughter. So how many of you knew that you could go and see a video, watch a movie at a planetarium?

[28:07] But maybe you don't want to go all the way over to Buff State or you don't like sitting in a plastic, temporary bubble planetarium, Do you know what this is? That's the planetarium at Williamsville North High School.

[28:21] Did you know Williamsville North High School, right around the corner, has a planetarium, and you can actually go there. You don't have to make reservations. They have public showings where you can go to the planetarium.

[28:33] Or you could get a group of people together and you could just rent the place and go and have a movie or a show or something. It's right in our neighborhood. Cool little secrets that sometimes we aren't even aware.

[28:45] I had no idea there was a planetarium at Williamsville North High School. Maybe some of you did. How many of you knew that? There's the Williamsville North people. Secrets of things we can do around western New York or little ideas of an adventure as we look at secrets of the kingdom of God.

[29:06] Today, we're going to talk about the key to the kingdom, which is trust. Trust. Adam is in a garden all by himself. He has no one to be with, no one to be in relationship with.

[29:18] He's all alone. And the Bible says in verse 18, it's not good for people to be alone. So God brought him animals.

[29:28] And I like the line where it says, and the man gave him names, and whatever he named them, that was their name. Yeah, I like that. Okay. That was their name. But there were animals. And as much as I like animals, I've had dogs and gerbils and rabbits and hamsters and things like that.

[29:46] It's not the same. Because as the Bible says, we have dominion over the animals of the earth. We're looking for somebody to be a partner. Or as it says in here, a suitable helpmate for us.

[30:01] It started long ago in the Garden of Eden when Adam said to Eve, baby, you're for me.

[30:13] Yeah. Long time ago, we started this whole thing where men and women were drawn to each other. A suitable helper.

[30:25] Adam was the first creature. Now, actually, what Adam means is humanity. And if you'll give me a moment, I believe that Adam was both male and female.

[30:36] God created us male and female in his image. And I think the original creature was both male and female. And then God divided it into the two genders we have today.

[30:48] And God took the two that would together make the image of God and divided them out. And for centuries, we've been desiring to put them back together.

[31:02] Right? Because men and women are not the same. Men and women don't do the same thing. They aren't the same. They don't think the same. They don't live the same. I was watching a video where a fellow said, men think in boxes.

[31:17] So basically, when we're thinking of something, we're in that box. And if you ask us a question, we have to put that box away and take out a new box.

[31:30] Because that's how we think. Women, on the other hand, think all over the place. They think of everything all at the same time. They can think of 1,500 things at the same simultaneous moment, which means they can go from thing to thing to thing, like electricity.

[31:47] Men are going, wait, let me put the box away. Okay. What? You're over there. Oh, let me put the box away. And you can imagine how this creates a communication difficulty between men and women.

[32:01] We're not the same. Women bring a sense of seeing the whole picture. Men bring a focus. It's not right. It's not wrong. It's just different. And in the process, we make ourselves, make each other complete.

[32:17] God brought the two together. And Adam said, this is flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone. This is me together, complete.

[32:28] We make something better than we do separately. It's called synergy. When the two together are better than the two separate. Lifelong partners, work helpers, friends, mates, someone we can trust with everything about us in such a way that we release who we are to who they are.

[32:55] There's someone I'm longing to see. I hope that she turns out to be someone to watch over me. We just like to have somebody we could trust.

[33:08] Because when all the pieces come together of the varieties of differences that we bring to each other, it creates something incredible. Anybody here ever been to the Broadway market?

[33:21] Maybe you don't know of the Broadway market. It is the coolest place. It has so many different things. It's not just a meat market. It doesn't just sell the butter lambs. It doesn't just make those funky little eggs.

[33:32] It doesn't just sell the horseradish. It has all sorts of stuff going on all the time, sights and smells and sounds and things that put together make an incredible experience if you've never been there.

[33:45] By itself, none of these things would be all that exciting. But somehow, when you put the synergy of that together, all those people, all those things in one place, it creates an amazing experience.

[33:58] we were created for each other. And in the creation of the way in which a woman and a man come together and even people come together in partnering, we reflect a relationship we have with God.

[34:16] This is what it says in the book of Ephesians in chapter 5. And we read this in a number of wedding services, actually. For this reason, a man will leave his father and a mother and be united with his wife and the two will become one flesh.

[34:30] This is a profound mystery. And then he says, but I'm talking about Christ and the church. What? I thought you were talking about sex. I know I'm not allowed to talk about that in the church, right?

[34:44] I thought you were talking about the way two people physically come together and what he's saying is, no, it's about how God has given of himself to the church and given all that he is and trusted the people of God.

[35:01] And the people of God give themselves back in devotion to him. And we trust each other. We trust God to look after us and God trusts us to look after him.

[35:16] Male and female created in his image to reflect who God is. That's what worship is as we bring ourselves to God.

[35:26] The way we heard it read in Romans when I started the service, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy to offer your bodies as living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

[35:38] This is your true and proper worship. Worship is to come and give ourselves to God completely and say God is more important than anything in our lives. And it's in view of Christ's sacrifice for us because he was willing to give everything for us.

[35:56] And so the two become helpers or helpmates of each other. It's an interesting word in the book of Genesis, that word helpmate.

[36:07] It's usually translated just plain helper and it's most of the time in the scripture something that's applied to God as in Psalm 118 where it says, the Lord is with me, he is my helpmate and in him I'll triumph over my enemies.

[36:23] God is the one who makes our life complete. We trust in God, God trusts in us and that relationship is reflected in the way we live out our lives with other people and particularly how we're supposed to live out our lives in the most intimate, the most important relationship we can have which is a husband and a wife.

[36:44] But it can occur in any relationships where we find a suitable helper, something that reflects the way God wants us to live with him. But too often we find that we don't live in a relationship where we trust.

[37:00] We don't live in a relationship where we can let go and believe in someone else. And we end up alone. And it's not good to be alone. Now, how many of you have ever gone to the Broadway market when it's not within two or three weeks of Easter?

[37:16] Okay. You know what it looks like? It looks like that. It's dead empty. I mean, there is no one there. A couple of meat markets and empty tables everywhere.

[37:29] No people. No smells. No nothing. It's depressing. It's not good to go to the Broadway market when it's not Easter.

[37:39] So if you're planning on going to the Broadway market, let me recommend that you go in the week or two before Easter when it's phenomenal. Because otherwise, you start lonely.

[37:52] It's not good to be alone. So what keeps us from being close with each other? What keeps us from finding these trusting relationships? And I think it's how we approach the relationships.

[38:05] For many people, we see each other as a tool to a goal. We look at other people as someone to help us accomplish what we want to do.

[38:17] Not to be people to help each other, but people that we can somehow utilize to get to what we want. Now that's not a reflection of God.

[38:27] that makes us more important and more self-focused than we're supposed to be. In Romans chapter 12 in verse 2, it says, Do not conform to the pattern of this world.

[38:41] Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good and pleasing and perfect will.

[38:53] So long as we keep taking the messages that our culture tells us are right and wrong, as the primary reference point, we will never develop the relationships God intended for us in life.

[39:05] We have disappointing relationships. We have relationships that don't trust. We have relationships that are based on hurt and on pain and struggle because we take our messages from our world around us.

[39:19] The commercials say that we deserve everything. You deserve to have eight gigs of gigabyte or whatever it is. They tell you so in a commercial. Why?

[39:30] Because one time you wore the right shoes to school. I mean, really? You deserve a break today. You deserve this. You deserve that. Our world tells us all sorts of messages that we've come to believe as being true that are actually designed to do just the opposite.

[39:48] that our world is obsessed with sex to the point that they've made it into something that we don't talk about in church where we should talk about it because it was created by God for our good and for good relationships.

[40:08] And instead, we leave the message to be told by people who want to utilize it in the wrong way. And so we have people that think that that relationship is designed to give pleasure, is designed simply to be used as a play thing when actually it was the intention of God that it would take a relationship where people are committed spiritually, emotionally, and lifelong commitment and make it so strong that you couldn't see the difference between one or the other because the two become one.

[40:42] And instead, we take it and make it a play thing and so it's like we put Adam together and rip him apart. We put humanity together and tear it asunder. And now people have created an intimate feeling and then torn it apart and then created it again somewhere else and messed it up another time.

[41:00] So people get confused about what real intimacy is and what real relationship is and we wonder why do we have such trouble now making lifelong relationships? Because we're taking our messages to the world.

[41:12] Don't be conformed to what the world says. Don't listen to the message of the world. Listen to the message of God. God has given you a great gift to make relationships between a husband and wife beautiful and wonderful and enjoyable and amazing.

[41:29] But not to create a destructive world where all we do is see intimate relationships as something we destroy and put together and destroy and put together. and we find ourselves struggling to even make a relationship work at all.

[41:45] And we struggle. We struggle because at this point in time we don't trust anyone anymore. Don't trust anybody. This morning in the 815 service I was preaching and a little baby came up to me like this.

[42:01] Right here. And just stood there like this. While I'm preaching and trying to pretend that mom will come and get her but mom wasn't getting her. So there's the little baby. So I picked up the baby and I preached with the baby for about five minutes.

[42:15] I haven't done that for about 30 years. What an amazing thing that a little baby trusted me. Do you know how incredible it feels that that little child trusted me?

[42:28] I thought as soon as I went like this they'd be gone. Because we teach our children don't trust anyone. Don't trust pastors don't trust teachers don't trust the police don't trust the government don't trust anybody.

[42:44] And we wonder why we have broken relationships. I understand. I know the problems and the dangers. I think maybe we've gone a little far in how we relate that.

[42:58] Don't be conformed to the patterns of this world but be transformed into something different. God wants to give us a suitable helper. And yes that's true of husband and wife and it's also true of relationships we can have with each other.

[43:13] Last week I told you that my mother had a boyfriend in North Carolina and in New York and by the way they were both named Charlie. We called them Charlie South and Charlie North. Made it easier for my mother.

[43:25] But see as soon as I said that my mother had a boyfriend some of you had the wrong idea. My mother just wanted somebody she could go out to lunch with that she could talk to about things. She had lived with a man for 60 years as her partner.

[43:40] Charlie's had lived with a woman a different woman for many many years as their partner and they were just looking for someone to give them that other perspective. They were used to being able to say Dick and he'd go just a minute put that back in my yes dear.

[43:56] Okay. She was used to that and she missed that relationship and so they had a wonderful friendship and partnership but we don't believe that any man and woman can ever be alone without something else going on because we don't trust.

[44:09] We don't trust each other. We don't trust our spouses. We don't trust anybody. We don't trust God. We don't trust. So why don't we have relationships? Because we've decided already not to trust and also because we compete with each other instead of completing each other.

[44:31] We've stopped working with each other and we think that somehow we're already complete and other people aren't pulling their share.

[44:43] Romans again tells us by the grace given to me I say to every one of you don't think of yourselves more highly than you ought to. You're not as good as you think you are but rather think of yourself with sober judgment in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

[45:02] Part of our difficulty is we don't understand the power of humility. The power of understanding that God expects us to see the strengths and the joys and the blessings and the good things that other people can give to us.

[45:15] We are not the people that have all the answers. I do not have all the abilities that I want to have. And we need to we need to see the other people as folks that help fulfill those things compliment us.

[45:29] But instead we compete with each other. Did you do your share? Like I'm going to do half the dishes and stop. I'll make the dinner halfway. I'll cut half the lawn because that would be the fair thing, right?

[45:41] Well relationships are not about fairness. We do what we can to give to the other person and we listen to the other person when the other person can tell us something or share something we don't have.

[45:54] You know in Ephesians chapter 5 we used to read this at a lot of weddings but people don't like it anymore. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord.

[46:07] Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Can we live in a relationship where we actually assume that the other person has something to say to us?

[46:21] That the other person has value and that it's not about us trying to always get our fair share out of someone else. God wants us to complete each other not compete with each other and we do this in the same way we make a relationship with God.

[46:43] Because in that passage from Ephesians it says that this is like the relationship with Christ in his church. Jesus Christ died for us. He left his throne and glory to come down here and submit to himself being hung on a tree like a common criminal.

[47:02] Because he loves us. And all he asks us to do is submit to him as well. We struggle with that. I have my pride.

[47:13] You can't tell me what to do. We need to learn what humility is because teamwork comes when we start working together and not competing with one another.

[47:28] We have plenty of anger in this world. It's another one of those things not to conform to. Everybody wants you to be angry with each other. Have you noticed that? And so everybody's going off and living in their own little echo chambers, their own bubbles.

[47:43] One group is watching one TV channel. The other group watches another TV channel where they say what they've already decided they want to hear. And nobody's listening to anybody. Nobody's talking to each other.

[47:55] Nobody's respecting one another. And so nobody's trusting one another. When God made us to work together, to take what we are and who we are and to let the other person leave when needed and watch amazing things happen.

[48:15] And so nobody took what we have and who we are and who we are and who we are and who we are and who we are going Denn و to back to you.

[48:34] I'm just close by so many people to click on and watch them and they'll and they'll and shall AVAILABLE NOW Why do we have to make it a fantasy about bugs when it could be a reality about us?

[49:20] You know what amazing things God wants us to do and be by working together? In fact, so much so that God has made you intentionally deficient.

[49:31] See, one of our problems is we think everybody's complete, and they're not. God has made us deficient. I'm going to tell you about a museum you probably don't know about, most of you anyways.

[49:43] It's a museum of disability. Did you know we had one of these in Buffalo? It's a museum. It's over on Main Street between Eggert and Bailey Avenue. And you can go in and see all sorts of ways and where people have overcome struggles with disabilities.

[49:58] Some of them are physical disabilities like these. Others are emotional disabilities. Some of them are disabilities people have because of the place in which they were born or the society in which they were raised.

[50:10] What the museum is dedicated to is to say that we all can do something, and we all have something we struggle with. I grew up in a house where my mother was in a wheelchair.

[50:21] I understand disabilities. All my mother wanted was to be like everyone else. But what people don't understand is that everyone else is also disabled somewhere.

[50:32] We just don't share it with each other. We are deficient. We were created deficient. Maybe you don't know that. I mean, even the husband and wife thing.

[50:44] God split it apart so we don't have all the attributes we need. We need the two together to make it whole. And God has created a world where we need each other to make it whole.

[50:55] In Romans, it says to us again in chapter 12, each of us has one body with many members, and these members don't have all the same function. So in Christ, though many, we form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.

[51:09] God has designed us in such a way that we complete each other because we're missing things.

[51:20] Now, we don't want to admit that, but it's true. There's something wrong with all of us. I know some of you were told like I was as a child, if you put your mind to it, you can do anything.

[51:31] Anybody ever told that? It's not true. It's not true. I learned that when I tried out for track and field because I've got a weird body.

[51:41] Some of you have seen that, okay? But maybe you never noticed. I don't have any legs. I had a girl one time. She was like 11 years old, and she didn't believe me. She came up to hear on me.

[51:52] She stood next to me, and her legs came up right the same as mine. I have no legs. So I can't run well. I don't jump well. I can't pole vault. I can't do all the things that they do in that sport.

[52:03] I can't do it. It is not possible. Somebody else can, though. See, and that's the key. When God put together a church, he did not put together a church that has all the needs and all the abilities and everything in one person.

[52:17] God put us together with deficiencies. And one person brings this strength, and another person brings this strength. And by the way, one person brings this need, and another person brings this need.

[52:28] And just as much as we need to see each other's strengths, we need to be willing to admit our deficiencies. Do you follow? And say, I'm sorry. I'm not good at that. Can you help me with it?

[52:40] The way this is a man and a woman thing, too. Guys are so concerned about proving that they're better than everybody else at something. They're always, you know, I'm good at all. They need to learn how to say, I got some needs and I got some problems.

[52:52] And women are so good at saying, oh, I'm not so good at things, that they need to sometimes stand up and say, you know, I'm pretty good at some stuff. I'm pretty good at stuff.

[53:04] We learn from each other. We grow with each other. We complete each other. That's what God intends of us. And so this great verse where it says, they were naked and they were not ashamed.

[53:19] Do you follow? Are we so open and trusting of one another in our marriages, in our friendships, in our church, that we could be open to who and what we are and not be ashamed?

[53:34] That we could look at each other like a husband and wife do and not feel any shame. You know, we cover these bodies up, don't we?

[53:46] You know, we don't do that because of the other person. We do that for ourselves. The only people that are not ashamed of their bodies are little kids running on the beach.

[53:57] Ever see that? They take their clothes all off, right? Or somebody in a marriage who's learned to be comfortable with someone who accepts them no matter what. Can we be naked and ashamed or not ashamed as a church?

[54:13] Now, I don't want you to misunderstand. I want you in clothes next week. Okay? Really, seriously. I don't want anybody to show up without clothes. I'm saying, can we live like that?

[54:23] Trusting each other, becoming vulnerable, relying and living with a sense that we believe in the other person. I want to show you one more place.

[54:35] It's the Buffalo Fire Department Historical Society. Did you know they have a historical building? You can go look at old fire trucks. You can look at displays at Christmastime of fire things.

[54:48] It's a fire museum. You can go and look at this stuff. It's in Buffalo. Now, the reason I brought it up is because my father was a firefighter. Many of you know that. He ran into buildings that were burning.

[55:01] Now, that takes a special gift, right? But it also takes a special trust. He did that day after day, year after year, because he trusted the people that were behind him.

[55:12] He trusted the guy with the hose to make sure that he was keeping the water on the fire. He trusted the guys that were coming in behind him, that if he fell through a floor, somebody would get him out. He trusted them with his life.

[55:24] We should be willing to so trust our partners, our spouses, our friends, our churchmates, that we would trust them with our lives. They were naked.

[55:36] They were vulnerable to each other. And it was okay. In the book of James, which we're just starting that Bible study on Wednesday night, he says that we should come to church and confess our sins to one another.

[55:48] Anybody want to go first? Yeah. No, we tend to believe that we've got to keep these things hidden away, right? That what our faults are, our deficiency are, we don't show those to anybody.

[55:59] We just show the best part. And I understand it. I try to sometimes share some of the struggles I go through in life, but I don't share everything. You don't know me like someone like my wife knows me.

[56:11] Of course not. There are things that we keep to some sense to ourselves. But is there any place where we can just be who we are and still be loved? Can we open up a little bit and be willing to be vulnerable like they were to one another and still believe we'll be loved?

[56:28] Will you still need me? Will you still feed me when I'm 64? I remember that came out. I was 16. Now it's getting real close. And I trust my wife to do it.

[56:41] And we have to trust each other. We have to rely on each other. We have to recognize other people do have faults. But so do we.

[56:52] And live within that imperfection to try and make something better. Honesty, respect, humility, and trust are the hallmarks of a good relationship. God showed us this.

[57:03] He took a risk. And he became vulnerable. He didn't have to do it. He left glory above and took a risk. Took a chance on you and me. He lowered himself.

[57:15] Opened himself up. And trusted his heart to us. So when we give our lives back to Christ, what we're doing is we're breaking through the brokenness and returning back to Eden.

[57:32] That's what the cross is about. God said it's not good to be alone. And I don't think he was just talking about us. I think he was talking about himself.

[57:42] And God decided that through the cross, through his willingness to take the first step, neither he would need to be alone nor us.

[57:54] Because we could share together for all eternity. He said before creation. He said before creation. He said before creation. Eternity in your hands.

[58:09] He said before creation. He said before creation. He said before creation. He said before志ES.

[58:19] He said before creation. You stood before creation, eternity in your hand.

[58:35] You spoke the earth into motion, my soul now to stand. You stood before my failure, and carried the cross for my shame.

[58:57] Sin weighed upon your shoulders, my soul now to stand. What can I say?

[59:14] What can I do? But I'll do this out of my completely new.

[59:29] So I'll walk upon your salvation, your spirit of life in me.

[59:43] My life will declare the promise, my soul now to stand. So what can I say?

[59:57] What can I say?

[60:29] What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say?

[60:41] What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say?

[60:53] What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say?

[61:05] What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say?

[61:17] What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? What can I say? I want to say what can I say?

[61:33] What can I say? O Lord, you search me You know my way Even when I fail you I know you love me Your holy presence Surrounding me

[62:33] In every season I know you love me I know you loving me At the cross I found my feet Where your blood was shed for me There's no greater love than fear You can overcome the fear Your glory fills the highest place What can separate me now You go before me You shield my way

[63:33] You shield my way Your hand upholds me I know you love me And when the earth fades Falls from my eyes And you stand before me I know you love me I know you love me When the cross I found my feet Where your blood was shed for me There's no greater love than fear You've come all back on the ground

[64:36] Glory fills the highest place But it's ever ending now You told the man You made a way When you said that it is done You told the man You made a way When you said that it is done At the cross I bow my knee Where your blood was shed for me There's no greater love than me You've come all my comfort Glory fills the highest place What can separate me now I know you love me I know you love me

[65:41] Amen Please be seated To be loved People, people who need people Are the luckiest people In the world To come before someone And tell them everything That's wrong and broken in you And still be loved That's real love If you can find a friend like that If you can find a spouse like that You are richly blessed We have a God like that I'm not going to tell you Everything wrong with me There's some people that know And I'm not claiming Some evil dark secret I'm just saying Like all of us right There's things that we struggle With ourselves That's why we come before God And I'll share my stuff You share yours With the same God Who's already promised us

[66:44] Love us In spite of it Dear God in heaven I have sinned I fall short Of what you expect of me I fall short Of what I expect of me I fall short Of what others need from me Forgive me Lord Help me to be what I need to be Help me to trust as I should.

[67:19] Help me to live in love and grace and humility to be part of this wonderful world with the wonderful people you've given me to share it with.

[67:37] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You remember when you dated and like there was somebody you really were excited to be with and they didn't even notice you and then all of a sudden they turned and said Hi, who are you?

[67:54] You're okay. God has wanted to be in love with you for your whole life. Your whole life. All he's wanted was for you to turn and say Oh, hi.

[68:10] I love you. And he's ready to love you from the very beginning. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.

[68:23] Glory to God. Amen. Let you pray. Thank you, God.

[68:36] Amen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Amen. Think about His love Think about His goodness Think about His grace That's brought us to For as high as the heavens above So great is the measure Of our Father's love Great is the measure Of our Father's love We come to the table because we're invited

[69:57] Because we are invited by the one Who did all that was necessary so that we Could be one body together With God Everyone is welcome at the table If you love God, repent of your sin And seek to live in peace As a disciple of Jesus Christ You are welcome at the table this morning It doesn't matter if you Have never been to this church before It doesn't matter if you've never been to any church before If today, this day You find in your heart The desire To know Jesus Christ As your Lord and Savior To come into The body of Christ With God You are welcome to come to the table today The Lord be with you Lift up your hearts

[70:58] 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 Before the mountains were brought forth Or you had formed the earth From everlasting to everlasting You alone are God You created light out of darkness And brought forth life on the earth 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 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 We praise your name And join their unending hymn Holy, holy, holy Lord

[71:59] 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 In whom you have revealed Yourself Our light And our salvation In his baptism And in table fellowship He took his place With sinners Your spirit anointed him To preach good news to the poor To proclaim release to the captives And recovering of sight to the blind To set at liberty Those who are oppressed And to announce that the time had come When you would save your people 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

[73:00] On the night in which he gave himself up for us He took bread He gave thanks to you He broke the bread And gave it to his disciples And he said Take and eat This is my body Which is given For you Do this in remembrance of me When the supper was over He took the cup And he gave you thanks and praise Then he gave it to his disciples And 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 Do this as often as you drink it In remembrance of me And so in remembrance of these Your mighty acts in Jesus Christ

[74:00] 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 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

[75:02] Shall we pray together With the confidence Of children of God As the body of Christ Together The prayer Jesus taught us 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 And the power And the glory Forever and ever Amen Will those who are serving this morning Please come forward disclosure list

[76:22] Who States Your pm or Whist Or What Prince Like I Your For Once Thank you.

[77:13] Thank you.

[77:43] Thank you.

[78:13] Thank you.

[78:43] Thank you.

[79:13] Thank you.

[79:43] Thank you.

[80:13] Thank you.

[80:43] Thank you.

[81:13] Thank you.

[81:43] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[82:43] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[83:19] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[83:53] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[84:05] Thank you. Thank you.